The Reverse Taper: How???

[Marc Chevalier]

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The reverse taper. I've seen it in old movies and photos, and Art Fawcett recently put a wicked one on a stingy-brimmed red custom job.


Frankly, I can't figure out how it's done. I've never seen a hatblock with a reverse taper built into it, so I suppose that the taper has to be shaped some other way into the felt. Does anyone know the way? Or is it a "trade secret" of sorts?

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[Marc Chevalier]

Here's the reverse taper that Art put into a custom hat for WEEGEE:

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[Dinerman]

something to do with the bash and the way it makes the felt look?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Don't know. Hope that someone can tell us.


You can see a good '30s example of a reverse taper in the top righthand image:

 

[Joel Tunnah]

Any tall-crowned hat will reverse taper when you put a narrow center dent in it. Push out the crown, and the same hat will have straight sides.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

That's all there is to it? It's that easy? Wow!

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[Matt Deckard]

Just tall crown and deep crease... that is it.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Well, that's great to know. I've got a lot to learn. Thanks!

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[carebear]

Well, that's great to know. I've got a lot to learn. Thanks!

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Well, technically, you have one less thing to learn now.

I'm glad you asked the question though, I thought it had something to do with the slant front to back, but was too afraid of looking ignorant in front of the ladies.

 

[Fedora]

The reverse taper is directly related to the amount of taper, or lack of taper on the front and back of the block used to create the hat. I have some vintage hat blocks that have quite a bit of front and back taper, and even if you put in a deep top crease, you will get a straight front and back, but no reverse taper. The most pronounced reverse taper will be found on a hat block that has a straight front and back. When you push in the top crease, the already straight front and back pushes out, to create it. Fedora

 

[MK]

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Just tall crown and deep crease... that is it.

Which one is that?

 

[Matt Deckard]

When it comes to the 30's and 20's hats i admire it's about the high untapered crowns which depend on straighter blocks.

 

[Matt Deckard]

It's my blue hat.
I'll show it to you Monday.

 

[astaire]

I hope i won't look ignorant with this question:

What's involved in the process of blocking a hat? You would first put the hat to fit the block. What happens to it after?

I tried looking into the history, but must have missed some of the threads that discussed this process.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Orgetorix]

Very interesting. I was just wondering yesterday how in the world you do a reverse-tapered hat. Even if there was such a thing as a block with a reverse taper, I couldn't figure out how you'd get the hat off the block once you'd finished! :eusa_doh:

 

[Art Fawcett]

there ARE blocks for reverse taper hats (think top hat) but they are called "puzzle blocks" as they are multiple pieces that fit together in a puzzle to make the hat. The taper we are talking about here was covered by Fedora in an earlier post so no need to elaborate.

 

[ideaguy]

Art: you let the secret out!! I have a number of "puzzle blocks"- probably 6 pr., and that's not including the pair for fur muffs- those are incredible-the kind smart women used to put both hands in to keep them warm in Winter-wider at the middle, narrow at each end; great engineering, terrific sculpture. And some of the other "puzzle blocks" are very vintage French sailor's blocks, a pair of Turkish/Tartar pointed top fez-like contraptions, but soft, with folds built in...
it looks like I'll finally be able to get computer/camera situation fixed so's I can show some of these-they're really something!! ps- any computer whizzes out there?

 

[Russ]

I've been able to get a reverse taper in my hats by wetting just the bottom half of the crown thoroughly with water in a spray bottle and then binding it tightly, tying the knots on the sides of the crown where I wanted to see the most shrinkage. Then I put the hat under a desk lamp, open end facing the bulb. For binding I used the 1 1/2 inch wide cotton sash of a summer kimono which is not a common household item, but I imagine any type of cord would work as well.

Maybe this is not supposed to work (I was told it wouldn't) but it did work very well, and gave my hats a nice subtle mushroom effect. It is not quite the same effect as a vintage hat from a tall a straight sided block, but it is a solution to modern tapered hats.

Here is my black Federation with the mushroom treatment. It had previously had a slight tapered crown.

Added later: Oh yeah, I should mention that this should only be done on a hat that started out a little bit big for your head since it will obviously go down in size.

 

[J.B.]

I've been able to get a reverse taper in my hats by wetting just the bottom half of the crown thoroughly with water in a spray bottle and then binding it tightly... For binding I used the 1 1/2 inch wide cotton sash of a summer kimono...

So... um, you're saying that the outlawed practice of Chinese footbinding has just resurfaced in Japan in the form of fedorabinding??!

 

[Russ]

Please don't tell anybody.