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Akubra Campdraft

monbla256

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,239
Location
DFW Metroplex, Texas
I would agree with all of the above, but in over 40 years of wearing hats and having them creased by hatters, this is the first place I've seen or read about wetting a hat down to do that. ALL the hatters I ever bought a hat from used steam and I STILL do to this day. I know wetting would work as I've often recreased a hat after getting it soaked from wearing in the rain, I just never have done it that way. Try using a teakettle with a good head of steam in it. It will dry sooner as well :)
 

Yeps

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,456
Location
Philly
for me it kinda stops at:
Your creasing process should probably be as follows:

1) Dry-bash (mold with your hands to the basic shape you want).
...
4) Wear it.

Tweak randomly, especially after it rains. Always change the brim.

Then again, I am weird.
 

T Rick

Practically Family
Messages
943
Location
Metro Detroit
Thanks. Lots of great pics on completed bashes. Not too much on how they got there. Are you guys just spraying them with water and molding them like clay?

You realize, all I can do now is obsess about this since I'm in like day 3 of at least a 10 day wait. :)

Tim

I'm a complete noob, only have done my own Bluegrass Green Camp Draft recently (you're gonna love that hat!). Within 5 minutes of unboxing, I was standing in front of a mirror, dry bashing it just for fun (and to get a feel for the process). Within a few minutes, I'd done 3 different bashes, Porkpie, diamond and teardrop IIRC.

A bit later in the day, I took a spray bottle (recent pick up at the dollar store) filled with distilled water (I drink it, always on hand) and sprayed the crown down (not drenched, but good and wet). Within ten minutes I had a crude (but not too crude) version of the teardrop/tugboat bash I've seen a lot of here. Wore it around for the next hour while it dried (and for a bit of time after, didn't want to take it off, even though I was inside :)). It still wears essentially that same crease, though it's been tweaked (dry) just a bit.

It's easy, no worries. I did wet mine first, you may or may not want to. The Pro's do use steam. Hat stores will have a hat steamer, very serious amateurs will have a garment steamer, but dry will work and so will wetting it (have a look at the recently posted video of Roy Rogers doing an impeccable double teardrop on a tall crown Resistol in a YouTube video- took him around 10 minutes or a bit more, and he used the shower for moisture!).

Don't really think you can get into anything you can't get out of/redo with that hat, so no worries. Have fun!
 

Neophyte

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,445
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Well, when it was time to choose which hat to take with me for my family's second New Years trip to Las Vegas, you know which one it had to be lol. I am using my windcord for the first time, and it performed wonderfully, saving my hat no less than three times within an hour:

CampdraftinVegas1.jpg
 
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monbla256

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,239
Location
DFW Metroplex, Texas
Neo,
I have a question for you, where did you fasten the button on the wind cord, given that you were not wearing a suitcoat as they used to be used with :) BTW, I really can't remember my father using one back in the 50s though I'm sure many of his hats had 'em :) He just ducked his head down and put his hand on the crown to hold it in place and kept on truckin' :) BTW, thats a good pic of you and your CD. Shows that color real well :)
 

Sam Craig

One Too Many
Messages
1,356
Location
Great Bend, Kansas
We call the wind Moriah

No, wait, we call the wind ... WIND!

It blows out West and you learn to keep a hat on just like you learn to sail ... tack into the wind and let it keep the hat on your head

Surgical screws help, too

Sam
 

email68

One of the Regulars
Messages
116
Location
Northern CA
I have good water where I live and use it in a spray bottle.
I have also put a crown under the tap and wet it down to shape.
Good fur felt will not taper after a single wetting,....

Thats another question I have. What kind of fur felt is the CD? I only have a wool DP hat now. I'm hoping to be wowed by the new material ;-)
 

Link

One of the Regulars
Messages
123
Location
Oklahoma
Late this afternoon I finally got some sunlight. My iPhone camera still didn't catch the green very well. Nevertheless:

photo-10.jpg


photo-11.jpg
 

Neophyte

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,445
Location
Chattanooga, TN
Neo,
I have a question for you, where did you fasten the button on the wind cord, given that you were not wearing a suitcoat as they used to be used with :) BTW, I really can't remember my father using one back in the 50s though I'm sure many of his hats had 'em :) He just ducked his head down and put his hand on the crown to hold it in place and kept on truckin' :) BTW, thats a good pic of you and your CD. Shows that color real well :)

Thank you for the compliment. To answer your question, the zipper on my fleece has a sturdy fabric pull tap consisting of one looped piece. I threaded the windcord through the tight loop, and the wide shape of the button on the windcord ensured that it wasn't going to slip loose. As for ducking down and holding onto your hat, that could cause quite a collision on the busy streets of Sin City lol.

you learn to keep a hat on just like you learn to sail ... tack into the wind and let it keep the hat on your head.

lol Aye, Sam, but remember that even a ship has an anchor ;).

Late this afternoon I finally got some sunlight.

Fantastic diamond, Link, and it looks great on you as well! :eusa_clap
 
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