Typing Review: Olympia SF

Today I gave the Olympia SF a try to type out a letter to my parents. As you can see from the picture, we own a blue one, very much the same blue of the 1950s. Appearance-wise, this is a very pretty machine, flat and compact. The keys are set at a good width. The margins were very easy to determine how to use, and I was able to set up everything myself, i.e., the typewriter is so easy to set up and use that even a dummy could do it!

As for the typing experience, a bit of a different story! I am typically a very fast typist. This machine forced me to slow down a bit; however, that could potentially be that they need oiling? If it is only a matter of oiling, then they were very comfortable on the finger-tips and spaced extremely well. You have to have great typing posture to use, and I do not recommend using on a desk that is too high for your arms.

The spacing of the letters was perfect, and margin setting was easy. I love the appearance of this machine so much that I am going to see if I can play with oiling to see if I can make the keys type faster.

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Still waiting to play around with oiling the machine, but as per request, below is a typing sample, including a typeface specimen and a paragraph from Walden.