My First Oliver No. 5 (Refurbish Complete)

I have completed the refurbishment of the Oliver No. 5!  It definitely turned out better than I could have hoped for.  All the yellow stain came off.  Some of the images show what still seems to be a gold or yellow cast in places, but this was due to the room having a gold colored ceiling.  Images show the reproduction ribbon covers in place.  The ribbon cover shade of color does not really that match well.  Plus it seems like all the original covers I have seen have slots in the top.  These however do not.  No re-painting or re-nickeling were done.  Just clean up.

This Oliver now purrs like a kitten.  All movement is smooth and easy as I would have expected it felt coming out of the factory.  Total time spent on the Oliver, purchase through completion of the refurbish was 27 ½ hours.  I am certain I could compress that timeframe substantially on the next Oliver.

   I even choose to keep the original string return cable.  After cleaning with dish-washing soap and drying it seems fine upon reinstall.

 I have typed a couple of pages on the new machine.  The three bank keyboard really takes getting used to.  The platen is even reasonably soft.  I think I might just keep this one!

While the Oliver did clean-up well, I now understand the comments of others who stated that the factory nickel finish has not stood the test of time.  There are spots where rust had eaten through the nickel.

There remains three additional items I may do to the machine:  Install new rubber feet.  Maybe have the front carriage rail arms re-nickeled. (Just don't know if there is enough metal left on these thin pieces to allow for this)  Finally, see if I can locate a pair of original correct ribbon covers for the No. 5. 

I will explain the method I used to clean up the Oliver in a future post.  I did not dissemble the machine.  More to come............