Re-blocking a hat.

[Jeff M]

What is involved in this?
Does it basically take the hat back to it's unshaped felt cone?

Does this allow you to re-size, along with re-shape a hat?

 

[jlee562]

un-shaped cone? No. A block is what gives a hat its shape. It restores it to basically an open crown hat. You can stretch or shrink a hat slightly, but the ability to do so, IIRC, is dependent on the quality of the felt.

 

[Jeff M]

Can you re-size a hat by re-blocking it?

 

[danofarlington]

What is involved in this?

I have a tried and true two-step process: 1) I take it to my local hat man; then 2) pick it up the next week.

I hate do-it-yourself.

 

[Mario]

I have a tried and true two-step process: 1) I take it to my local hat man; then 2) pick it up the next week.

I hate do-it-yourself.

I love do-it-yourself!

I never grow tired of learning something new - and I find it extremely satisfying and rewarding to get something done with my own hands.

 

[tonyb]

Can you re-size a hat by re-blocking it?

Yes, within limits, of course.

A felt hat body doesn't care whether it's a fedora or a homburg or even a men's or women's hat. That felt hat body is, however, only so big. So, you can't make a size 7 3/4 tall-crowned Western with a 4-inch brim from what had been, say, a size 7 1/4 fedora of more modest proportions.

You may have more luck attempting the reverse. The problem in that case might be getting the crown felt to shrink enough to tighten up on a size 7 1/4 block. A hat body can indeed be shrunk, but again, within limits.

Either way, though, you're getting into a fair amount of work, so you'd have to assess whether the result of all that work would be worth the time and expense. Is there a particular hat you have in mind for such a treatment?

 

[jlee562]

Can you re-size a hat by re-blocking it?

.....as I just said, the ability to do so is dependent, among other things, on the quality of the felt. There's only so much stretching or shrinking that it can do.

 

[Jeff M]

... Is there a particular hat you have in mind for such a treatment?

No.
Just wondering if it would be possible to purchase a good quality used hat that is a different size and have it re-blocked to fit me.

 

[norton]

I've bought two 7 3/8 LO hats and had them resized and reblocked to 7 1/2LO.

 

[scottyrocks]

I would say that one size up should be no problem. When I converted my 7 1/8 Bailey western into the hat in the avatar, I stretched it out to a snug 7 3/8. One size should be easy.

 

[fenris]

DIY for me usually means, Destroy It Yourself. Just like what I did with my Christy's... I lost almost 3/4 of the crown height.

 

[scottyrocks]

That sounds like normal wear and tear, though, your climate notwithstanding.

 

[Aureliano]

I love do-it-yourself!

I never grow tired of learning something new - and I find it extremely satisfying and rewarding to get something done with my own hands.

:arated: I'm with you, Mario!

 

[Falcon Park]

As always, TonyB gives sound advice. If the felt is high quality, the hat can theoretically be re-blocked to go up a size or two. If the felt is not as high quality, then going up one size is about all I could recommend. Just bear in mind that if you are new to blocking hats, Murphy's law can easily kick in... It sounds like you are a real do-it-yourself-er though, so I say go for it, but be ready for ol' Murph to make an appearance...

Best of luck!

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

Dredging up an old thread... can taper be removed from a crown when reblocking? For example, could I have my Akubra Stylemaster reblocked to yield a result closer to the vintage straight crowns like my Knox Fifteen?

 

[Geldoc]

Great question!

 

[job]

Yes you can. A hatter would remove the sweatband, liner, and re-block it to have less taper.
The Stylemaster has a low crown with a lot of back to front taper. I think to get it to look like what you want you would have to loose some brim to accomplish this.
I would look for something else if it was me. Maybe even a western conversion.
I have seen some changes made to Akubra Squatters, Campdrafts, Feds, that would have more to work with and come out looking great.

 

[T Jones]

I have an Akubra Squatter that's a 7 1/4 (58). Can my Squatter be sized down to a 7 1/8 LO? I also have a size 7 Stetson 3X Open Road. Could that one be sized up to a 7 1/8 LO as well?

 

[jlee562]

Both should be possible by a competent hatter, although there's a possibility that the Stetson will require a new sweatband.

 

[BladeOfAnduril]

Thanks job. I may look into it just for fun. I wouldn't really mind that much if the brim were reduced a quarter inch or so.