Limits of blocking

[hatophile]

THANKS so much everybody!! I was happy to post this. I really hope someone can use this info and hopefully help make better decisions on what type of block to use. To block or not to block, that is the question.......

Perry, I find that most hats from the late 30's - the mid 50's look the best with a c-crown/diamond/teardrop. What those creases wind up doing to the crown is "squaring" everything up. Since that was the most popular style/crease at that time, its my feeling that the hat factories choices in block profiles were totally in response to the trends at that time. They chose a block that looked best when a c-crown/teardrop/diamond was used. The 20's/30's hats look the best with centerdents because that was the most popular style at that time and again its my feeling the hat factories blocked their hats with that in mind. My personal opinion is that a center dent looks the best with a deep crease. Usually I would say a minimum of a 5 3/4 inch straight crown would be the best for that great 20's/30's looking centerdent, possibly even a 6 inch open crown. I must add though, its been proven time and time again that there were many hats from the turn of the 1900's through the early 30's which actually had low crowns and therefore yielded short creased crowns. Even though not every 20's/30's hat had a tall crown, I think the ones that do, look the best.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense Josh. Most of my vintage hats are 40's and over, so they would have had the
different block. I have found that most of the OR's of any vintage do well with a center dent.