Akubra Federation Regular question

kalkamel · Post by **kalkamel** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:27 am

Hi,

I'm looking to buy an Akubra Fed Regular... that's what I can afford right now (currency exchange issues

). On the hatsdirect website, I saw that they had a midbrown color hat available. Is that the correct Indy color?

Strider · Post by **Strider** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:44 am

It's as close as you're going to get with a Federation, it seems. I've seen some Feds in person, and the color looks pretty danged good. It looks a lot like the Cairo hat's color, IMO.

kalkamel · Post by **kalkamel** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:32 pm

I've seen pics of other regular Feds here that look like its a darker shade of brown than the one I saw on the hatsdirect site. The reason I'm asking is because the Fed Deluxe they had was of "loden" color variety which really had the Indy look, whereas the regular Fed hwas "mid-brown" and didn't really look that dark.

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:48 pm

The regular Federation "Mid brown" is pretty dark, if that is what you're after. It is a bit flat though, lacking the lustre of finer felts, but for the money, many people here have had great luck with them.

kalkamel · Post by **kalkamel** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:16 pm

Thanks for the tip! Btw, I've been trying to locate the hat shaping tutorial but the link http://www.whyaxis.net/indy/hatshaping/hatshaping.html
seems to be dead. Dalex's tutorial in the faq also lost its pics. Any alternatives?

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 11:44 pm

Hemingway Jones wrote:The regular Federation "Mid brown" is pretty dark, if that is what you're after. It is a bit flat though, lacking the lustre of finer felts, but for the money, many people here have had great luck with them.

Hem-

I've been checking out a fed regular as a beater hat. A few questions:

1) What seems to make it turn "green"? I talked to Ron, he stated he's never seen one turn green.
2) Is the fed seen on the hatsdirect.com page the midbrown or the tawny fawn?

Cheers!

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:39 am

As for the green, I think it's a matter of the hat fading over time. There's a doctored photo (which VP will post once he sees this) of Hemingway's Akubra a nice, rich green. I've never seen one get that bad. I had the Regular Federation in the mid brown and thoughht it was a good color, though I'd agree with the sentiment that the color seems a bit flat. I've heard the color of the Deluxe is muuch richer, but I've never seen one in person (that I recall) to tell you otherwise.

The Standard Federation default image shown on the hatsdirect site is the mid brown. If you select a different color in the selection bar, it'll show you what the different colors look like.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:01 am

binkmeisterRick wrote:As for the green, I think it's a matter of the hat fading over time. There's a doctored photo (which VP will post once he sees this) of Hemingway's Akubra a nice, rich green. I've never seen one get that bad. I had the Regular Federation in the mid brown and thoughht it was a good color, though I'd agree with the sentiment that the color seems a bit flat. I've heard the color of the Deluxe is muuch richer, but I've never seen one in person (that I recall) to tell you otherwise.

The Standard Federation default image shown on the hatsdirect site is the mid brown. If you select a different color in the selection bar, it'll show you what the different colors look like.

Ron said it had to do more with the "undertones" of the hat coloration, i.e. under certain lights (fluorescent, etc) the reg will look "a little" green, and the deluxe will look "a little" red.

VP · Post by VP » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:10 am

binkmeisterRick wrote:There's a doctored photo (which VP will post once he sees this) of Hemingway's Akubra a nice, rich green.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:29 am

I distinctly remember bink once stating anytime the fed was brought up it would only be a matter of time before VP posted the green pic

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:29 am

I knew you'd come through, VP.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:31 am

Whazzat hemi's fed regular?

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:33 am

I don't remember if it's the reg or deluxe, but rest assured, in real life it's nowhere NEAR that green!

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:41 am

binkmeisterRick wrote:I don't remember if it's the reg or deluxe, but rest assured, in real life it's nowhere NEAR that green!

yea, I know, I've seen a picture of the actual "Hemi Green", and it looks like it'd only be really noticeable under certain types of lighting.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:43 am

Walden wrote:
binkmeisterRick wrote:I don't remember if it's the reg or deluxe, but rest assured, in real life it's nowhere NEAR that green!
yea, I know, I've seen a picture of the actual "Hemi Green", and it looks like it'd only be really noticeable under certain types of lighting.

Uh, wait, I think we just had a brainfart on both our parts.

The fed deluxe doesn't have the color issues, remember?

ergo, it can only be the reg

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:37 am

Thought somethin' smelled funny.

Indakin · Post by **Indakin** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:38 am

i have the fed deluxe, and it usually just looks a nice brown/dark brown. And only in some ligiting, mostly next to a lightbulb, and certian outdoors lighting, does it really look that light brown/red color. I really like lighter brown color when it happens, looks very nice. But usually it looks dark brown. Basically i dont think ull ahve to much issues with the reg Fed.

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:23 pm

Again, the green undertone was only there at first and it now just looks like a mid-brown fedora.

You know I wondered about the green undertone of the regular federation. I do recall the first time that I reblocked mine, several years ago, instead of bleeding brown in the hot water, instead, it bled a bluish green color. It did this only once, because I reblocked that hat several times over the next few years as needed. Most brown hats, regardless of the color of the undertone, always bleed brown. Fedora

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:44 pm

Indiana_Tone wrote:The Fed regular I got had a green undertone to it when first out of the box. It's definitely brown but it does pick up that hue. One of the few times I ever wore it, a woman at work said right off the bat, "It's too tall and it's green." This was an off-the-cuff remark at a hat I'd mentioned was acting as a placeholder until the one I was waiting for came in. Interestingly, the Fed drew attention to the fact that I had a "not very common hat on" whereas the A/B just gets nods of approval without question (usually; there's always that one instance where no one gets a fed. ). Again, the green undertone was only there at first and it now just looks like a mid-brown fedora. It is a good felt though and that hue is not permanent.

The fed regular I was looking at was actually the tawny fawn. Anybody got that one?

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:16 pm

Oh, Man, I love VP's pic! And yes, that is my hat!

And without further ado, here it is. I bought this hat around the time I joined IndyGear, so this is how it looks:

Indiana Spielberg

Here are the splotches:

Here I am a bit TOD.

I don't want to pick on Akubra. I have a lot of affection with the company. I just didn't have particularly good luck with them.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:53 pm

Holy taper, Batman!

Is that the fed reg?

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:08 pm

Walden wrote:Holy taper, Batman!

Is that the fed reg?

Yes, it is.

Renderking Fisk · Post by **Renderking Fisk** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:08 am

For reasons why I can't explain, my Reg Fed didn't taper like that, and I have yet to see green and I've had it since June 2002. One of my clients came over and couldn't believe the quality.

When it comes to the question, which do you want to buy, either Tawny Fawn or Mid-brown? By both. You're going to do it anyway.