Barbisio hat - Need advise

[Flieger]

Hello everybody!

This is my first post here at the Fedora Lounge so please be gentle with me.

I hope to get some help here but maybe it's best if I start from the beginning:

Ok, I'm living in the northern part of Sweden and last week I won a Barbisio hat at an online auction. I got the hat really cheep... with shipping I paid about $20 US or 140 SEK. Well, as you can see from this first photo (from the auction) I really took a gamble but the size and the price was right.

Today the hat came to me and I was a bit surprised to find out that the hat was not blueish-grey at all, but a nice chocolate-brown... and after a little work with the vacuum and a brush it started to look pretty presentable... except for one thing - The bash. The previous owner claims he hardly ever used the hat since it was too small for him. If he made that ugly bash or if someone else played with it I don't know. Problem is that the bash left a mark on the crown as you can see in these photos:

I took my hat to the only place in town that deal in hats and asked them for advice. They said they wouldn't touch it until I got it cleaned at a drycleaner. OK, fair enough. Then I spent a couple of hours on the phone trying to track down a drycleaner who would help me. No go. Well, I talked to one guy who said he "could try and run it in his machine"!!! No thanks.

So now I have a hat that I can't get cleaned, bashed/shaped or worn. What to do? It looks and feel like a lovely hat (I don't know much about Barbisio beside what I have learned lurking at this place) and I'd love to wear it as soon as winter's ended.

Is there anything I can do myself? I'm willing to learn if someone want to teach me?

Cheers
Flieger

 

[Stoney]

Just a little Steam Required

If the hat is not heavily soiled and you've brushed it off well...

Boil a pot of water and hold the hat over it until you feel that it's warming up.
You don't want to saturate the felt, but it should be moist. Then smooth out the
bump with your fingers. Let the felt dry and the bump should be gone There is a great sticky on Hat Creases at the top of the hat forum that details various hand bashes you may want to try before sending the hat off to have it reblocked. You'll want to read it before proceeding. IMHO hand made bashes add a great deal of character to a lid that is lacking with one that is factory formed.

BTW Thats an awesome looking lid.

 

[Dinerman]

I can't understand why they would need it dry cleaned.

 

[DOUGLAS]

DON'T DRY CLEAN IT!!!!

 

[Pilgrim]

Do NOT give it to a dry cleaner. Most of them have no clue how to clean a hat - and they don't have the equipment.

On this forum it has been discussed at length that submerging the hat in naphtha will not damage the sweatband, liner or felt. If you can buy a gallon of the stuff and submerge the hat in it, others here can advise you on the process.

But I am not convinced the hat needs cleaned at all! Unless you can see visible soiling, I recommend just brushing it thoroughly.

Once the hat is cleaned or brushed, you'll have a couple of options - one is to try and remove the line from the existing bash - you might even be able to do that yourself by steaming the hat gently and working the line out of it by using some round object like a ball on the inside to repeatedly smooth it. The other option would be to bash it and simply use the existing bach line as part of the new look. I think that would be easier.

One more piece of advice - if the hat place told you to have this hat dry cleaned, do NOT trust them. They probably don't really know how to take care of good quality felt hats.

 

[besdor]

That hat is a very good quality hat . The problem in Sweden is there arent many hat shops around. I'd try to clean the hat with a clean cotton cloth and water . Even a little alchohol may help as well.
That hat is from the original Barbisio factory that closed in 1980.






Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[MattJH]

I suppose I'm the only one that likes the bash it originally had in it! I like it. Looks old-school; a good hat to wear when you're busy being a ne'er-do-well pickpocketing people at the open market.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

And the line of the new bash will probably hide or at least make less apparent the old bash line.

 

[tonyb]

Your instincts are good, Flieger. You found a nice hat at a good price. You knew that that bash didn't do it any kind of justice. You had the innate sense not to entrust it to a dry cleaner. And you found this site.
I concur with all the above. Short of a professional reblock, the best way I know of to take out those old bash marks is to do what Stoney and Pilgrim advised. Particularly helpful is Pilgrim's suggestion that you use something such as a ball (I've used bottles) on the inside of the crown. You may find that it takes several applications of steam and elbow grease before those old marks fade away. And they may not quite fade away altogether, although I'd bet you can get them to the point that only you would ever know they were there.

 

[Flieger]

Whoa! Thanks for all replies! You sure know how to make a new guy feel welcome.

As some of you suspect I don't fully trust the hat-place either. They have been around for 40+ years but the owner has been doing womens hats and only recently expanded to selling mens hats (Stetsons mainly). I can't say I feel very safe with them but they are the only game in town, so...

Douglas: OK. No dry cleaner. I promise!

Stoney: Thanks for det steam advise. However, it's not so much a "bump" I need to get rid of... it's more of a difference in colour where the fold from the old bash was.

Pilgrim: Thanks. I have to look into this "naphta cleaning" thing. I'm not exactly sure what naphta is, or if I can find it here in Sweden.

besdor: Alcohol and a cotton cloth? Check. It sounds like a sure way to get rid of any grease stains on the hat, I'm I correct?

Mike in Seattle: I REALLY hope so to.

I'm attaching a couple of more photos showing the inside of the hat if anyone's interested? I know the Barbisio factory closed in the 80's... is there anyway to find out exactly when my hat was made. The previous owner said he got it in Stockholm at the "Bodeckers" store just before they closed down in the late 70's.

Cheers everyone!
/Flieger

BTW: Are there anymore Swedes here?

 

[Dinerman]

That's beautiful, and if the 61 means 61cm, it's a hard to find size as well. Great job.

 

[Razzman]

Looks like that hat is a keeper, and at a bargain price. Congratulations:eusa_clap

 

[besdor]

How big is the brim? That would help to dechiper the hats age. From the size tag , it looks like a later hat although the lining is gorgeous .




Steven
www.bencraft.com

 

[RBH]

Welcome to the Lounge!!

I will try and help a little.
If you can get Camp fuel like goes in the Coleman camp stove,
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7134/colanv6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
it is the same as Naptha.
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9756/colemanfuelnwl9.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>
It is also called white gas.
You can use this to clean your hats. I use it all the time will no harm at all to any of my fedoras.Just run a search here and you can find the info on what to do .
Good Luck and once again WELCOME!

 

[Dinerman]

I thought I read that white gas made the felt dull.

 

[Flieger]

Many thanks for all the feedback!

The number "61" on the tag is the size in centimeters, yes. I think that's 7 5/8 in usual terms, right? My size is just between 7 1/2 and 7 5/8 so I was very glad to find this one.

Brim size? How do I mesure that? Does 65 mm or 2½ inch sound correct? The brim is slightly wider at the front and back but only by a fraction.

I have never seen any of those brands of naphta here in Sweden, but I admit I have never had the reason to look for them until now. We have something called "Chemically Pure gas" but I have only seen it in small bottles.

Cheers
/Mike

 

[RBH]

I thought I read that white gas made the felt dull.

Dinerman, All I can say is the camp fuel has worked for me. I have cleaned several hats with it. Two brown and 3 silverbellygrey felts. The hats were rather dirty so that after cleaning the felt seemed to me to be 'brighter' and had better color.
I got the idea to use camp fuel from a post Fedora had from awhile back.
There may be a difference in the Coleman fuel and regular white gas.

 

[Flieger]

Today I threw caution in the wind and had my first try ever at bashing a hat. I was surprised of how responsive the felt became when subjected to a little steam - It was like putty in my hands. I tried to do a Diamond crease and this is how it worked out:

Don't be shocked about my pale skin - We don't see much sun in the wintertime this far north. lol
/Flieger

 

[vonwotan]

That is one very fine hat and it looks great on you.

 

[Stoney]

Diamond Bash

That's pretty good for your first bash.

Check out Rick Blaine's Avatar for a classic example of how the side profile
of a hat should look with a diamond bash. The angle going back from mid crown is influenced by how far you pull the center points out towards the sides of the hat brim. If you want a severe angle like Rick has in his avatar you need stiffer felt in the crown of the hat.

Great Job!