Keppler Durability & Adventurebilt observation

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:38 am

This may not be that big of a deal now that I've gotten my adventurebilt, but it just bugs me a little. I see the rest of you gearheads with your nice looking Keppler feds, and it leads me to wonder what the heck happened to mine. As I have said before, I tapered super fast. I recieved it in late November of '04, and before the end of January '05, the hat had tapered worse than the pilot scene in ToD.

Honestly, this is not what I expected from the Keppler fed. Many told me that Lee was the way to go, and in some respects, I'd still like to think that maybe what happened to my Keppler fed was just a fluke. I mean, it did get rained on a few times, and outright soaked to the bone once.

Also, my first impression when I saw the hat come out of the box was that the crown is too small, and the brim not wide enough. I see pics of others' Kepplers, and their crown height seems to be fine. Ken posted a pic of his mint Keppler here awhile ago, and I was stunned at how marvelous it looked. The crown height and brim length seemed as wide as it ought to be. I was left thinking: "why didn't mine come like that?" I am at a loss to this day about it. I don't know whether or not I should buy any more hats from Lee, as I was kind of ticked about spending $150.00 on a hat that I was super hyped up to get, only to have it taper to @#$% in less than a few months. What has been your experiences, and can anyone offer any reasons as to why this may have happened to me?

With the Adventurebilt, I honestly really like this hat. However, I have a small issue with the sweatband. Other AB owners may note, when you pull the sweatband away from the hat just a little, you can see the stitching. There's two threads every 3/8s of an inch or so holding it on. I have noticed that the sweatband sort of moves around when I put the hat on (it doesn't do this while I am actually wearing the hat). I am afraid that the threads will eventually break and the sweatband will come out. Has anyone else noticed this? What's the deal?

In any event, thanks for reading.

Regards,

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:43 am

No. My Adventurebilt is very solid. Nothing loose. Tight stitching. An excellent piece in all respects!

I ran into a low treebranch with it today, while distracted by putting a notebook in my MKVII. The dent the branch made popped right out and back into shape. I find it amazing.

Yeah. yeah. I'm a real life slapstick act.

Post by **Ken** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:23 am

I think if you abuse any hat enough it is bound to taper. HJ, Optimo, Keppler, Dorfman pacific (ok well its tapered from the start!)... hence the reason I got a block so that I can fix it whenever I need to (whenever I learn how to do it properly!).

Ken

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:28 am

Well, thing is, I didn't really "abuse" it. All I did was wear it. Like I said, it got rained on once to the point where it was so wet it was heavy. It's not like I put it through a mayan jungle gauntlet 5 times over

Regards,

Neolithic · Post by **Neolithic** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:08 am

Perhaps it's to do with the luck on the batch of felt as Fedora has mentioned in the past- I recall he said he was speaking to a felt-man who said this was the case; felt comes in batches that can vary from eachother and that's just the way it is.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:47 am

I remember Fedora saying that about hat felt, too. Maybe you did get a fluke Keppler? I can't say, since I've never owned one.

As for the AB, I have one of the early hats Fedora made, and the sweat is holding up just fine. In fact, I even pulled it back a bit to check out the stitching. It's pretty much as you say it is (it's all hand stitched, but this is largely due to Steve not having a machine to do it for him) but my sweatband isn't going anywhere. If you have problems with it, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help you out.

bink

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:22 am

I think it was a fluke too. I have a brown AB that is rock solid, and has been in several rains in the past week...looks as good as the day I got it. I then received a grey version to try out. I wore it last Sunday and got caught in a rain. No biggie. The thing first began to stretch out until it was sitting on top of my ears as the day progressed, then by the next morning, it had dried and tapered, and pretty badly. By next morning, the taper had eased up some, but the taper was there....both hats had been equally treated with Scotchgard. The grey went back to Steve for study.

The hat I'm wearing in my avitar is a Kepper. It performed perfectly in all weather.

SO, that said, I think you just got one from Lee that had a bad (that's probably not the right word. Let's say not as well felted) cone from the factory. That is not the standard mode of wear for a Keppler. Regards. Michaelson

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:56 am

Guys, you should not have to worry about the sweats coming out of my hats. I do hand stitch them, but would still do it, even If I had a machine. The machines put in too many, and after a couple of reblocks, the brims can just pop off. The stitch holes become a dotted line, if you use a machine. I use high test nylon braided thread to attach the sweats to the hats. I also use a lock stitch, so if one stitch were to break(unlikely), the other stitches will hold it in. You can't break this thread with your hands, without cutting yourself, it is that strong. On Michaelson's hat, I used a tapered block per his request, which does not help matters.

Fedora

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:58 am

Yep, he did, and I did, and, heck, if you've been paying any attention to my posts lately, you know my fedora record of late.

Regards. Michaelson

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:25 am

Here is the block used for Michaelson's gray AB.http://public.fotki.com/Fedora/hats/51_block.html

Here is a typical Raiders block.

http://public.fotki.com/Fedora/hats/pdrm0149.html

Quite a bit of difference in taper, coming off the block. If a tapered hat, tapered more, it would be a thing of great ugliness.

regards, Fedora

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 11:34 am

Oh, I don't know about that, Fedora, not unless you LIKE witches hats....

Oh, in defense of the first 'tapered' block he shows above, Fedora blocked one of my shorter brimmed hats on that one, and it works perfectly on that style hat...I really like it....but man, it does not work on a full body cone like the Indy block does. We've pretty much proved that with the grey!

Regards. Michaelson

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:30 pm

Fedora wrote:Guys, you should not have to worry about the sweats coming out of my hats. I do hand stitch them, but would still do it, even If I had a machine. The machines put in too many, and after a couple of reblocks, the brims can just pop off. The stitch holes become a dotted line, if you use a machine. I use high test nylon braided thread to attach the sweats to the hats. I also use a lock stitch, so if one stitch were to break(unlikely), the other stitches will hold it in. You can't break this thread with your hands, without cutting yourself, it is that strong. On Michaelson's hat, I used a tapered block per his request, which does not help matters. Fedora

Thanks a bunch for the reassurance, Fedora. I had full confidence in you anyways. I didn't think you'd really send something out that you weren't sure of yourself, I just noticed it and kind of wondered about it. No offense, my friend. I was not intending to say that Fedora sends out bum Adventurebilts, not at all. The hat I have, and the hats I have seen on others are nothing short of excellent. I have never owned a finer hat, and do not believe I will for a good long time. Thanks so much, Fedora, for all your services toward my hat and for others' as well.

You'll be glad to know that the problem we were speaking about last time does not happen anymore

and I don't have to use super glue this time around

High Regards all around,

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:20 pm

and I don't have to use super glue this time around

I gotta tell you, the image of you having little red marks on your head from pulling off the hat, cracked me up. Course, I am sure it was not as funny to you.

Fedora

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 1:28 am

It wasn't very funny when it happened, but after I saw myself in the mirror, it was funny! I kept going: "what was I thinking? I need to send this thing for a size reduction, that's what ..." I haven't actually had the opportunity to do a lot more with the darn thing because of the recent weather here. It's been raining cats and dogs, and that usually spells doom for a lot of stuff. When the weather clears up, I will post some pics of my newly resized and reblocked Adventurebilt.

Regards,