Woodfluter
Practically Family
- Messages
- 784
- Location
- Georgia
Yeah, you're thinking, just what we need - like there aren't enough threads on this topic already. But I beg your indulgence. I have some stuff to show you that might be helpful.
Main points:
(1) For those who are tentative about shaping (bashing) open crowned hats of any sort, take heart. You can do this and there are very few ways to go seriously wrong.
(2) If your hat arrives with "problems", most likely you can deal with them yourself.
(3) Really good, tough hats thrive on a reasonable amount of abuse. Your hat will become better, not worse, for some deliberate "bashing" in the more literal sense.
Understand, I am not posing as an expert. Just passing along some experience I've had so far and showing you the results. All comments and criticisms are welcome!
What with the exchange rate and my satisfaction with two previous Akubra Deluxe Federations, I ordered two more IV's from Hats Direct - one in brown, one in "Heritage Fawn". Both are Deluxe models - Heritage grade felt. Saved on shipping - two traveled on one charge.
When they came, the brown was on top and the fawn underneath. Both had cardboard spacers, but that didn't save the fawn from getting crumpled.
This looks bad enough, but before I took the picture, I'd already straightened out the ribbon which was all scrunched down and wrinkled - just wet it with water, tugged into place, let it dry. On the brim, there were indentations left by the cardboard spacers (the soft foam they used was...useless). Also the back of the brim had an unsightly bend.
Step one: steam the open crown in sections and smooth it with a wine glass (rolling it rather than dragging) to iron out the wrinkles.
Here is the open-crown result of those efforts.
Not shown is the work I did on the back of the brim - making it more dished, hence more of a classic snap-brim. That was done by steaming it, pushing in the outer edge of the brim in the rear, re-steaming and pressing that flat again against a hard kitchen counter. The curve of the glass helped with this...harder to explain than show, but sorry, took no pictures. In the course of that, smoothed out the indentations and the irregular "break" at the rear. Really quite easy.
Next came the creasing. Started with nothing drastic. Don't, I beg you, start out with any really hard and tight bends. Go easy at first and steam in more open bends, only putting in tight creases when you are absolutely sure that's what you want. It is easier to undo the former, harder to undo the latter.
These colors are adjusted to be pretty true, by the way, in case you're wondering.
Next comes the part that will give fits to the squeamish...brace yourself!
Some say these hats are buttery-soft, others say they are stiff as cardboard. (Talking Deluxe only, here.) All five of my Heritage felt hats started out cardboard-stiff, ended up dress-hat soft. Here's how.
Blatant hat abuse! Repeated over and over until the hat becomes soft and pliable. So what does that do to the nice creasing job? Nothing. This is a lousy "after" picture, taken following a walk in the rain, but if you looked at the previous pictures, it would be exactly the same.
Moral of the story: These hats are tough, creases can be put in and taken out, they thrive on hard use and will be the better for rough handling, so don't baby them! Best wishes to all,
- Bill
Main points:
(1) For those who are tentative about shaping (bashing) open crowned hats of any sort, take heart. You can do this and there are very few ways to go seriously wrong.
(2) If your hat arrives with "problems", most likely you can deal with them yourself.
(3) Really good, tough hats thrive on a reasonable amount of abuse. Your hat will become better, not worse, for some deliberate "bashing" in the more literal sense.
Understand, I am not posing as an expert. Just passing along some experience I've had so far and showing you the results. All comments and criticisms are welcome!
What with the exchange rate and my satisfaction with two previous Akubra Deluxe Federations, I ordered two more IV's from Hats Direct - one in brown, one in "Heritage Fawn". Both are Deluxe models - Heritage grade felt. Saved on shipping - two traveled on one charge.
When they came, the brown was on top and the fawn underneath. Both had cardboard spacers, but that didn't save the fawn from getting crumpled.
This looks bad enough, but before I took the picture, I'd already straightened out the ribbon which was all scrunched down and wrinkled - just wet it with water, tugged into place, let it dry. On the brim, there were indentations left by the cardboard spacers (the soft foam they used was...useless). Also the back of the brim had an unsightly bend.
Step one: steam the open crown in sections and smooth it with a wine glass (rolling it rather than dragging) to iron out the wrinkles.
Here is the open-crown result of those efforts.
Not shown is the work I did on the back of the brim - making it more dished, hence more of a classic snap-brim. That was done by steaming it, pushing in the outer edge of the brim in the rear, re-steaming and pressing that flat again against a hard kitchen counter. The curve of the glass helped with this...harder to explain than show, but sorry, took no pictures. In the course of that, smoothed out the indentations and the irregular "break" at the rear. Really quite easy.
Next came the creasing. Started with nothing drastic. Don't, I beg you, start out with any really hard and tight bends. Go easy at first and steam in more open bends, only putting in tight creases when you are absolutely sure that's what you want. It is easier to undo the former, harder to undo the latter.
These colors are adjusted to be pretty true, by the way, in case you're wondering.
Next comes the part that will give fits to the squeamish...brace yourself!
Some say these hats are buttery-soft, others say they are stiff as cardboard. (Talking Deluxe only, here.) All five of my Heritage felt hats started out cardboard-stiff, ended up dress-hat soft. Here's how.
Blatant hat abuse! Repeated over and over until the hat becomes soft and pliable. So what does that do to the nice creasing job? Nothing. This is a lousy "after" picture, taken following a walk in the rain, but if you looked at the previous pictures, it would be exactly the same.
Moral of the story: These hats are tough, creases can be put in and taken out, they thrive on hard use and will be the better for rough handling, so don't baby them! Best wishes to all,
- Bill
