Akubra Overload

[Motorcyclist]

Happy birthday, ingineer. I always thought the Lightning ridge was the larger brim version of the banjo but I don't have a Lawson to compare. Are all three that similar?

 

[racuda]

I'm currently visiting my father and thought the lounge would like a look at his cattleman, worn for many years on the tractor.

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Looks like it got caught in farm machinery.

 

[Mm25]

An old drover, perfect for walking dogs and cost me less than the shipping on my campdraft!!

 

[Mm25]

One thing I really like about campdrafts are the options to bash, but it seams so many look the same. I had an extra, so I tried something different kind of a cross between a Montana peak and a fedora. Still haven't decided how to finish the brim, maybe with a bit of fore and after dip like a western hat and a bit of side curl.

 

[tropicalbob]

When I got my Fed IV recently, Hats Direct included two different kinds of spacers in the box: one was the two-inch plastic foam one, and the other was a small, rounded foam tube that winds all the way around the inside of the sweatband. It's the first one of these I've seen, and it works beautifully. Anyone know if these are new? I'm thinking of asking for a few more, as I'm finding that, particularly with straws or hemps, the back spacers can warp the brim.

 

[miket5r]

One thing I really like about campdrafts are the options to bash, but it seams so many look the same. I had an extra, so I tried something different kind of a cross between a Montana peak and a fedora. Still haven't decided how to finish the brim, maybe with a bit of fore and after dip like a western hat and a bit of side curl.

great bash, mm25

 

[RJR]

great bash, mm25

+1,interesting.

 

[Mm25]

Not too much happening here in the overload area. With the addition of the black Territory that came today, I'm at six. The territory is fully lined, unlike my drover, cattleman and slouch. Still have to knock the shipping dust off it, but here it is with the rest of the herd.

 

[argyle]

You've got to learn to put a nice bash on an Akubra Mn25.
A good bash is everything. Both for the style of hat and to suit your face and body type.
If you were on my parade ground I'd have you marched off quick smart, back into the laundry room to re bash every akubra you have.

 

[argyle]

Agreed 100%

As a daily wearer of hats for work and play, I feel a man has to have firstly a work hat that sees all weather/sweat and any other oils and grease you come into contact with.
Plus a unblemished daily wearer dress hat so you can look respectable with a fresh shirt and pants on.
Then a third hat sitting in the cupboard waiting to be broken in.
Once the work hat shrinks to the uncomfortable level, it's replaced by the nice unblemished but broken in hat, the closet sitter becomes daily dress hat, and then you're on the prowl for the next one quickly.

I think I might take issue with the claim of abuse. The Akubra is traditionally the hat of the Australian man on the land & this one has done its job (and been retired). A drive through any Australian country town will see plenty of hats not dissimilar to this. The wear on the crown comes from constantly taking the hat off to mop the brow. And a working man's hands are rarely cleaned before he takes his hat off.

This is one of the reasons there are so few vintage hats in Aus. A hat is worn until it is time for a new one. At which point the town hat becomes the work hat and you buy a new town hat.

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[Mm25]

You've got to learn to put a nice bash on an Akubra Mn25.
A good bash is everything. Both for the style of hat and to suit your face and body type.
If you were on my parade ground I'd have you marched off quick smart, back into the laundry room to re bash every akubra you have.

Ouch! I am open to suggestions. Can you share some examples?

 

[moontheloon]

You've got to learn to put a nice bash on an Akubra Mn25.
A good bash is everything. Both for the style of hat and to suit your face and body type.
If you were on my parade ground I'd have you marched off quick smart, back into the laundry room to re bash every akubra you have.

I think it's a good thing that no one cares what you think and bashes their hats accordingly

at ease soldier

 

[Frunobulax]

You've got to learn to put a nice bash on an Akubra Mn25.
A good bash is everything. Both for the style of hat and to suit your face and body type.
If you were on my parade ground I'd have you marched off quick smart, back into the laundry room to re bash every akubra you have.

They look just fine. Your hat's bash is how you put your own mark on it. There is no wrong way.

 

[Bob Roberts]

You've got to learn to put a nice bash on an Akubra Mn25.
A good bash is everything. Both for the style of hat and to suit your face and body type.
If you were on my parade ground I'd have you marched off quick smart, back into the laundry room to re bash every akubra you have.

Sgt. Killjoy.

 

[Rogera]

Agreed 100%

As a daily wearer of hats for work and play, I feel a man has to have firstly a work hat that sees all weather/sweat and any other oils and grease you come into contact with.
Plus a unblemished daily wearer dress hat so you can look respectable with a fresh shirt and pants on.
Then a third hat sitting in the cupboard waiting to be broken in.
Once the work hat shrinks to the uncomfortable level, it's replaced by the nice unblemished but broken in hat, the closet sitter becomes daily dress hat, and then you're on the prowl for the next one quickly.

Are you agreeing with yourself?

 

[JackieMatra]

Are you agreeing with yourself?

Conversing with his best friend, I would guess.

 

[argyle]

Ouch! I am open to suggestions. Can you share some examples?

My apologies...
I never meant to be nasty at all. I typed far too quickly without thought of another's feelings.
Let's start from the left hand side ..
Back Row..
1. The creamy/tan with a Cattleman type hat band that looks like it's had an outer brim-trim. It looks like someone has put a bash in it so it can hold an inch of water during a drought.
It's pretty close to being the ugliest form of a man's hat I've ever seen, and would only suit a drunken hobo on a wet night.
2. The Australian Army Slouch Hat.
It has not had a correct bash put in yet. Merely a quick pressing of the centre crown.
For a correct bash to be applied. Soak the top of the crown in hot water for 20 minutes, make sure you don't dip it deep enough for the leather band to become water soaked, then squeeze the centre closer so there isn't as larger gap at the top as it is now, so the two sides of the crown are closer but not touching.
You don't want a tight pinched top to the sides of the top bash, nice small rounded crease here are perfect.
At the same time put the two bashed side creased in, long creases not short as in the side bash of all factory bashed Akubra's. As long as they are even it'll be fine.
Let the hat dry for a day/night and every now and then pop a touch of steam around all bashes and blow every now and then, just a few times, with a hair dryer.
The Slouch should always slightly touch the top of your head at the rear. As should all Akubras.
At no time should the brim, when the left hand side is clipped up, have any lopsideness to it. It should remain straight all the way around.
3.Good Lord ...is that some type of a Scoutmaster/Marine/Dice bash you've tried putting on a Campdraft? That's horrible.
Let's hope the thin layer of rabbit felt hasn't been damaged by that bash. More about the Campdraft below.
Front row.
1. Is that a Campdraft or an some American style Fed?
It's very hard to put a nice bash on a Campdraft, due the the thinness of the felt.
Too much water or too much steam will shrink them very quickly.
I always found it easier to buy a Campdraft three sizes above your daily wearer size, due to shrinkage from bashing, weather and sweat.
Be very wary of fancy bashes, as fancy Campdraft bashes look very Camp.
I'm a 61 in most Akubra sizes, they fit perfectly on day one, but two months later all have shrunk, leaving me with a very tight hat. So I always purchase 62's.
In the Campdraft I buy either 63 or 64, depending on the two types of bashes I wear on those models.
The best way to bash a Campdraft to suit your own head, is to soak the crown in Luke Warm water to full penetration, then sit it on your head and shape the crown both top and side bashes while on. Then take it off and improve on it, put it back on and let the natural feel re bash itself, off again and improve by eye, then back on again ect ect.
It takes an hour or two.
Try to get the pinch of the bashes as tightly rounded as you can, as a flat sharp pinch can look out of whack on most Akubra's.
Regardless of the different types of bashes you can lay in on a Campdraft, even the old 'whack down the crown straight out of the box bash, the moulded to your head bash, I find anyway, suits most men better as the hat always looks like it was made to order.
2.
Is that a black Territory? What happened to it? Did a woman with no dress sense get her hands on it?
What did you find so unappealing about the Factory bash to go and do this to it?
I think the best thing you could do is buy a couple of factory bashed Akubra's, say a short brimmed Hampton, and a Liesure Time (a very underrated hat, but such a nancy name for a tough looking hat) and get a feel for how an Akubra should sit on your head, and when they are broken in, have a few good looks front on and profile in a mirror and notice why Akubra put those factory bashes on those models.
The larger hats aren't doing it for you.
Give yourself the true feeling of wearing an Akubra model that suits you.

 

[argyle]

 

[Rogera]

Soak a crown in hot water for twenty minutes and buy a Campdraft three sizes too big to accommodate shrinkage? Hmmmmm, interesting. Maybe a correlation there.

 

[argyle]

Hey Rogera ....You can see I was agreeing with another member and quoted his post.

And hey Jackie Matra... What's up your bum, apart from my boot soon.