Juwel Modell 3, and 4 – The Wednesday typewriter

In the past 3 month i’ve been working on two Juwel modell 3 (The Wednesday) typewriter, one with a plastic keytops and one with a glass keytops, and also making restorations on a Juwel modell 4 typewriter.

The Juwel model 3 and The Juwel model 4 typewriters.

The Juwel model 3 is also known as the typewriter from the Wednesday movie, from Netflix. It’s very difficult to find one. Also they are priced extremely high, they could be somewhere between 850 – 3000 Eur. I got mine from Germany, and the Netherlands. (Will I sell? Read on.)

It is a very time consuming job to bring them back to not only a nice but also a usable state. I’ve been doing a lot of work on them, and they are still needs some more care. I think the hardest part is to stop working on them. There is always a little something that could be better. Repainting a part, cleaning, adjusting, replacing decals etc…

Here you will see some photos that i made during the restauration process. At the end of the page you’ll also find videos on certain steps of bringing back these beauties to life.

Always a good idea to have a metal tray, or and a plastic table cloth to protect your working environment.

It’s a pain to take off the carriage in a Juwel typewriter. It’s not a very common mechanism to see around.

Carriage of a Juwel typewriter. Look how dirty it can be.
But wait for the magic happen 🙂
Show me your back!
Just as i tghought, decades of dust… Watch out, they will attack you!
Look how shiny & clean i became 🙂

But how on earth did i became so clean!? Some of my cleaning process are shown in this videos:

You probaly curiuos how my worplace is looking during a typewriter refurbish project. This is close to the tidiest state.

My messy table with a Juwel.

If you have new-old stock typewriter ribbons, do not throw them away! They can be reused. All you need to do is re-ink the old ribbon. I’ve done a YouTube video about that.

Juwel model 4 Cleaning is done.
It will get a Pelikan ribbon.

Sometimes it’s a good idea (actually, always a good idea) to replace the old-used-worn felt cloths. It’s not expensive, and it’ll give a pleasent feeling to your soul, and also to the typewriter. Also many times these typewriters are sitting decades in a basement, or an attic, and all kind of insects can move into their soft cushioning to give birth to their new many legged generation.

I used mineral Spirit to remove the old fabric, and the glue.
Be careful, not to let the spirit flow to the vieable side of the cover.
Add new felt cloth to where it’s neded.
A double sided tape comes handy.
Do not be lazy, do the sides as well 🙂
Making mask, and cutting out felt cloth.
Typewriter equipped with new felt cloth padding
A Juwel model 4, feeling much better… I did also refurbished the case bottom. No it is not real leather, they did not usere leather on them anyway 🙂

So you have a nice antique typewriter, but the golden decal is partially or completely missing. What can you do? If your typewriter is common, it can be ordered from sites like Etsy. But in this case, you have two options left. You repaint it, or you reproduce the decal. I did a video on how i solve this kind of problem on my way.

Here are also some photos of the process. I use a dentist cavity or tartar removing tool, and a metalic antique gold paint. Do not forget: do not hurry, and close out every disturbing things around, like politicans, or wifes… Use your other hand’s thumb to hold and support the other hand.

Me in the middle of a decal repainting job.
Also me, from an other perspective
Looking through a magnifier glass
Many-many hours later, the repainted decal on a Juwel model 3. Basically all the letters had to be repainted.

I have to mention that all the Juwel modells that came to me had factory painting issues. (Peeling of paints, even rust at some areas, varnishing problems also) This is something you have to accept, cause the other way would be completely refinish the whole thing. But who would pay that?

Cleaning the plastic keys are “easy”. You need a toothpaste. What brand? Is whitening OK? Well, I uses Colgate Whitening. It worked. But there aret different typewriters, different quality materials they used. So i would recommend, first try it on a small part of a key, and see how it behaves. Do not overdo, because the white fillings inside the plastic keytops can come out, or can get faded to a yellowish tint.

In the process of cleaning typewriter plastic key tops. The tootthpaste makes them first a bit foggy, than with the proper amount of circular movement with a paper towel, they get shiny!

At the moment i am in a state where i’ll replace the decals which is on the front-left part on each juwel 3 and 4 models. But of course there is non decal yet. So the only thing i found was a typewriter museum in Germany they have had an old Juwel broschure of which they will scan me out in high resoulution the logo. „All i have to do” is take it and redraw it in illustrator to vectorize it, so either a painting mask, or a new decal can be made of it.

UPDATE: 

The Juwel broschure scan arrived super fast from the typewriter museum. This is a small resolution scan that can be also downloaded from their website:

 

 

Juwel Typewriter Broschure

So in the same day the larger resolution broschure (catalogue) scan arrived, i started to redraw (vectorize) the logo, which can be seen on the lower left corner (the one with the typewriter arm.)

Redrawing the Juwel typewriter logo in Adobe Illustrator
A close up from the vectorizing process. How much easier it would be if you knew the exact typeface, but you dont.. or?

While drawing, i’ve realized that the Juwel logo on my Juwel Modell 3 typewriter is slightly differs. It seems that they slightly modified it over the years, or just on purpose they made a thickend, simplified version that looks or reads better on a small decal? Probably. Anyway, I’ll do two types of them. To be honest i prefer the one with the curvier “L” – the “fraktur” l with letter-eye.

So this is the decal that needs to be reproduced. Won’t be easy.

Since i’ve finished with the overall cleaning, i decided to give a try on each of them. Just to see how the arms, and the platens behave. (The Juwel modell 3 – with glass keytops, The Juwel modell 3 with plastic keytops, and also The Juwel modell 4 – with plastic keytops.)

Before the platen replacement, renewal, arm adjustment they type look like this:

The first typeing test on a Juwel modell 4 - plastic key topped
The first typeing test on a Juwel modell 4. (Not bad! But this typewriter needs a new rubber on the platen, and also needs some arm adjustment, for the ideal letter spacing)
First typeing test on a cleaned Juwel modell 3 - this one is with plastic keytop
Oh, your smell, ohh No, your LLLL… First typeing test on a cleaned Juwel modell 3 – plastic key topped. This one also need a renewed platen, and probably some alignmets on the typefaces.
First typeing test on a Juwel modell 3 - glass keytop
First typeing test on a Juwel modell 3 – glass keytop one. This one has a beautiful writing. Though it needs the platen to be refurbished, and also the ribbon re-inked. Here is my advice: When you first try out the typewriter, on an unchanged platen, but maybe replaced ribbon, do use at least 2 sheets of paper on each other, otherwise you’ll ruin your textile ribbon by punching holes onto them 🙂 – also do not write much. I consider this: a bit much.
Once they’re finished they sit and wait, for to be used
or maybe for a new owner? What else in the cabinet? What else that just did not fit in 🙂

I’ll try to keep this page up to date, to give you clues about the process and also some ideas how you can deal with yours to keep it in good condition.

On my YouTube channel you can check out the videos i made about some od the restoration process.

  1. Some basic Cleaning: https://youtu.be/YVwmpKxXACU
  2. Cleanig materials i used: https://youtu.be/94oSU35F9JU
  3. Changing the ribbon on a Juwel model 3 typewriter: https://youtu.be/t3RkJA0E8-k
  4. Re-ink the typewriter riboon: https://youtu.be/mJJoTJMJXIE
  5. Retouch, repaint faded gold paint on decal: https://youtu.be/iAH_NAp4So0

To be honest i did not decided yet whether i sell or keep them, but probably there is a price that a will say yes.
If you’re dying for one of these beauties, just let me know. (dr.ambrus.laszlo{at sign}gmail.com)

 

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