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[navarre]

Check in the Photos of hatter tools tread and the Conversion Coral tread. Lots of hobby hat maker tools and ideas there. A good foot tolliker and heavy iron is all you really need. If you're not the make it yourself type, a few of our fellow members have offered tollikers from time to time or look up Mark Ducou woodworking on Etsy and you will find plenty of nifty little hand tools for sale.

 

[Doomstein]

I use a Mark Decou foot tolliker. He sells a basic hatting tools set which has a pusher downer, a puller downer, and a foot tolliker.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/98390278/in-stock-ready-to-ship-hat-making-three?ref=shop_home_active_1

I never got around to buying one of his famous rounding jacks for brim cutting, I just keep using the one I made for myself. Someday I'll also trade up to a tolliker with a metal foot, so I don't have to use as much pressure.

 

[Doomstein]

Well, you can do it the hard way, and by hard way I mean painstakingly measure it out by hand and cut carefully with shears, or a box cutter, OR you can do it like a pro using a rounding jack. A rounding jack is a brim cutting tool that, the base of which (the shoe), you move along the outside of the crown, and the blade, which is set at a pre-set position, cuts the brim the set distance from the crown. To do a perfect dimensional brim (a dimensional brim is what we call a brim that is different on the sides than the front and back) you need a high end rounding jack with dimensional brim adjusters. That's basically an attachment on the end of the rounding jack's shoe that lets you smoothly transition into the wider distance and back (the oval arc). If you look at the one here by Mark Decou again, you'll see at the curved end (the shoe) there's a brass doohickey with adjustable screws, that's the dimensional adjuster.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/221213689/built-to-order-hat-making-tool-rounding?ref=related-2

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

Thanks Doomstein. I have a rounding jack just not one with the extra brass knobs to change the arc. I might have to plan for that later or maybe I can make my own.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

Thanks for the replies. I have that set from Mark Decou and will see how that works with the dry flat iron I just ordered. I recently spent two days at JW Hats in Utah and was using his tools which were pretty amazing. I have ordered from JW a rounding jack, metal pusher downer, an OT turner, and a set of curling shackles.

 

[mayserwegener]

From my understanding brims used to be cut this way where the sides were narrower than the front and the back but over time the hat makers went to a uniform brim width.
Cheers!

Where did you hear / read this? I would think it would be hat type / style related more than anything.

Here you go.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?41273-Dimensional-brims

 

[Brad Bowers]

From my understanding, the adjustable rounding jacks were originally intended for use on Derbies and the like to cut the brims to size prior to making the D'Orsay curl, with wider sides and shorter front and back, since that allows for the proper D'Orsay curl with minimal front and rear curl. The Indiana Jones guys picked up on the idea for narrow sides and longer front and back because that was the way the brim was cut for the original hat in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I think very few examples of this practice from historic decades have ever surfaced here.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

@mayserwegener likely I heard it somewhere and misapplied the context of it. I am very new to this (fine hats), my bad. I just read that link you provided and the information would be a much more authoritative source. Especially since Art was on the thread. Thanks for the correction.

 

[B1ggles]

Are there fuller flat caps (i.e. not slim driver/cycling caps) being made in Europe or the U.K. at all? Or are there custom makers in Europe on a par with such as the lounge members in the U.S.?

I have a newsboy cap from Studio Donegal, also an older one they call the 'Student cap', though for some reason they are only showing two of their range on their website http://www.studiodonegal.ie/ at the moment, mine being the 'Gatsby'. They use their own hand-woven tweed. I have also seen their caps in various shops in the South and West of Ireland.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

How does one find dimensions for hat blocks?

I would like to try my hand at making my own hat blocks and would like to make 12 sizes of blocks. The dimensions that I am trying to determine for each of the blocks are the length and the width. As for height that will be variable depending on the block style that I am making. Are there any resources that say for a size 7 3/8 hat then the block width is x and the block length is y? Again I would be looking for 12 common hat sizes or so. Much appreciate your time.

Cheers!

 

[Joao Encarnado]

How does one find dimensions for hat blocks?

I would like to try my hand at making my own hat blocks and would like to make 12 sizes of blocks. The dimensions that I am trying to determine for each of the blocks are the length and the width. As for height that will be variable depending on the block style that I am making. Are there any resources that say for a size 7 3/8 hat then the block width is x and the block length is y? Again I would be looking for 12 common hat sizes or so. Much appreciate your time.

Cheers!

You can always measure already made blocks. Some are more round, some long oval so you can have several measures for the same head size.

 

[tommyK]

I've got three 7 1/2 hat blocks, none of them are the same circumference or dimensions front to back. They are roughly 8 1/4 front to back and 6 3/4 side to side and about 23 1/2 around.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

@tommyK Thanks for that. I guess as long as I am in the ballpark and the circumferences match for the hat size then I should be ok.

@Joao Encarnado Appreciate the feedback, I only have one hat block myself and was hoping to find a resource that hat dimensions for round oval and long oval head shapes. By the way, where in Portugal do you live? I lived 2 years in various locations around Portugal (beautiful country, hoping to take the family there next year).

 

[Joao Encarnado]

@Joao Encarnado Appreciate the feedback, I only have one hat block myself and was hoping to find a resource that hat dimensions for round oval and long oval head shapes. By the way, where in Portugal do you live? I lived 2 years in various locations around Portugal (beautiful country, hoping to take the family there next year).

Near Lisbon. I can get to the Lisbon Airport in 10-15 minutes.

 

[CinematicGypsy]

Bought two boaters today -- no idea of the age, although I'm fairly certain they're pre WWII. Where's the best place on here to post pictures for some input?

 

[jlee562]

Bought two boaters today -- no idea of the age, although I'm fairly certain they're pre WWII. Where's the best place on here to post pictures for some input?

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?26728-Boater-faction!

 

[mactire]

I have a newsboy cap from Studio Donegal, also an older one they call the 'Student cap', though for some reason they are only showing two of their range on their website http://www.studiodonegal.ie/ at the moment, mine being the 'Gatsby'. They use their own hand-woven tweed. I have also seen their caps in various shops in the South and West of Ireland.

Cheers for that. I've tried the various Irish makers before but they only seem to do large quantities, also they don't seem to do fuller shapes much or use nicer trimmings like leather sweatbands. Any in the UK you know of at all?

 

[CinematicGypsy]

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?26728-Boater-faction!

Perfect. Thank you.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

How are professional hatters finishing their linings?

What I mean by that, is liners from places like Hats by Leko leave an open seam at the back so that it can be adjusted but do hatters like Art Fawcett, Penman & others close them up on their custom hats? I am sure they are also producing their own liners as well. My Akubra leaves the seam at the back unsewn except for a couple of bar tacks to close it up, which also appear to go through the felt as well.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

How are professional hatters finishing their linings?

What I mean by that, is liners from places like Hats by Leko leave an open seam at the back so that it can be adjusted but do hatters like Art Fawcett, Penman & others close them up on their custom hats? I am sure they are also producing their own liners as well. My Akubra leaves the seam at the back unsewn except for a couple of bar tacks to close it up, which also appear to go through the felt as well.

I may have just answered my own question. Looking at Art's website again I found some images of inside the hat. To me it looks like the back seam is left unsewn. Please correct me if I am wrong in my observation.