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Ah, that's reasonable. And I agree about hats not holding a dry crease, at least as far as Akubras are concerned, without steam or water. That being said...Dry creasing can break fibers, especially if they are sharpish creases.
Some hats don't hold creases as well dry creased as they do with steam or water. Years of creasing my Akubras, as well as others, including some vintage, are testament to that.
I also agree with this, and all of my Akubras received a dry crease initially to get an approximate crown shape and height, then were sprayed with water so I could refine the shape and lock it in. But I've never put any sharp creases in any of my hats, so I'm not sure any damage was done to the felt.Pre-creased hats, especially those with some stiffening agent added to the felt, can give problems when dry creasing as @scottyrocks posted above. I have a 5X Stetson western and the brim took a ton of steam before I could even think of moving it.
On most other vintage and custom hats, though, I dry crease just to get an idea of what I want then add steam later to help define the crease more and hold it in place.