Woodfluter
Practically Family
- Messages
- 784
- Location
- Georgia
Owing to the great website data crash of '08, I cannot post this where it belongs at present. But might as well put this out for the benefit of those ordering the Federation IV from Hats Direct.
Bartenters, please feel free to move this if/when the "No one posted your Fed IV's yet?" thread is recovered.
May 2nd, my doorstep. Ouch! Not what I wanted to see. Apparently they applied a few short strips of packing tape to the standard hat box, and off it went. This doesn't absolve USPS in the matter, however.
All looked OK inside the box...whew. BTW, this is the best representation of the actual color indoors - I didn't play with color balance in the other shots, but they are close to what it looks like in sunlight.
By woodfluter
Front view: Notice very straight sides of open block hat, even a hint of reverse taper.
Side view: Just a bit of taper in the crown.
Now what had me worried was the size. Hats Direct was very forthright and sent me an e-mail saying the new (actually old, from storage since 1940's or 1950's) block was making the hats run about 1/2 size too small. Said I, good news! I am in-between a 59 and 60 anyway, so send the 60! Well, the unblocked hat felt really big and loose on my head! Not what I expected. I thought about sending it back...but didn't. Went to work creasing it instead.
It responded very easily to a very light pass through steam - softened up nicely for a minute or so, enough to alter something, check proportions, and then give it another pass to continue. I was able to get what I wanted much quicker than I expected - in about 5 minutes.
Then I worked a bit on the sizing issue. I made a tapered nozzle from aluminum foil and placed that on the spigot of the teakettle. Then I used that to direct steam only the area at the base of the crown and adjacent brim. I steamed it pretty aggressively - while moving it often enough to be absolutely sure I didn't overheat the sweatband. I kept my hand on the sweatband to feel the heat and pulled it out a bit where I was working, and kept rotating the hat slowly. After it cooled, it had shrunk just enough to be a good fit. Best of all, it has held that size...so far.
See my new avatar for an impression of what it looks like in use.
So what I know so far:
1. Hats Direct are good folks to deal with. Good communication.
2. Hats Direct ought to wrap stuff properly for shipment from Terra Australis, dadgummit!
3. This is a fine hat...has proportions that hatmakers should have been using for decades, but weren't.
4. Felt softens up a bit with use and flexing but holds shape nicely. Crown seems to have a bit less stifener than my Banjo Paterson.
5. It takes a lot of steam and a lot of heat to shrink the Akubra the least little bit. Way more than you'd ever expose it to for shaping purposes. This is true in the case of their "Heritage" quality anyway. Steam away without fear!
- Bill
Bartenters, please feel free to move this if/when the "No one posted your Fed IV's yet?" thread is recovered.
May 2nd, my doorstep. Ouch! Not what I wanted to see. Apparently they applied a few short strips of packing tape to the standard hat box, and off it went. This doesn't absolve USPS in the matter, however.
All looked OK inside the box...whew. BTW, this is the best representation of the actual color indoors - I didn't play with color balance in the other shots, but they are close to what it looks like in sunlight.
By woodfluter
Front view: Notice very straight sides of open block hat, even a hint of reverse taper.
Side view: Just a bit of taper in the crown.
Now what had me worried was the size. Hats Direct was very forthright and sent me an e-mail saying the new (actually old, from storage since 1940's or 1950's) block was making the hats run about 1/2 size too small. Said I, good news! I am in-between a 59 and 60 anyway, so send the 60! Well, the unblocked hat felt really big and loose on my head! Not what I expected. I thought about sending it back...but didn't. Went to work creasing it instead.
It responded very easily to a very light pass through steam - softened up nicely for a minute or so, enough to alter something, check proportions, and then give it another pass to continue. I was able to get what I wanted much quicker than I expected - in about 5 minutes.
Then I worked a bit on the sizing issue. I made a tapered nozzle from aluminum foil and placed that on the spigot of the teakettle. Then I used that to direct steam only the area at the base of the crown and adjacent brim. I steamed it pretty aggressively - while moving it often enough to be absolutely sure I didn't overheat the sweatband. I kept my hand on the sweatband to feel the heat and pulled it out a bit where I was working, and kept rotating the hat slowly. After it cooled, it had shrunk just enough to be a good fit. Best of all, it has held that size...so far.
See my new avatar for an impression of what it looks like in use.
So what I know so far:
1. Hats Direct are good folks to deal with. Good communication.
2. Hats Direct ought to wrap stuff properly for shipment from Terra Australis, dadgummit!
3. This is a fine hat...has proportions that hatmakers should have been using for decades, but weren't.
4. Felt softens up a bit with use and flexing but holds shape nicely. Crown seems to have a bit less stifener than my Banjo Paterson.
5. It takes a lot of steam and a lot of heat to shrink the Akubra the least little bit. Way more than you'd ever expose it to for shaping purposes. This is true in the case of their "Heritage" quality anyway. Steam away without fear!
- Bill
That is definitely my favorite color Federation!
