To see how much I could get out before I tore the hat apart to reblock, I popped out the crown, hit it with a shot of steam, let it dry for 15 minutes and re-bashed it into this shape. Now, the hat was never turned, and so I did not turn it in the recrease although, I am sure it would have gotten rid of a bit more taper. Here she is after a dry bash. Still a bit of taper, but not quite as much.
Of course, the hat after my re-bash looks good from this angle.
I will reblock this one, but as you can see. a bit of re-bashing may give you a few more months wear before it turns into a TOD fedora. After I re-bashed it, it remindedme of the hat from the PR photo of Indy leaning against the mantle in the Raven. Fedora
My point was that although the hat looked tapered, much could be taken out with doing what I did. On the tapering, it varies, and various factors come to bear. I bought a hat, wore it to the shop, got it slightly damp, and it tapered before my very eyes. So far the only hats that I have seen that really resist taper are vintage hats. I think it is because the felt is old, and does not react to the elements the way live felt does. I have yet to see a modern felt that will not taper. Some just taper at a slower rate. Of course, if you were to get a TOD fedora in modern felt, you would probably never have the problem. The raw bodies do not look like the Raiders block shape. They look like a tapered TOD hat, as you receive them from the factory. The felt has to be stretched out to form itself to the straight sided Raiders block shape. With time and reblocks, the modern felt will become more taper resistant, if it is a good enough felt to stand up to several reblocks. It is the age factor, given that it was a good tight felt to begin with. Fedora