Sunday, October 30, 2016

To Stay on the Straight and Narrow

Poised to Write

Typecast195

Post-Script: Do you remember, just a month or two ago, all the time I spent cleaning, adjusting, typing and typecasting with my more recently acquired Smith-Corona Silent Super? Well, this is its older stablemate, the venerable non-Super Silent, the one with the fixed tabs, and a bit more drab color scheme but in better mechanical condition. In terms of "haptics," this one feels every bit as good as the best mechanical typewriter, but is more compact in size than the larger Galaxy 12s or Hermes 3000s. And, being of elite-sized (smaller, 12 characters per inch), it just works better for me as a first-draft typer, especially with the seemingly endless roll of teletype paper threaded up. It is because of machines like this, situated in my patio room upon the tray table, ready to type up a storm, that I can, at a moment's notice, be creating words upon paper. An imminently practical, pleasurable writing instrument.

I've been taking a liking to this teletype paper. No, it's not a fine quality foolscap of rich vellum, it's instead more like rough, leathery, thicker newsprint. But I like the look it gives to printed words. They're meaty and physical. You can more easily see the ink impressed upon the paper's fibers. The paper's off-white tone looks like it's already aged half a century, like these freshly typed words could have been from a previous era; some sort of typewriter time machine at work, words from the present appearing as if they've come from the past.

The best part of using the roll of teletype paper is not having to thread up a fresh sheet of paper after an all-too-brief session of typing. No interruptions, just pure, nonstop writing pleasure.

The top photo shows a Bic Cristal medium-point in blue ink, one of my all-time favorite writing instruments. If it weren't for fountain pens, this is what I'd be writing with. I've taken to liking these pens so much that I go out of my way to stay stocked up on them; the larger 1.6mm tip versions are also very nice writers. Oddly, they're rather hard to find at my local big-box retail stores. Luckily there's Amazon to the rescue.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Bill M said...

Sometimes I think I am the Tazmanian Devil on Bugs Bunny bouncing from one interest to another. Bic Crystal, the pen I grew up with. Then I discovered Shaeffer's No-Nonsense pens and never went back to a thin pen again. Several years ago I switched to a fountain pen and 99% of my pen writing comes from the flow of ink through a nib. Smoothest writing instrument I ever used (including any of my technical pens).

5:03 PM  
Blogger jerry said...

Hey Joe, I am old. How old am I? I am so old that I can remember the BIC crystal pen when it had a fully brass tip on it. Not that brown plastic with tiny brass ball tip on it, but the entire end below the crystal body was brass. (PS - I agree with your comment about 'not commenting' on the election. I wish more would adopt that idea.)

8:04 PM  

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