opinions please...

[RobFedoraField]

I have a hat that I purchased from Gus Miller back in early '90's. it was my first hat buying experience. but being rather inexperienced, when I asked for an indiana jones hat, this is what I got. it was neat to see him crease it and shape it and put my initials in it for me.

I wore it for a while, then it got put up for about 13 years. I "got back into hats" so I brought it back into daylight, dusted it off and wore it again, but also started buying more hats and exploring vintage felts.

now wearing stingy cavanugh's, campdreafts and Fed IV's, i don't think it has the proper proportions any more. I'm not really fond of the way it currently looks on me.

it's a very heavy dense felt (rabbit I believe) and feels twice as thick as my Fed IV.

Major Moore is willing to trim the brim and bind it for me at a very reasonable price.

so click on your voting buttons, do I

1) stick the hat back in the closet because it was my "first"

2) have the major trim it down to 2 or 2.5" and bind it

3) try to sell it and put the money towards something else.

Thanks for helping me make my decisions for me.

 

[Dundee]

Let the Major do his magic.

 

[BanjoMerlin]

Is it really the brim or is the crown tapered too much for you? I think there is too much taper.

I'd have the crown redone with much less taper but compare it with the hats you do like.

 

[Aureliano]

Sell.

 

[Delthayre]

The problem is not the weights, but the fulcrum

I don't think that the brim is too wide, rather I think that the crown isn't full enough. I can see why one might want to keep it for sentimental reasons; I halfway miss my first fedora and it was just a cheap crushable wool one, but barring that, I think that you would do best to try to sell it.

If you ever manage to raise $325 for it, since you're in Rochester, you could probably personally visit Gary White in Buffalo easily enough.

 

[RobFedoraField]

Is it really the brim or is the crown tapered too much for you? I think there is too much taper.

I'd have the crown redone with much less taper but compare it with the hats you do like.

The brim is ~1/2 larger than anything else I own, and yes, there is crown taper. The hat just seems "out of proportion"

I called Optimo and he recommended against opening the crown, said he hasn't had much luck with it. any before I spent another $100 on the hat, I'd just buy another akubra.

hence the cheaper alternative was to modify the original hat. and I couldn't decided if shortening the brim and binding it would make it look better.

and I'm very doubtful if this would break into triple digits if this goes on up on the bay.

here's another pic that better shows the amount of taper

 

[hatophile]

Rob,

I personally think taller crowns are better for you. The crown is low and tapered, and you look better with taller, fuller crowns. I think the brim is fine. If it is too cost prohibitive to have it adjusted, sell it and get something nicer.

I know my tastes have changed in the last 5-6 years since I have been wearing hats. I now prefer taller, straighter lines and larger brims. I can't go too big though, because I'm a smaller guy.

You on the other hand are a larger fellow, and I certainly think could wear a bigger hat.

 

[danofarlington]

Rob,

I personally think taller crowns are better for you. The crown is low and tapered, and you look better with taller, fuller crowns. I think the brim is fine. If it is too cost prohibitive to have it adjusted, sell it and get something nicer.

I know my tastes have changed in the last 5-6 years since I have been wearing hats. I now prefer taller, straighter lines and larger brims. I can't go too big though, because I'm a smaller guy.

You on the other hand are a larger fellow, and I certainly think could wear a bigger hat.

I would say that also. A higher crown, leave the brim as is. I think you should wear them a little farther down on your head, it looks to me sitting up too high as is. Maybe you need a slightly larger size, or get that hat stretched. Actually a new hat altogether would be simpler. For you I think the same as for everyone else--if you can get to a hat store that stocks "men's dress hats," you can try on many of them and find out for yourself what the best few styles are. It saves a lot of jawboning.

 

[BanjoMerlin]

I really think there is too much taper in the crown for you. If the crown cannot be stretched perhaps the hat would be just perfect for someone else.

If it is worth more to you as is than it is to anyone else then keep it.

 

[Fletch]

As a full-faced type myself, I know it's tough finding a hat without a good degree of crown taper. It's a conservative look, the best for the largest number of faces, and it saves money on felt.

There are the various high-end Indys, the Stetson Nostalgia, and an occasional limited run like the Deckard. And that's really about it.

 

[RBH]

I say let Mike reblock it for you. Take some of the brim and put it in the crown, if the ribbon is not stitched to high another wide ribbon would cover it.
Slap a bound edge on it and you would have a really nice hat.

 

[John in Covina]

I say let Mike reblock it for you. Take some of the brim and put it in the crown, if the ribbon is not stitched to high another wide ribbon would cover it. Slap a bound edge on it and you would have a really nice hat.

This is pretty much what I was thinking!

 

[Tango Yankee]

Out of curiosity, is it a hat that Gus made or one that he sold, and if so, what brand?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[tonyb]

I say let Mike reblock it for you. Take some of the brim and put it in the crown, if the ribbon is not stitched to high another wide ribbon would cover it.
Slap a bound edge on it and you would have a really nice hat.

Sounds like this guy's been hanging out in a hatter's shop.

I'd advise exactly the same thing.

 

[danofarlington]

Sounds like this guy's been hanging out in a hatter's shop.

I'd advise exactly the same thing.

Tony, now that I have you on the line, tell me something about the limits of a hatter's powers. Can you take a high-crown hat and lower the crown? If so, how? Not that I want to do it, but in case I ever wanted it done, is that possible? Or would the result look bad?

 

[DRB]

The hat is alittle too small for you. Gus made me one also. It was also small. I sold it immediately. It was a nice hat though. Other than being too small, I like the hat on you. I wish my fed IV had more taper, instead it is like a stove pipe. It all comes down to personal preference. Big guys, little guys, all can look good with a little taper.

(Please don't stone me, put that rock down!)

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

Proportions

I agree. I think that a tall un-tapered crown would be the ticket for you.

Rob,

I personally think taller crowns are better for you. The crown is low and tapered, and you look better with taller, fuller crowns. I think the brim is fine. If it is too cost prohibitive to have it adjusted, sell it and get something nicer.

I know my tastes have changed in the last 5-6 years since I have been wearing hats. I now prefer taller, straighter lines and larger brims. I can't go too big though, because I'm a smaller guy.

You on the other hand are a larger fellow, and I certainly think could wear a bigger hat.

 

[tonyb]

Tony, now that I have you on the line, tell me something about the limits of a hatter's powers. Can you take a high-crown hat and lower the crown? If so, how? Not that I want to do it, but in case I ever wanted it done, is that possible? Or would the result look bad?

The limits?

Well, more experienced and/or imaginative hatters can do things others can't, but even the best can do only what the materials allow. It would take someone with truly magical powers to make a size 7 3/4 hat with a straight-sided 6-inch crown and a 3-inch brim from what had been a size 6 7/8 hat with a 4 1/2-inch tapered crown and a 1 3/4-inch brim. But the other way around? Sure, I could do that, not that I'd want to.

Which gets to your specific question. Yes, you'd take that hypothetical high-crowned hat and reblock it on either a shorter block, using that block's entire height, or on a tall block, using only a portion of its height. In other words, you'd turn what had been crown material into brim material by blocking that stripped-down hat body into a shorter height.

Would it look bad? Maybe, maybe not. A very tall-crowned old Western hat might be a good candidate for conversion to something lower crowned.

A couple of potential pitfalls ...

There may be holes from the original sweatband and/or ribbon installation that won't "heal" when they're wetted and ironed, although they typically do. But if they don't, well, you'd have a row of little holes on your brim. A likelier problem is faded felt. This usually isn't apparent until you take a peek under the original ribbon. If you turn some of that unfaded crown material, which had been covered by the old ribbon, into brim, it's gonna show, unless you do something truly drastic, such as redyeing the body.

I've experimented with redyeing old hat bodies. Results have been mixed. But if you have a coupla-three old stained or faded hat bodies lying around, a large pot filled with a dark-colored Jacquard acid dye solution might be worth a shot. But that's a big hassle, and the good dyes cost good money, so redyeing is pushing the limits of practicality.

 

[MrBadExample]

http://www.felthats.com/hats_info/style.html

#5

 

[BanjoMerlin]

http://www.felthats.com/hats_info/style.html

#5

Yup, a tapered hat on a bottom-heavy face looks kind of like a nose cone. It emphasizes the pear shape.

This is one reason there are several popular fedora creases. A center-dent adds taper while a C-crown will tend to straighten up the sides.

Sometimes a quick re-crease is enough, sometimes you need more.