A gray-green manual typewriter seen from the front, with the words Write something typed on the loaded page

01

What the hobby actually involves

Two sheets, twenty minutes

Most sessions are short: twenty minutes at a desk with two sheets of paper rolled in, typing a letter or a journal page. A manual typewriter takes a firmer, more even stroke than a computer keyboard, and it is loud enough that you will think about who is in the next room. The other half of the hobby is the machine itself. You change its ribbon every few months, brush lint out of the type, learn what each lever does and, sooner or later, start noticing other typewriters at estate sales.

02

How to choose a typewriter

Start with a manual portable from the 1940s through the 1960s. They were built in huge numbers, parts and ribbons are easy to find, and they come in a carrying case. Full-size desktop machines type beautifully but weigh 30 pounds or more.
The safest purchase is a machine a repair shop has serviced. It costs more than a thrift store find, but the rubber has been checked, the type is aligned and it usually comes with a short warranty.
Buying untested? Type every key in lowercase and capitals. Each typebar should snap up and fall back on its own. A key that sticks in the up position usually only needs cleaning. A key that does nothing can mean a broken linkage.
Push the carriage all the way to the right and type a full line. It should move one even step per keystroke, ring the bell near the right margin and return smoothly. A carriage that will not move at all may only have its travel lock on, so look for that lever first.
Press a fingernail into the platen, the black rubber roller the paper wraps around. Rubber that gives slightly is good. Rock-hard rubber still types, but it is louder, punches holes in thin paper and lets sheets slip.
Check that the drawband is attached. It is the cord or strap under the carriage that pulls it along. If it has snapped, the carriage slides freely with no tension. That is repairable, but not a first-week job.
Buy in person when you can. Shipping is the most common way a good typewriter gets ruined, because most sellers do not know how to pack one.

A pale gray portable typewriter seen from above on a wooden table — A manual portable

Find a shop that sells serviced machines

Typewriter repair shops list Free worldwide list of working repair shops, many of which also sell serviced machines

An orange typewriter on a wooden desk beside a cup of coffee, a book and a phone

03

Four things people do with them

Open one to see where to start

Letters and journalsThe most common use. One page at a time, nothing to save or send but the paper. The base kit covers it.

Start here

Pick one person and type them a single page tonight. Date it, sign it in pen and mail it before you reread it.

Poems to order and type-insTyping short poems for strangers on request, or meeting other owners in a public place to try each other's machines. Both need only a machine light enough to carry.

Start here

Take your machine and a stack of half sheets to a cafe or a park and offer to type a four-line poem on any subject someone gives you. If that is too public, ask the nearest repair shop whether anyone local hosts a type-in.

Typewriter repair shops list

CollectingGathering machines by maker, decade, color or typeface. Space runs out before money does, because the common portables are cheap.

Start here

Find the serial number on the machine you have (usually under the carriage or on the frame beneath the ribbon cover) and look it up to learn the year it was built. Then choose one maker or one decade to stick to.

The Typewriter Database

Cleaning and RepairBringing neglected machines back to working order. Most problems on a thrift store typewriter are dirt and dried-up oil, not broken parts, so this adds brushes, a solvent and a light oil to the kit.

Start here

Buy the cheapest complete machine you can find locally with a carriage that moves, then spend an afternoon brushing out the dust and cleaning the type before you change anything else.

Basic Typewriter Restoration

Open a direction to see its first step. Cleaning and Repair is the only one with gear of its own: it adds brushes, a solvent and a light oil to the kit.

04

Your first week

Press each key as you finish it

A black manual typewriter with a blank sheet of paper loaded, on a white table — Paper in, ready to type

What you can type in your first month

A type sample sheet

Every key in lowercase and capitals on one page, which doubles as a test of the machine and shows you its typeface.

A one-page letter

About 250 words to a friend or relative, mistakes left in, mailed the same day.

A week of journal pages

One page each morning, kept in a folder in the order you typed them.

A short poem on a half sheet

A few lines with wide margins, the kind of thing people pin above a desk.

05

Before and after each session

Always type on two sheets. The second sheet cushions the platen, gives a crisper letter and keeps the type from pitting the rubber.
Check the ribbon is advancing. If the letters fade as you type, the ribbon has stopped moving or reached its end and needs reversing by hand.
When the round letters (o, e, a) start printing as filled-in blobs, the type is packed with ink and lint. Brush the faces of the type toward you with a stiff dry brush.
Leave the paper release lever open when you are done, so the feed rollers are not pressed against the platen for days and do not develop flat spots.
Close the case or put a cover over the machine. Dust mixed with old oil is what makes keys stick.
Engage the carriage lock before you carry it anywhere.

06

What trips beginners up

What to expect, and what to x out

Typos stay. Expect several per page for the first few weeks. Most people type a row of x's over the word and keep going.
Your little fingers will tire. The a, p, q and shift keys take real force on a manual, and capitals that sit higher than the line mean the shift was not held all the way down.
Pressing harder does not make darker letters. A faint page means a worn ribbon. Pounding the keys only drives periods and commas through the paper.
Spraying an all-purpose lubricant into a sticky machine. It frees the keys for a week, then turns to gum and makes them worse.
Paying collector prices for an untested machine because it is a pretty color. Function first: an ugly typewriter that works is a better first machine.
Many machines made before the 1960s have no 1 or exclamation mark key. Use a lowercase L for the number one. For an exclamation mark, type a period, backspace and type an apostrophe over it.

07

Where to learn more

Typewriter people document everything and answer questions quickly. A serial number database will date nearly any machine, a long-running collector's reference site hosts scanned manuals for hundreds of models, and the main online community will usually name a fault from a ten-second video. Local repair shops are the other resource: there are fewer than there were, but the ones still open tend to be glad to show a beginner how a machine works.

A database, a reference site and a forum

Close view of rows of round, metal-rimmed typewriter keys — Round keys up close

08

Why the kit looks like this

The typewriter is the whole cost, and it does not come from Amazon: a serviced vintage portable from a repair shop is the better buy. New manual typewriters are still made, but they are built to a lower standard than a mid-century machine in good order, so they are not in this kit. What is here is what the machine needs around it: a fresh ribbon, a pad to quiet it, and paper heavy enough to take the type. The Cleaning and Repair add-on is for people who want to revive an unserviced machine themselves.

The glass-topped keys of a black prewar typewriter in warm light — Glass keys on an older machine

09

Stock the typing desk

The first line is not something you buy online: the typewriter comes from a repair shop or a local seller. For everything else, compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the typing desk. Clicking a card selects it there. The ribbon, the pad and the paper start in the kit. The Cleaning and Repair lines join once you switch that add-on on.

Serviced manual portable typewriter

essential · Core equipment

It is the hobby. A machine that has been cleaned and adjusted lets you spend your first week typing instead of troubleshooting.

Not sold on Amazon · buy it from a repair shop

Not sold on Amazon. Buy from a typewriter repair shop or a reseller who services what they sell and will let you type on it first. Expect roughly $150 to $350 for a serviced portable with a case. A working machine from a thrift store or a local listing runs $40 to $100, but test it using the checks in the choosing section.

Universal typewriter ribbon

essential · Consumables

The ribbon in an old machine has almost always dried out, and even a fresh one fades after a few months of regular typing.

budget

Tenare 1 Pair Universal Typewriter Ribbon, Ink Ribbon, Red, Black

4.3(29)

$5.99

Typewriters

What the hobby actually involves

How to choose a typewriter

Four things people do with them

Your first week

What you can type in your first month

Before and after each session

What trips beginners up

Where to learn more

Why the kit looks like this

Stock the typing desk

Serviced manual portable typewriter

Universal typewriter ribbon

Typewriter pad

Heavyweight typing paper

Stiff detail cleaning brushes

Odorless mineral spirits

Light machine oil with precision applicator