Update on the Underwood No. 3

I spent an hour buffing up the amazing Underwood No. 3 typewriter I found at the thrift shop.

It was so dusty, it looked like it spent the last fifty years under a haystack in a barn.

I got the worst of it off and left some dust for its new owner to sweep away.

Want to see some close-ups?

You can actually read the glass-topped keys now! That up-in-the-air hammer isn’t bent, I just forgot to push it home for the picture.

Looks like some of the painted finish is flaking off, another reason why I didn’t want to get too aggressive with the cleaning.

Horn-shaped thumb lever for pushing the carriage to the right to start a new line. This machine is 33 pounds of precision parts.

Roller knob with more chromed levers and catches

Hard rubber platen, chromed steel paper roller bars, and 2-color ribbon. I didn’t try to put the dried-out ribbon back in its carrier.

Tab stops

Color selector lever. They were so dirty you couldn’t tell the keys were red and black!

Rows of glass-topped keys! And still some dust there . . .

And a bell that goes, “Ding!” Raise your hand if you still eat corn on that cob like that.

It’s going to be a really pretty machine when it’s refurbished. I’ll leave that fun for someone else.

Sure hope someone falls in love with it at next weekend’s Vintage Bazaar!

Fun fact: did you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? That final scene, in which John Watson (Jude Law) is typing up his last case notes? He’s typing on an Underwood!