I like the old machines. This is a customer machine that needed a bit of love. Quite dirty with a broken draw band, bad feet, nasty paper rollers and sticking keys. You know; normal stuff.
In the past it also received the typical shellac that was a favorite way to brighten an aging typewriters paint. Of course fifty years later it is just a crinkly yellowed mess.
The nice thing about Underwood 5 typewriters that it is simple to dismantle for a heavy cleaning, so off comes the type bars and segment. I now have a new tool in my cleaning arsenal (for small parts); a bench top ultrasonic cleaner. This handy tool makes cleaning much quicker and plain old does a better job.
There was a bit of rust on the paper table, roller guides and type bars and that is tedious work. You have to remove rust as best you can especially anything that may touch paper.
I’m pleased with the end results and it types really nice!