Indiana Jones Raiders Hat Brim Shape

[ninman]

Hi all,

I recently purchased an Akubra Adventurer hat from David Morgan and I want to get the brim to look like it does in Raiders of the Lost Ark. From what I've seen most people's hats have the rear brim turned up at the back and sitting flat like a traditional fedora shape, but in the movie the rear brim is arched down the way over his neck.

I did have a look at the Akubra Federation 4, and am considering buying that hat also, but it comes with the brim turned up all around, so that you can snap the front brim down.

That's the reason why I initially chose the DM adventurer, because it comes with a kind of arched brim style, which I thought looked more accurate to the movie. However, recently I saw a photo of someone's Federation 4, as well as this video on youtube.

In the video you can see his brim is arched back in the rear like the movie, and doesn't look anything like the standard federation 4.

https://hatsdirect.com/pages/the-federation-iv

Will it be easier to get the Raiders brim shape on the adventurer or the federation 4, and if so, how do you achieve that?

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

There are a couple of things to note about the Indiana Jones Fedora.

1. It has a dimensional brim, that means the width on the front and back differ from the width on the sides.
   1. Brim (front and back): 2.75 inches
   2. Brim (sides) 2.625 inches
   3. Brims are cut with a rounding jack but I do not know of a rounding jack that does dimensional brims (not saying that they don't exist I just don't know of one). Rounding jacks are expensive themselves.
2. Ribbon width: 1.5 inches
3. The pinch on the front is high and tight

As for brim shaping, you typically need brim flange. Which you can use to put the hat into then you secure it in place with a cloth and hatters string. Then apply a lot of steam to it, afterwards you need to apply pressure to it for 10 - 15 minutes or so. This will give the entire brim an upward curl, it is okay (it is a snap brim). Then you can snap the brim down in the front. The Indy hat had character added by the production crew sitting on it and then putting the creases back in.

Not sure how much you want to invest in getting the look you want. If you do want to pick up a flange on ebay then let us know and someone here can tell you what the 3 set of numbers on the flange means.

OR

Send your hat to an experienced hatter to do the work.

There are many good hatters here:
- Vintage Silhouettes
- Black Sheep Hat Works
- Northwest Hats
- Cane Rod Maker
- Many others (somewhere there is a list)

If I had all my equipment, I would help you out but I am still in the gathering and scrounging for all my tools phase.

Cheers!

 

[moontheloon]

 

[ninman]

I've watched it multiple times, but that doesn't help answer my question of which hat would give a better brim, or how you achieve it. I.e. how do you take the hat and shape the brim to look like his.

 

[moontheloon]

I've watched it multiple times, but that doesn't help answer my question of which hat would give a better brim, or how you achieve it. I.e. how do you take the hat and shape the brim to look like his.

snap it down all the way around and finesse the sides up a touch

but none of the hats you mentioned will have the floppy felt of the Indy hat

save your money and buy a Penman

 

[ninman]

snap it down all the way around

but none of the hats you mentioned will have the floppy felt of the Indy hat

save your money and buy a Penman

The thing is that the Akubra Adventurer, DM, comes with the brim already bowed down the way so I think it looks a lot closer to the Raiders hat than the Federation 4. What I'm wondering is, would I achieve that look with the Adventurer, which has a kind of bow shaped brim, or the Federation 4 which has the brim turned up, and would need to be snapped down all the way around.

I'm not really bothered about the floppy felt, I just want a decent hat that will stand up to the weather. I live in South Wales so it rains here a lot.

So in summary, which hat's brim would look closer to the Raiders hat. The DM Adventurer, which comes with a bow shaped brim, or the Federation 4?

 

[moontheloon]

I don't own an Adventurer so I can't speak on it

but any Akubra hat will hold up to the elements

part of the look of the brim on the hat discussed was the floppiness of the felt ... that is why I mentioned it

but the Adventurer is pretty much modeled after the Indy hat so ...

 

[ninman]

I don't own an Adventurer so I can't speak on it

but any Akubra hat will hold up to the elements

part of the look of the brim on the hat discussed was the floppiness of the felt ... that is why I mentioned it

but the Adventurer is pretty much modeled after the Indy hat so ...

Well, it doesn't have to be totally 100% screen accurate, I just really like that kind of bow shaped brim style. I'm not really into the more traditional fedora shape, with the brim turned up at the back and the front snapped down.

The thing is, I haven't seen someone give the Adventurer a Raiders bash, but I have seen people do it with the Federation, like the guy in the video. They managed to get the brim to look very similar to the brim in Raiders, so that makes me wonder if the Federation might be more suitable in terms of giving me the style of brim that I'm after.

 

[ninman]

I should also mention that I am a bit wary of taking a fur felt hat out in the rain because I've owned several Christy's hats, including two poets. I got caught out in rain in one of them. We're not talking soaked here, we're talking literally a few spots of rain on the hat. The crown shrunk by an inch.

 

[moontheloon]

maybe look through these thread

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/adventurer-vs-federation.75573/

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/choosing-d-m-adventurer-or-akubra-fed.35588/

 

[moontheloon]

I should also mention that I am a bit wary of taking a fur felt hat out in the rain because I've owned several Christy's hats, including two poets. I got caught out in rain in one of them. We're not talking soaked here, we're talking literally a few spots of rain on the hat. The crown shrunk by an inch.

Akubra hats are made to be out in the elements

don't dry any fur felt hat near a heat source

 

[ninman]

Yeah, I've read both of those threads previously, but I really want to see some pictures of the Adventurer with a Raiders bash (including the turn).

The Federation 4 is a nice looking hat, but my only problem with it is the brim.

 

[ninman]

https://www.screenused.com/?sectionID=item-detail&subsectionID=index.cfm&item_id=4012

If you look at the hat on that page, it doesn't look like a hat where the brim was originally turned up and it was snapped down, it looks like it was designed to have that bow shape in it from the start. It also looks a lot flatter all around, as in no upward turns, just a smooth bow shaped brim all around.

That's the kind of brim I want. Again, I should stress it doesn't need to be totally accurate, but just that general shape is what I'm after. I'm not sure if I can achieve that with the Federation 4, or even a Penman.

 

[89quattro]

This?......
http://www.davidmorgan.com/popup_im...atches=1&tab3=1&tab4=1&tab5=1&name=&aiID=2581

Looks like front and back are bowed down.

 

[moontheloon]

https://www.screenused.com/?sectionID=item-detail&subsectionID=index.cfm&item_id=4012

If you look at the hat on that page, it doesn't look like a hat where the brim was originally turned up and it was snapped down, it looks like it was designed to have that bow shape in it from the start. It also looks a lot flatter all around, as in no upward turns, just a smooth bow shaped brim all around.

That's the kind of brim I want. Again, I should stress it doesn't need to be totally accurate, but just that general shape is what I'm after. I'm not sure if I can achieve that with the Federation 4, or even a Penman.

a Penman will give you pretty much exactly what you see in the movie including the floppiness of the felt and the brim you seek and will be far closer to what you are looking for than any Akubra ... but will also be about 3X the price with a 4 month wait

if you want a hat to protect you from elements get an Akubra and work the brim down ... it really is that simple

 

[ninman]

There are a couple of things to note about the Indiana Jones Fedora.

1. It has a dimensional brim, that means the width on the front and back differ from the width on the sides.
   1. Brim (front and back): 2.75 inches
   2. Brim (sides) 2.625 inches
   3. Brims are cut with a rounding jack but I do not know of a rounding jack that does dimensional brims (not saying that they don't exist I just don't know of one). Rounding jacks are expensive themselves.
2. Ribbon width: 1.5 inches
3. The pinch on the front is high and tight

As for brim shaping, you typically need brim flange. Which you can use to put the hat into then you secure it in place with a cloth and hatters string. Then apply a lot of steam to it, afterwards you need to apply pressure to it for 10 - 15 minutes or so. This will give the entire brim an upward curl, it is okay (it is a snap brim). Then you can snap the brim down in the front. The Indy hat had character added by the production crew sitting on it and then putting the creases back in.

Not sure how much you want to invest in getting the look you want. If you do want to pick up a flange on ebay then let us know and someone here can tell you what the 3 set of numbers on the flange means.

OR

Send your hat to an experienced hatter to do the work.

There are many good hatters here:
- Vintage Silhouettes
- Black Sheep Hat Works
- Northwest Hats
- Cane Rod Maker
- Many others (somewhere there is a list)

If I had all my equipment, I would help you out but I am still in the gathering and scrounging for all my tools phase.

Cheers!

Thanks for that, that was really helpful. The adventurer also comes with a dimensioned brim. Are you sure that the original Raiders hat had a snap brim? Deborah Nadoolman (sorry if I spelt her name wrong) said that it was the "Australian model" by Herbert Johnson.

Australian hats don't tend to be fedora shaped because they're designed to be worn by guys in the bush who need lots of sun protection, so a traditional Australian style hat will have a much flatter bow shaped brim. I'm assuming that was the intention of the original Fedora because it would give it a much more adventurer style look.

So that's why I'm thinking that the Akubra Adventurer is much closer in style to the original hat.

 

[zeus36]

There should be a lot of Indy hat shaping information at Club Obi Wan forum for every scene of Raiders where the hat appears. Different scenes, different shapes.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

You can get more information here: http://www.indygear.com/igfedora.html

Also, I believe that the official hats for the last movie were made by AdventureBilt.
Penman hats also has a great Indy hat: http://www.penmanhats.com/

I believe this is what you are referring to by the comment by Deborah Nadoolman
Nadoolman is quoted as saying, "I saw a hat with a very wide brim and the crown was a little bit too high. It was their Australian model and with a couple of fittings, we got the hat right for Harrison".

From Indygear regarding The Last Crusade Hat:
In addition, the brim appears to be a slightly narrower snap-brim with a more pronounced dimensional cut then on the previous film fedoras

From the pictures I have seen, I believe that they are snap-brims. Now, the amount of flanging can vary a lot depending on the flange. And since they went through the process of add "Character" to the hat it would have lost some of the curve in the back. Even Harrison Ford was messing with the shape of the hat for the movie. The front coming down is positively snapped down in my opinion.

 

[FedoraFan112390]

A question I have is: Is Indy's hat "period appropriate"? What I mean is, where fedoras that large overall, and with that sort of particular brim styling, worn often in the middle 1930s?

 

[emigran]

Penman makes a virtual dead ringer...met a fella in the Post office wearing it ... we exchanged greetings and shared a few hat quips... beautiful job on that hat... color, brim, bash etc...
(no afil...)