Removing creases from hat

[tommyK]

ninman, you can probably do your reshaping while it is still wet without having to get it back to open crown, maybe not. You'll have to try it

You may have to hold your new shape while it dries to make sure it doesn't revert to it's previous crease

 

[ninman]

Ok, so I got my distilled water. So before I do this, to make sure I don't screw it up completely. I just pour the water onto the hat until it's completely wet, then reshape it the way I want it/make it open crown?

 

[Frunobulax]

If you can, use a misting bottle so you can get the hat wet evenly. Pouring it on would work, I guess, but getting the H2O evenly distributed that way would be difficult.

You might have one of these around for use on house plants or garden use. Rinse it out well, first, though.

Another option is to wear it in the rain and work on the crease after it gets wet. Akubras love the rain!

 

[ninman]

Ok, so I've sprayed the hat till it's completely wet, well the crown anyway, so you're saying that when it dries it will lose the "memory" of the old creases?

 

[ninman]

I've tried re-creasing it while it's wet, but it's still conforming to the shape of the old creases.

 

[Frunobulax]

I'd reshape it to your liking while it's wet, and let it dry in the new shape. Some akubras are more difficult than others - both I have took my first shape perfectly and I haven't changed them. But some are notoriously stubborn and may require some coaxing over time to get it exactly where you want it.

Take a look through the Akubra Overload thread. You might get some insight there, as well.

 

[emigran]

I love this place... learn new and intricate stuff daily...!!! Thanks posters
BTW What color is the hat..dark or light as a darker felt might not show as much... good luck

 

[tommyK]

Ok, so I got my distilled water. So before I do this, to make sure I don't screw it up completely. I just pour the water onto the hat until it's completely wet, then reshape it the way I want it/make it open crown?

Don't worry you won't damage it. You may not get the shape you want but you won't hurt it. Get it as close as you can and maybe tweak it later or just wear it and let it take on it's own character over time

 

[Fed in a Fedora]

soak it with a spray bottle of distilled water & use something to iron out the creases, like a bowl or large spoon & a steam iron.
Use a handkerchief between the felt & the steam iron. If you do this a lot, a Hat Shaper block is a good buy = http://www.hatshapers.com/
factory crease =

open crown =

hat shaper used =

Actually, the use of the HatShaper block comes from GT Dean and I appreciate his posting of their website. They were easy to deal with. We had a short discussion as to what I wanted and what they sent was exactly as discussed.

This block works perfectly for the CampDrafts in particular and mblock is small enough that it gets old creases from similarly shaped hats if carefully worked. Might not be ideal for tapered crowns as others have suggested. I just do not have much experience with such hats.

I have not tried the iron on a crown as I went the Roy Rogers method with the warm shower. As to the water, ours does not leave marks but yours might. Boiling water is a bad idea because you are actually concentrating the impurities which might leave spots by boiling off the water. This is opposite of distillation which is separating the impurities and reclaiming only the water.

Good luck with your hat!

Photos would be a good thing...

 

[TheDane]

I believe, that well- or tap-water has been used by hatters for centuries. If I feared for minerals/chemicals, I would fear rain more than tap water.

In most of Europe I would never fear using plain tap water. With the highly chlorinated water, I experienced in the US, I would be more cautious.

 

[moontheloon]

I use distilled in my steamer .... more for the steamer than the hat

I found that when I use my tap water in steamers over time the heat source gets very corroded and the steamer starts to shut off

I haven't had that problem at all with the distilled

 

[TheDane]

Yeah, as Woody Guthrie sang:
I'm going where the water tastes like wine
I'm going where the water tastes like wine
This New Jersey water tastes like turpentine
And I ain't gonna be treated this away

 

[Bob Roberts]

I've found the only way to completely eradicate an old set-in crease, to bring an old hat back to square one, once again an open crown to really start over is to use an iron and a hat block. You have to cover the area of felt you're working on with a light cloth so as not to crush the fur fibers and leave "shiney" spots. These shiney spots can be brushed out with steam but this can be easily avoided by using a cloth. I use the handkerchiefs you can get by the dozen at a department store.
To Ole's point, I have a few different hat blocks to work with common shapes you find in old hats. A 51 and 52 type block are the least you should have. I have modified a 51 block to mimic the shape of Stratoliner and Playboy crowns. When all else fails I have a 51 block I cut in half and put that in to iron the side walls of the crown in order to do the least harm to the original profile of a crown.

Same goes for brim flanges. They are not all the same depth and/or shape as well as size. I've had to custom make and customize those as well.

This can be a deep rabbit hole to go down

You got some nice weapons in your reshaping arsenal.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Great post!
Agree 100% !

But those flanges! Drooling over here

Me too. Make him an offer...

 

[Bob Roberts]

I've gotten water stains on some light colored ribbons and brim bindings by not being careful with my misting. I had to evenly re-saturate both thoroughly to even out the stains and ended up with a somewhat darker ribbon and brim binding.

 

[Wesslyn]

I unfortunately don't have a block, hence why most of my hats are bashed so sloppily. But if you're patient enough you can use a small bowl or a ladle and get at least a similar effect.

 

[tommyK]

You got some nice weapons in your reshaping arsenal.

Still need a couple more crowns and flanges to customize for certain situations. I've got 4 crown blocks and 6 or 7 flanges. I'll probably always be looking for at least one more of each

 

[ninman]

So here's my hat after a rebash. I decided to do the full Raiders bash, including the turn. The bash I had in it before the ribbon was too far back and I didn't like it, so I wanted to be able to see the ribbon more from the front. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[Frunobulax]

Looks good to me...

 

[RJR]

Looks good to me...

+1,nice job.