My New Federation

[Mr. 'H']

Excellent! Thanks Bob, I had forgotton the uses of a compass, distant memories of Math class.... lol

 

[jml90]

In person is it a light gray or dark gray?

 

[cooncatbob]

In person is it a light gray or dark gray?

Akubra calls it Carbon gray so it's pretty dark, indoors it almost looks light black (that's an oxymoron lol ). I wouldn't mind having another in Akubra's cruiser gray but they don't list the Fed in that color but they do the CEO.

 

[jml90]

Akubra calls it Carbon gray so it's pretty dark, indoors it almost looks light black (that's an oxymoron lol ). I wouldn't mind having another in Akubra's cruiser gray but they don't list the Fed in that color but they do the CEO.

So you have a picture of Cruiser Gray?

 

[Fletch]

Akubra calls it Carbon gray so it's pretty dark, indoors it almost looks light black (that's an oxymoron lol ).

Glad to hear it - I had been looking for an honest to gosh charcoal grey hat.

 

[cooncatbob]

So you have a picture of Cruiser Gray?

Here's Hat's directs fedora page.
http://www.hatsdirect.com/cgi/products.cgi?group=Fedora+Hats

 

[Earp]

Hey Bob!
I think I bid on that same hat. A light gray, fur felt fedora in size 7 1/2 with a 2 1/2 inch brim. It had a wide, darker gray band with a partial double bow. It had a great vintage aura about it. I've been looking for that style in light gray. I didn't win it either though.

Man, I really wanted that one! But if you had won it at least I would have been gratified by the fact that a fellow Fedora Lounger won it. I saved the pictures of that hat so I could look for one like it. Looks like you've found a very similar hat to replace that lost bid.

Congrats on your purchase and for how your trimming made it your own.

 

[Atomic Glee]

Great Fed. I love both of mine. For the money, you will not find a better new hat, IMHO. If you're not going with one of Art's amazing creations then an Akubra is what I'd go with over most other modern hats that cost more, sometimes significantly more. Good quality, fantastic durability. For the price of a Federation I've seen the big makers sell stuff I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

My brown Federation was really stiff when new, and is still on the stiff side but has softened up a great deal over time. My grey one started out a lot softer, and is still quite soft. Not Borsalino soft or anything, but not too bad.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Good move Bob..and Kudos for going for it!!! It looks better proportioned at this brim width.
Enjoy

I completely agree... It's very Raiders of the Lost Ark... the seaplane scene.

Color is a bit darker, though the crown is right,

 

[Jerekson]

Hey Bob!
I think I bid on that same hat. A light gray, fur felt fedora in size 7 1/2 with a 2 1/2 inch brim. It had a wide, darker gray band with a partial double bow. It had a great vintage aura about it. I've been looking for that style in light gray. I didn't win it either though.

Man, I really wanted that one! But if you had won it at least I would have been gratified by the fact that a fellow Fedora Lounger won it. I saved the pictures of that hat so I could look for one like it. Looks like you've found a very similar hat to replace that lost bid.

Congrats on your purchase and for how your trimming made it your own.

I bid on that auction as well! What a swell hat!

At least I'm not completely discouraged though - it would have been far too big for me.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

I have the exact same hat and I love it. Way to go on the bash!...KC

 

[Fletch]

My carbon Fed arrived today.

Love the color: exactly the dark charcoal I wanted, with a black band.
Love the crown: luxuriantly full and softer than I had expected. I've been experimenting with bashes, leaning towards a generic 30s shape, center chop and front pinch.
Then there's the brim: so wide it makes me look positively devout. Amish, ultra Orthodox Jewish, frontier preacher, take your pick.
Bluntly put: this ain't my look.

Bob, please tell more about this compass you used. It doesn't appear to be your usual 69¢ grocery store article. Drafting quality perhaps? Art shop?

 

[cooncatbob]

Love the color: exactly the dark charcoal I wanted, with a black band.
Love the crown: luxuriantly full and softer than I had expected. I've been experimenting with bashes, leaning towards a generic 30s shape, center chop and front pinch.
Then there's the brim: so wide it makes me look positively devout. Amish, ultra Orthodox Jewish, frontier preacher, take your pick.
Bluntly put: this ain't my look.

Bob, please tell more about this compass you used. It doesn't appear to be your usual 69¢ grocery store article. Drafting quality perhaps? Art shop?

Fletch; The compass I used was from a drafting set, but any compass will work as long as the arm doesn't move while your scribing the line. You need either a very sharp pencil so it will actually scratch a line in the dark gray felt or a black charcoal drawing pencil so you can see your line. Even if you cut your line a little wavy your going to fix that when you sand the edge. First with 100grit and then with 180 or 220 grit.
Hope this help. The Fed's a great hat but it's bigger then it looks in the pictures.
Bob.

 

[Spellflower]

Thanks Bob!

I've almost stopped wearing my Federation because it just looks so big on me. No matter how I bashed it, I just couldn't get the right look. Finally, I realized that it's not the bash, it's the brim. Though I like the idea of a 3" brim, it just doesn't work with my face. It kind of comes off as a cowboy hat, rather than a fedora, no matter how much I remind myself that it's modeled on a period when most fedoras had very wide brims. I'm planning on taking a quarter inch off as soon as I get myself a compass and some sandpaper, and maybe my Akubra Fedora will have some new competition in the morning!

 

[Art Fawcett]

no matter how much I remind myself that it's modeled on a period when most fedoras had very wide brims.

I know I'm stepping in it here Spellflower, but the truth is that the mid 30's( when the film was set) was NOT a wide brim era. The average brim in 1935 was 2 3/8", NOT 3", NOT 2 3/4. I know it's been discussed extensively in the Indy crowd and it's gone into the "common knowledge" of that crowd, but those are "facts" that have been formed to fit the concept, not reality. If you take the time to really study the periods, which I was required to do for my business, you would see that there were of course exceptions as in any period so you could stretch things to fit whatever you want, but the truth is that the wide brim in the mid thirties was the exception, not the rule.

If this sounds harsh please forgive me Sir. I mean nothing personal towards you , it just grates me somewhat when facts are distorted to fit a preconceived idea and that's what has happened to make you believe your statement.

 

[MattJH]

Art -- What time period do you think the Federation truly reflects? Or doesn't it at all, being a hybrid mix?

 

[Art Fawcett]

It really IS a hybrid Dumbjaw. The crown height is correct for '30s but the brim width is right for the '40s. Add the dimensoinal brim which was RARELY done in this country and you have a true hybrid. By the way, I truly like the hat so that's not the issue with me, it's the bending of history I object to.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Just keep repeating: It's only movie wardrobe, not history!

 

[jake_fink]

I've almost stopped wearing my Federation because it just looks so big on me. No matter how I bashed it, I just couldn't get the right look. Finally, I realized that it's not the bash, it's the brim. Though I like the idea of a 3" brim, it just doesn't work with my face. It kind of comes off as a cowboy hat, rather than a fedora, no matter how much I remind myself that it's modeled on a period when most fedoras had very wide brims. I'm planning on taking a quarter inch off as soon as I get myself a compass and some sandpaper, and maybe my Akubra Fedora will have some new competition in the morning!

For me the Federation is just too much hat. The big round fireplug crown is wider than my face and the brim is very much too much bordering on cowboy hat, as you say.

Go ahead and cut the brim down. I cut mine and I wound up almost liking my Federations.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I agree with Jake, though I would advise wearing any hat around for a while before making a drastic change. Sometimes, you grow into something. Sometimes a hat looks huge, but after a while, you get used to it. This is especially true for your first hat.