Keller, Texas · repair bench & shop

Typewriter Justice

typewriters that do what a typewriter’s supposed to.

Ready to write

Two portable typewriters side by side on a wooden desk: a bright orange model and a gray Royal with a fresh page rolled into the platen. — № 001 · fresh page in the platen. that’s the whole point.

Every machine that leaves this bench can do the one thing it was built for: put words on paper, today.

We take in typewriters that have spent decades in attics and closets. Gummed up, sun-faded, missing their springs. We clean them, adjust them, and argue with them until they behave. Then we hand them back, or put them on the shelf. Either way: ready to write.

The work

Repair & cleaning

sticky keys · dried grease · dead ribbons · bent typebars

Most machines don’t need a miracle. They need to be taken apart, cleaned properly, oiled in the right places, and put back together by someone who has done it a few hundred times.
Full restoration

deep disassembly · new rubber · fine adjustment · the works

For the machine that deserves to outlive all of us. Stripped down to the frame, rebuilt, and tuned until the carriage glides and the bell rings on cue.
Serviced machines, for sale

cleaned · adjusted · tested · ready to write

Every typewriter we sell has been through the bench first. No barn finds, no mystery machines. If it’s on the shelf, it types.
Free bad advice

always in stock · no charge · results not guaranteed

Don’t let other people’s experience get in the way of making your own mistakes; go forth, and blunder.

Seafoam-green Hermes typewriters opened up mid-repair on a workbench, seen from above, with an IBM Selectric alongside. — № 002 · three Hermes 3000s in surgery. they’ll live.

The repairman stands at a blue-walled workbench in the shop, mid-repair on a machine, tools and parts within reach. — № 003 · at the booth. this part you can’t rush.

An overhead view of a typewriter opened up mid-teardown on the bench, keyboard exposed, with a tin of typebars alongside. — № 004 · underwoods need love too.

A glossy black Corona Four typewriter sitting in a seafoam-green cubby shelf. — № 005 · corona four, roughly a century old, still typing.

The shop

The shop is one room in Keller, Texas, and every flat surface in it holds a typewriter: on the shelves waiting for a desk to belong to, on the bench waiting for parts, on the floor waiting their turn. Come in, poke around, and type on anything with paper in it.

If you’ve got a machine of your own that’s stopped behaving, bring it by during open hours. We’ll look it over and tell you honestly what it needs, and what it doesn’t.

A black cat with green eyes lying on a gold dust cover, staring directly at the camera. — Quality control. Inspects every case. Sleeps on the good ones.

A pale blue shop wall hung with acoustic guitars above shelves stacked with dozens of typewriters of every era and color. — № 006 · typewriters in every state of undress. also guitars.

The shelf

A few hundred machines live in this shop. Some have been through the bench and sit on the shelf, ready to write. Most are still in the bench queue: waiting their turn, and open to a claim. Commission one and it skips the line.

Ready to write · been through the bench. Cleaned, adjusted, tested. Take it home.
Bench queue · waiting its turn. Commission it and it goes to the front of the line.
Grades · A: excellent, everything works. B: types fine, honest wear. C: project machine, needs the bench first.

Browse the ledger · every five-star machine in the building →

Commission a machine

See something in the queue? Tell us which machine and what you want it to be. We’ll write back with an honest estimate: the machine, the work it needs, and how long the bench will take. No deposit until we’ve agreed on all three.