Best Way to Lower the Crown Height of a Felt?

[Kodiak]

I have a very nice wide-brimmed felt hat in the "Digging for the Truth"/Explorer/Josh Bernstein style by Jimmy Pierce. Unfortunately, the crown and brim are both a bit to tall/wide for me. My body type really doesn't suit the size. Being only about 5' 10 or 11", a 4 1/4 high crown doesn't fit me that well. I sort of feel dwarfed

The hat is very nice, and I plan on taking it with me on my trip to Europe in about a month. I thought about sending it back to Jimmy to have the edits made, but I'm afraid he might not get it back to me in time. Granted, trimming the brim would be no big deal. I would've already done it myself (with a hatter's brim cutter, not with shears), but I'm afraid I would screw up the crown height vs. brim width ratio of the hat.

Really, I need the crown lowered by 1/4 inch and the brim trimmed by 1/4 inch. As I've said, the brim is no problem. But is there any way for me to lower the crown without resorting to a complete rebash?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Orgetorix]

I have a very nice wide-brimmed felt hat in the "Digging for the Truth"/Explorer/Josh Bernstein style by Jimmy Pierce. Unfortunately, the crown and brim are both a bit to tall/wide for me. My body type really doesn't suit the size. Being only about 5' 10 or 11", a 4 1/4 high crown doesn't fit me that well. I sort of feel dwarfed

The hat is very nice, and I plan on taking it with me on my trip to Europe in about a month. I thought about sending it back to Jimmy to have the edits made, but I'm afraid he might not get it back to me in time. Granted, trimming the brim would be no big deal. I would've already done it myself (with a hatter's brim cutter, not with shears), but I'm afraid I would screw up the crown height vs. brim width ratio of the hat.

Really, I need the crown lowered by 1/4 inch and the brim trimmed by 1/4 inch. As I've said, the brim is no problem. But is there any way for me to lower the crown without resorting to a complete rebash?

Thanks in advance.

Actually, bashing it a bit deeper would be the easiest way to fix it. Otherwise, you're probably talking about sending it back to be torn down and rebuilt.

 

[johnnycanuck]

You are fine with taking a knife to your hat, to hack off the brim, but you are scared to "Bash" it......... What?!? I guess you could... what?!? Its just.... Are you serious?..........

OK coming from a guy who's first real hat was a Akubra Federation (you have to bash yourself) I find your concern slightly misplaced. Especially being Mr. Bernstein's hat is a little, how shall I say, manhandled. A little personal modifications will most likely make it look more accurate. But each to their own. If the bash was set with some sort of stiffener I doubt you will do any real damage to the style. Try and roll the edge down a little with your fingers till it looks the way you want it to, then add a little moisture to get it to set. Most felt has a certain degree of memory so if it doesn't look the way you want you should be able to pop it back easily.

Any chance of pictures?

Johnny.

 

[Joel Tunnah]

I think your only option is to bash it lower down. From talking to an expert, I learned that you can't reblock a hat so that what used to be crown is pushed down to become brim. It simply doesn't work that way.

I admit that I don't fully understand why, but that's what I was told.

Joel

 

[warbird]

A 4 1/4 crown doesn't fit you well? That's not that tall. I suspect it very well may look just fine but either you haven't seen yourself in a crown like that before or someone close to you hasn't and has put this in your head. Wear it a bit and get used to it, it does take some getting used to. Many people far shorter than you pull off taller crowns than yours. Give it some consideration anyway. Yes pics of you in the hat would help.

 

[Kodiak]

Okay, lots of replies to be made:

Johnny- nope, won't be using a knife. There is a local hat store that will trim the brim, just not do any bash modification. I'll be taking it there.

From talking to an expert, I learned that you can't reblock a hat so that what used to be crown is pushed down to become brim.

That actually makes sense to me. You can't beat that angle there. But that's really not what I'm trying to do. I just want the crown to be a tad bit lower.

A 4 1/4 crown doesn't fit you well? That's not that tall. I suspect it very well may look just fine but either you haven't seen yourself in a crown like that before or someone close to you hasn't and has put this in your head. Wear it a bit and get used to it, it does take some getting used to. Many people far shorter than you pull off taller crowns than yours. Give it some consideration anyway. Yes pics of you in the hat would help.

Not to be rude, but you have to understand the type of hat. I'm talking about a low crowned, medium-brimmed hat basically used for all-weather, all-time wear. Not a dressier fedora. My Indy-ish fedora is much higher crowned than this hat. But it looks right. It doesn't make me feel like I'm wearing a ten-galloner.

So, the input of the masses is basically that I should steam it a little, just roll the crown down to the desired height, dampen it to set the minute little change in the brim permanently, and then live with it, correct?

And per the pictures: I will post some before the week is up.

 

[metropd]

I am a littile confused. 5 9 is plenty tall to wear a 4 1/4 inch fedora so being 5 10-11 I bet you could wear something over 5 inches tall. It could be a special circumstance but could you please post a picture so I could see what you are talking about? Thank you and congraulations on your wide brim fedora.

 

[metropd]

This should help

If you still want to make it 4 1/8, 4 1/16, or 4 inches block it into an open crown put a teardrop crown with steam on the fedora as it will lower the height and then on the side profile right above the pinch (crown) and extend the pinch further back on the side that will by effect create a deeper pinch in the front and side) and will lower the side height and extend the side crown out more rather than it being straighter. Also you can push the crown down right where the 2 pinches meet and that will also lower it. With creating a teardrop and dooing any of these other things the hat will have a little bit more a squarish crown and will look very similair to the pictures I posted of Art Facwett Bespoke Fedora.