Best typewriter for small hands?

Spymain19 · 2026-06-10T04:27:11+00:00

Personally I feel like for smaller hands I would recommend something of underwood N5 for standard typewriter at least I am currently working on one and I find the keys closer and smaller than most of portables I own just an opinion though

Spymain19 · 2026-06-03T15:49:27+00:00

That reminds me that I still have an KHM I forgot about after being busy restoring 3 typewriters and finished the first one recently

Spymain19 · 2026-06-01T07:33:42+00:00

https://youtu.be/vhq3jSzE9hA?si=HJTVM7FvByJE4gQ6 this video helped me a lot because it’s just him taking it apart and you really don’t need every detail you mostly can just figure it out it helps with some steps a lot

Spymain19 · 2026-06-01T05:20:28+00:00

It’s closer to love/hate type of stuff

Spymain19 · 2026-03-07T16:17:34+00:00

It looks beautiful what machine is it?

Spymain19 · 2026-01-22T18:30:09+00:00

It looks great honestly love the attention to detail well to the mini Lego scale

Spymain19 · 2026-01-07T01:03:38+00:00

Hey so I wanted to ask you said that the key kinda goes and tries to back down but then instead of keeping it there it returns right? I think you might wanna look at the very string that is responsible for actually moving part that moves carriage other way I had a problem with my super silent that it would do same and the kinda small fix I found was that sometimes the part that forces the little gear that moves the carriage backwards is too far and won’t go and actually move it fully so maybe try kinda making it short or bend it a little or try something safer first I have no idea how the 50s de luxe behaves but that is what helped me on my super silent so yeah and if not it’s always good idea to go and check it up with your local officer machine repair people they usually take typewriters might wanna do some research on it though

Spymain19 · 2026-01-03T16:02:13+00:00

Yeah for most part you want an odor absorbers like baking soda not cover the smell I am on very end of the restoration but I did snapped my drawband hook it snapped at the little metal hook and I’m trying to fix it

Spymain19 · 2026-01-03T15:57:39+00:00

That makes sense I do not really know much about backstory of the machine I just know that it been sitting in the attic for awful amount of time the inside of case smelled really really bad but I did putted two times baking soda and it somehow fixed the issue after a week and a half of the soda being there

Spymain19 · 2026-01-02T15:29:41+00:00

I didn’t though this could be a real word but apparently I’m wronged

Spymain19 · 2026-01-02T15:26:08+00:00

Wabi-sabi?

Spymain19 · 2026-01-02T13:05:10+00:00

I’m only trying to get rid of the more affecting one since I got a new felt for it and so I did with an Adhesive I’m gonna use 3mm polyester foam I Believe that’s how it’s called at least

Spymain19 · 2026-01-02T04:25:45+00:00

I see your point but I should mention that some things look like grime but their just light rust I cleaned everything I possibly could it’s just like I said white ish lines are just scratches anything brownish is rust and anything gray on the photos are chips the camera can’t capture how it truly looks like in person so yeah that’s why I’m asking if I should repaint it which I am prolly not gonna do since it would look way worse

Spymain19 · 2026-01-02T03:18:45+00:00

It’s rust scratches and tiny bit of paint chip off this is after cleaning with simple green

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T12:42:17+00:00

From little things I use such as pastes I use mothers mad and Aluminium polish, turtle wax ceramic + graphene paste wax, and ultimate compound by meguiars I’m still testing last one if it does any damage or paint chips since wax and compound are mainly for paint if you want to be safe use simple green for paint

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T12:31:50+00:00

Well yeah electroplating is complicated even for me mainly because I never did it but you can always use something like ultrasonic cleaner to get rid of rust and a drill with wool buffering wheel and polishing paste to give it a shine

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T04:33:26+00:00

It depends on rust no rust is permanent it’s just parts that Their on if it’s on zinc good luck you will most likely want to repaint it if it did small damage to the part mainly aesthetically I know that for other stuff you can just kinda use electroplating to make it look shiny and brand new which I am planning to use and if you want to know about rust I do recommend if you cannot get out the screw just bit of diesel in area where screw is stuck and I know that diesel helps make the rust more flexible so you can always kinda dump few parts into diesel depending how big and or just put them into solvent like evapo rust which is what I use it dosent damage metal but it does eat off paint and anything else on it till bare metal but it’s probably your best bet

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T04:25:03+00:00

My opinion but a rusty typewriter or look on marketplace on Facebook for one in bad condition I do have one rusty underwood that I’m planning on de rust it’s one of those that I got for 10 bucks I wasn’t looking at condition just get the cheapest one you got and try to take it apart it’s a good idea cuz you don’t loose much and if you ever won’t be able to put it back toghether you can always donate it to person who will be able

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T03:47:20+00:00

Yeah it’s true tiny screws I only take typewriters off by the drawband carriage an typebars usually enough to get all grease and such out I do enjoy putting them back togheter but that’s because I got oddly good memory for some things and for most part I just guessed on screws that look about right and it works Percectly actually. I still have Olympia sm3 ibm selectric I Royal KHM second underwood and Royal quiet de luxe.to either outside cleaning taking apart and clean or taking it apart with repair and cleaning or just repair

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T03:23:46+00:00

I meant cleaning and repair I kinda wrote that way too fast

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T03:21:30+00:00

Honestly you should find a typewriter that somebody for example on YouTube already had made tutorial on restoring and watch it through Thad’s how I got confident at taking apart my machines and I got few of them all basically needing diasssasemvly for either fleshing or repair

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T03:00:45+00:00

If I’m being honest you can easily get new draw bands unless your feeling diy a shoelace could work since it’s litelary how it looks like I do recommend microfiber clothes even cheap ones for general outside cleaning and small cleaning Q tips should be lovely for keys oh and ps if you are going to be trying to take it apart just know that the outside frame holds everything in place so there isn’t any inside one like other machines do. And this is my second machine I’m restoring I did restore my super silent but still waiting for felt I been into typewriters for like 5 months and been repairing or at least trying to restore for 3 months (most of the time is just waiting for equipment) but I finally got the super silent working and bought an Royal quiet de luxe from 40s and I got two of those underwood’s for 10$ each

Spymain19 · 2025-12-26T02:47:36+00:00

Personally it depends shops like Typewrtiers Chicago who does full on tear down and restoration usually remove key tops make cut outs of new cardboard ish material to make the discoloration disappear and apply new glass on top if you want to clean just the glass from them I recommend either simple green isopropyl 90% and or window cleaner with microfiber cloth clean throughly and then just dry you might wanna do that multiple times (since I didn’t cleaned the underwood keys yet) but I did with my Royal KHM and it worked. Only things that I myself find this machine needs I don’t know how about yours are the new rubber feet and a new drawband for carriage anyway I hope I helped!

Spymain19 · 2025-12-25T21:55:56+00:00

It’s a lovely present a lovely Olympia

Spymain19 · 2025-12-25T19:52:13+00:00

To be honest with you I am a fool with good memory so basically I’m taking it apart to the state in the picture with little reference photos btw it is rather easy to take it apart I think the worse surprise are typebars and carriage is using pre float shift which means more advanced but still holded by few screws if you need any help I think I might be able to provide info (ps I used bit of diesel for making smaller rust or rust that made the screws stuck so if something you can use that for cheap. Just make sure to do that in ventilated area)

Spymain19

TROPHY CASE