Akubra Campdraft

[Edward]

We certainly do! Well, I know that I do. I zero-in on silly glitches and fixate upon them. Not proud of it, but that's my wiring. It makes me a decent quality assurance guy.

As for the Campdraft, I'm imagining some executive at Akubra with an interest in graphic design making the decision to split it into two words for the sake of "appearance." The truth is probably stranger than that.

Oh, believe me, this is nothing on the rows I've seen (genuinely) spark out once or twice over the years in the Rocky Horror community over whether we dance the Timewarp or the Time Warp. (The latter is, of course, correct.)


I think you're right about it being a 'two words aesthetic' thing , fwiw - that's certainly what cross my mind as the most likely explanation.

 

[Edward]

So I ordered Campdraft, still waiting to come and from what I read some folks here prefer water spraying and others prefer steam. I'm not sure which one should be better or easier on the hat? On an Akubra official site, they recommend steaming it.

Could I dry bash it without the spidering of the hat? Would electric water heater for coffee be good enough for steaming it? Maybe question are unnecessary and stupid, but I am a newbie, so please bear with me.

I find Akubras vary. Depends how stiff the hat is, really. When I bought mine waaaaay back when, though, as I remember there was a little give, enough to get a vague idea of where I wanted to make my crease with it before I steamed it. BUT it really only was a shallow dip, and I was only going centre-dent. If it feels like you've got to force it, I'd wait for the steam - it's surprising how much more pliable is suddenly becomes, then sets again very quickly. I've never bothered with a spray bottle - I just boil the kettle and hold the crown of the hat over it. Careful (I learned the hard way) where you hold it, though - keep the brim of the hat between you and the kettle like a shield. If you hold it by the brim, the steam can swirl up round the crown and scald your fingers. I dropped the hat and moved fast enough not to have a noticeable burn, but it was still painful enough, albeit fortunately briefly.

I own a handful of different Akubras and the felt can be different from one to the other. Some of them are fairly stiff, so take this for what it's worth:

If your felt feels stiff at all, take the time to either steam it or dampen it with a misting spray and let it soak in before you manipulate the felt, especially if you feel you will try several different bashes on the same hat. All it costs is a little drying time, and you'll considerably lessen the risks of "spidering" or visible creasing. I don't change creases on my hats once they're in, and I still have a couple of Akubras with faint lines from trying to crease them dry. Now I wet them all, or at least steam them, before I fool with them.

Not discounting advice already offered here, but the same brand or even model of hat can have felt that varies considerably, so you have to decide the best approach on your own.

Good luck!

Agreed on all counts. I can't speak to the Campdraft on this - I've only had one, the Deluxe - but having had both deluxe and regular Federations, my experience has been that the regular Fed (100% rabbit) is out of the box noticeably softer than the Deluxe (Rabbit / Hare mix). The Deluxe was almost Western-hat hard (as was my Campdraft DLX new), though if anything it seems to wear to being a bit softer over the long term.

Like yourself, I don't tend to change a crease over time. I do tend to give some thought to what would look best on a particular hat from the off.... My first Fed was simple: I wanted the Raiders look. for the second I went with a diamond bash on a carbon grey, just for another point of difference as much as anything. I tend to view felt as being a bit like a flat piece of soft metal - bendable to shape, but if you keep flexing it back and forth on the same spot too often, it's eventually split.

 

[Aleksio]

The Campdraft is going to have a wider brim than the hat Heston is wearing in that picture. His brim looks to be either a 2 1/2 or a 2 5/8 as compared to the Campdraft's 2 3/4 brim. Not sure what the open crown height is on his hat. Could be either a 5 1/2 or even 6 inches. In any event, yes, you can get a nice front to back rake on a 5 1/2 open crown. Whenever I crease my hats I use a spray bottle with water and spritz my hats just damp enough to mould the felt. You don't want to soak the hat. I also use a ruler to measure the height of my pinch to where I want it, and I 'll also use the ruler to measure the height at the back of my hat to get the 'steepness' of the rake I want. After you get the crease you want set the hat aside and let it dry. After it dries the crease will be set.

One more question, how do you change at the point front and back pinch? Do you just push it up and down till you reach your desired height, and how much space should it be left inside the crown for your head? As I know the head shouldn't touch the tip of the crown if I am correct?

 

[jlee562]

Don't over think it. The right answer is what looks good on your head, not any specific measurements.

Akin to your question on "appropriate" vintage height, we can't tell you how much space to leave because your head is not our heads. Some of these things you just have to figure out for yourself as you go. There's not a standardized measurement for clearance space, and no fedora police if the top of the crown touches your head anyways. Whether or not the top of the crown makes any contact with your head is not a rule to be upheld for the sake of arbitrary correctness, it's just a matter of comfort/preference.