You have to saturate the hat with steam to get it to stretch down over the block. Some people put the whole hat in hot water prior to blocking.
My natural body got much more wet than this one did and it turned out great. I'm wondering if the natural is actually un-dyed fur? I assumed it was...
Well there's $150 down the drain. Steaming the crown in a pot of boiling water. Top of the crown was touching the water. Washed the color right out. It started as a small circle and turned into this.
Mine is Natural. It's fairly soft and flexible. The brim is stiffer than the crown but not overly stiff, you can move it around and bend it. I have one in Honey that I haven't started on yet but it's just a touch more stiff than the natural but I dont think it'll be overly stiff like a board...
Compared to off the shelf hats the brim is thicker than pretty much any other western hat I own. The crown is much, much thinner than the brim. As thin or thinner than most other hats I own. I didnt do much pouncing on the crown. I ended up sanding the brim a bit more to get it a touch thinner.
Another problem ordering long oval. They sent a regular oval band block by mistake so they sent this "long oval". It looks like the same block but with LO stamped on the bottom. The long oval is 1mm longer and 1am thinner on the sides. 1mm?? Sorry but I do not consider that long oval. I'm not...
I clearly have about 700 things on my mind, I took measurements of the block, wrote them down on a piece of paper and then placed it in the garbage. Later searched everywhere for it so I could write them here, then noticed the paper in the trash. Anyway, the bottom of the block is 8 5/16" by 6...
My first hat is coming along nicley. I finished pouncing and cut the brim to 3 1/2" which was then max I could do. That's ok though. I like larger brims but 3 1/2" is easier to wear and looks better on me. The hat is ready for a sweatband. I'm dragging my feet because I hate doing that part and...
Does this look like Long Oval dimensions to you? It doesn't to me but maybe my eyes are lying. I have a larger sized block that IS long oval and even though it's larger, it's more narrow than this one which leads me to believe this is not a long oval. It looks regular to me. Thoughts?
You can see the old crease in his hat, looks like it used to have a standard fedora style teardrop crease before it was pushed out into open crown and given the more crude, careless grab n go crease.
I worked the felt a little more today, I used one cord with a tight square knot and then worked it down, then put on another cord with a slip knot to help hold everything in place once I worked it to the full 6". Now the brim looks silly and short but I'm thinking it'll become more full once...
Yeah I was using the cord but the brim wasnt completely saturated like the crown was so that was probably a lot of the problem and as belfastboy mentioned, it's western weight so even if fully saturated, it would still be nearly impossible just using blocking cord. It seems to slip too easily...
Yes, I returned to the pot, put lid on to help hold the hat from falling all the way into pot and to hold in the steam. I'm going to wait for the blocking spring and use that to take some of the brim into the crown. It doesn't need much. Probably only about the width of the spring.
I went ahead...
I am using a big pot of boiling water, first spraying the crown with a spray bottle, then setting the hat crown down in the pot until steam is coming up through the felt, the crown was saturated when I put it on the block.
As far as dimensions, 6" crown and hopefully 4" brim but I'd be fine...
The swatch cards are all very different. Most are extremely stiff, some seem to have no stiffener. Most are really thick, some are fairly thin. Some are extremely rough and hairy, some are like fine velvet.
Yes and no. It only does so much good and then the block tends to just want to tip over. It's easier grip on opposite sides of the brim.
I'm elevating the block by setting it on a pot so I can have some room to pull down. If I only pull down on one side, the block tips.
I finally got my block from Poland. Really nice work.
I began blocking one of my Sunrise nutria body blanks. I'm having trouble getting the full 6" that I would like. I was grabbing the brim and yanking it down, using my body weight to push downwards as hard as I could and rotating the hat as I...
I got my second body today. This one is Honey which is a whiskey color I would say. About what I was expecting. I like the color a lot. This body is slightly more stiff than the one in natural but not overly so. It seems to be pounced better than the natural.
Honey:
I'm still waiting on my block so I haven't been able to do anything yet. I ordered the block back in October. Tracking shows it's getting close so it shouldn't be long now. It must have sat in customs for quite a while. I went ahead and ordered a 220g in Honey. I'd order a few more and try out...
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