BCF conversion/block job

[airforceindy]

Just ran across this over at COW; has anybody here experimented with homemade block shapes, or better yet does anybody have a tutorial on how to create one?

Posted by Mac:

Regards, Andy

 

[Jerekson]

That...
Is...













INSANE!!!!!

 

[J.T.Marcus]

I'm always impressed by a job well done; and that is a JOB WELL DONE! :eusa_clap

 

[thunderw21]

Wow, that looks like a completely different hat. Incredible.

 

[apipeguy]

wow! I have a hat he can convert. beautiful. invite him over to the Lounge.

 

[RBH]

wow! Looks like he put alot of that R E A L L Y wide brim into the crown.
Looks great to me!

 

[Dalexs]

That's the beauty of the BCF hats, they tend to have ALOT of brim to begin with.
(remember that Hoss hat I showed here a while back!)

Which makes them ripe for reblock no matter what size they are!

 

[Bebop]

Sorry but I would need proof to believe that those two hats are the same hat before and after. If they are, every single thing was changed. Including what seems to look like felt quality, with just a re-block. [huh]

 

[fatwoul]

Is that balsa? Where does one obtain the dimensions with which to carve the shape? I'd love to make my own, but I wouldn't know where to begin figuring out the shape.

I did wonder something once. I wondered if someone found a hat shape they like, but in a hat they didn't like, whether you could put a balloon in the hat, and then fill it with plaster. Let the plaster set, pull the thing out of the hat again, cut off the balloon, and you'd have a shape to put on a plastic forming machine, like hatshapers do, except in a more accurate/specific block shape.

 

[Tango Yankee]

That block looks like it's made of plaster.

As for trying to make a mold of the inside of a hat with plaster in a balloon the problem I see right off the bat is that the weight of the plaster would actually push out the crease you're trying to mold to and you'd wind up with a block like the one above. I think you'd run into that problem with most materials you might try unless you somehow stiffened the felt so it wouldn't change shape.

Regards,
Tom

 

[fatwoul]

...As for trying to make a mold of the inside of a hat with plaster in a balloon the problem I see right off the bat is that the weight of the plaster would actually push out the crease you're trying to mold to and you'd wind up with a block like the one above...

That's what I want.

Sorry I wasn't clear - by "shape" I did meant the open crown shape of the hat, not a crease. I don't really like the idea of using blocks to crease hats, since it would result in all my hats looking formulaic. I'd much rather crease them myself, but I'd like to start with a "flatter" untapered dome, more like the block in this thread, rather than the more...domey dome I have at the moment.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Ah... well, then, I'd say you're on the right track!

 

[Dalexs]

Sorry but I would need proof to believe that those two hats are the same hat before and after. If they are, every single thing was changed. Including what seems to look like felt quality, with just a re-block. [huh]

Proof!?! What about this:

BCF Special,
Left to right: Just purchased; Post Peanut Butter Jar Block; Final Assembly

An absolutely amazing transformation!

 

[airforceindy]

Well, don't kill the messenger, fellas! I simply saw this, was impressed so much that I didn't even bother to speculate, and thought to myself: "Self, how do we go about making a block like that?" It's plaster, but what to use as a mold? I don't want to use my good hats, 'cause then I have to figure out how to get the plaster remnants out. Besides, if I REALLY wanted to get a crap hat looking like my decent ones RIGHT NOW, I would send it away to the folks who blocked my decent hats in the first place! This is about experimentation, trying something and seeing if it works. If it doesn't, so what? I go back to the drawing board and start over. And if, along the way, I inadvertently stumble across something amazing, I have gained even more.

My intent here was not necessarily to scrutinize and debate, but rather to open a discussion about home-grown hat projects, blocks and ribbon work done on the floor of the living room rather than in the backroom of a shop somewhere. Think about it, I'm sure that's the way Art got started, and I KNOW that's how Steve Delk got started (and look where he's at!). So, once again, I pose the question: does anyone here at the Lounge have a tutorial on block-making?

Thanks for all the lively discussion up to this point!
Regards, Andy

 

[Jay]

It's plaster, but what to use as a mold? I don't want to use my good hats, 'cause then I have to figure out how to get the plaster remnants out.

Couldn't you line a hat with cellophane or something like that?

 

[airforceindy]

I suppose, but then you're dealing with all the peaks and valleys created by the plastic, and once it's all sanded down smooth you are left with a block that is 1/8"-1/4" smaller all the way around. I would take a trip down to Target or Wally-World and find a good-sized Glad-Ware container that I can fit over my head, and start from there. It'd take a fair amount of sanding, even digging. But, better to start big and end up in the right place than to start in the right place and end up too small.

 

[carter]

Why not buy the correct block?

I'm wondering how a plaster block holds up when covered with wet/damp felt. That just doesn't make sense to me.

There are often hat blocks to be found on the internet. OFAS and other sites have them and it is still possible to buy a new hat block.

 

[Jovan]

Proof!?! What about this:

BCF Special,
Left to right: Just purchased; Post Peanut Butter Jar Block; Final Assembly

An absolutely amazing transformation!

Killing me, Dalexs. lol