Sitting On Your Hat

[McFly]

What does it do? What are the pros and cons of doing it? How does it look after? Does it hurt the hat at all? Won't it crease anything?

I know some important people recommend it, and that Deb Nadoolman (I didn't even try... did I get that last name right?) is one of these people... but I'm wondering if I should try it, and I just don't want to mess anything up.

Thanks!!

In Christ,
Shane

[Indiana Jerry]

It will give your hat that double-inverted camel-hump bash. We also call it a butt-print.

McFly, I think it's just a way to soften and crumple the pristine straight sides down.

Fair warning, I think I even heard Fedora state something a couple months back to the effect that this could contribute to needing a reblock again due to a 'reduced time to taper'.

If you want to be more careful, you can always crush it down w/ your hands, so you can control which way it goes - force it to mushroom out, you know, instead of taper on one side or the other.

I think sitting on it is just the 'get over' it way of doing this...like jumping in the pool instead of getting in slowly, or like tieing your tooth to a doorknob...

I've crushed mine down, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not (a little problem w/ shifting luggage!), but I don't think I've actually sat on it...

[binkmeisterRick]

Okay, Shane, I've actually sat on one of my AB's before. Thiis is what you do: put it on a chair and sit on it. Seriously, some folks sit on their hats to help get that Ciaro mushroomy look. If you want to do this, you can go about it two ways (as I did). You can sit on it while the hat is bashed, or you can pop it out and sit on it while it's open crowned. Personally, I prefer to pop out the bash, place the hat nicely on a cushioned chair, and then sitting my fanny stright down on top of it for a while. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

I've only done the sitting treatment on one of my hats, which just happens to be my first AB, which just happens to be in the shop for a reblock. To be fair, one of the only reasons I tried it is because the hat needed to be reblocked, anyway, so I wanted to see what this would do to the hat. I did get a little mushrooming, but it definitely added more character to the hat, including some slight crease marks.

If all you want to do is soften your hat, you don't have to sit on it to do so. You can just squish it back and forth in your hands if you want to soften it. It doesn't necessarily mushroom your hat, though. You can do somethinbg else, though, which is far less drastic as sitting on your hat, and something Steve even suggested. With your hat bashed, place it on a table and get a wooden ruler or yard stick. Take the ruler and whack the top of the humps and this will mushroom things a little. I tried this and found it actually worked for me.

Now, I'm not suggesting you sit on your hat whatsoever. In fact, my best suggestion is to put the hat on your head and just wear it. The more you wear it, the more it will break in.

[Michaelson]

In fact, my best suggestion is to put the hat on your head and just wear it. The more you wear it, the more it will break in.

Totally agree! What most folks don't tell you is it plays hob with the liner when you sit on them.

Regards! Michaelson

[BendingOak]

I agree. Just wear it.

[McFly]

Huh! Interesting... yeah I was just wondering, because I know some people did it, and I never really understood it. That's good info you guys have posted. Thanks a bunch!! I think I'm leaving my AB alone.

In Christ,
Shane

[binkmeisterRick]

If you give me your hat, Shane, I'll sit on it for you.

[Strider]

Well, what I've taken to doing recently is not sitting on it, but turning the crown so that it is up against my chest, and I push it down like that a couple times, then put the hat back on without popping it back out first. I fiddle with it until it looks good, and it gets some mean reverse taper like that.

As far as taper resulting from this, I have had no taper to date. I've worn the dickens out of my hat, smushed it, had it accidentally crushed and sat on (at a movie theatre.. :evil:), and the beaver AB took it like a champ. It's got a great mushroom shape reverse taper going on (not as extreme as Raiders, but it's there and it's got it), and NO taper. In fact, I wasn't going to even have it reblocked until AFTER the San Diego Comic Con, by which point the hat would have been in posession for over a year.

[Dr.Seuss]

What does it do? What are the pros and cons of doing it? How does it look after? Does it hurt the hat at all? Won't it crease anything?

I know some important people recommend it, and that Deb Nadoolman (I didn't even try... did I get that last name right?) is one of these people... but I'm wondering if I should try it, and I just don't want to mess anything up.

Shane:

This may be helpful: viewtopic.php?p=298196&highlight=#298196


Aeris_Canon wrote:

The mushrooming is pretty easy really. After you've got the side angles nicely defined and the rest of the bash where you want it, sit on the hat.
(This is not for a Cairo look. This is for any Raiders fedora.)
Anyway, the mushrooming - so far - has worked consistently for me if the hat's been sat on "after" the bash is in place.

For the side thing explained better, just Google "Raiders bash" and look at step 6. Hope that helps, guys.

IMHO, Canon has some of the best mushroomed hats around. Sitting is the key.

Sincerely,

[Indiana Blooze]

I sat on both my ABD and my AB without ill effects. On my ABD I achieved a reverse taper on the rear crown, and lines that resemble the supposed pre-Raiders telescope bash put forth by 3Thou awhile back. I procedure was to place my ABD on a hard wooden chair first thing in the morning, get a cup of coffee and the newspaper, then sit on the hat until I finished my cup of coffee.

A question for Bink or Steve, when you smack your hat with the spoon, do you do it in the center dent, or perpendicular to the center dent?

[binkmeisterRick]

I smack the humps. Of the hat. Perpendicular to the center dent.

[IndyBlues]

"My humps, my humps, my lovely AB humps!!"

I tried sitting on my hat after bashing it,...didn't notice a big difference, but it mushrooms nicely, even before sitting on it.
'Blues

[Indiana]

Wasn't it Dan Riser who actually ran his Keppler over with a car at one point in time? I seem to remember something as drastic as that occuring in IndyGear history.

[Strider]

Wasn't it Dan Riser who actually ran his Keppler over with a car at one point in time? I seem to remember something as drastic as that occuring in IndyGear history.

I think ITG has some pix of Dan beating his hat around with his foot.

[Ken]

I don't think it was anything as extreme as that - just jumping up and down on it.

Now me, I've gone swimming in my old Keppler!

Ken

[JoelM]

I don't think it was anything as extreme as that - just jumping up and down on it.

Now me, I've gone swimming in my old Keppler!

Ken

pretty dedicated

[Michaelson]

Come to think of it, Ken, what HAVEN'T you done to a fedora to date?

Regards! Michaelson

[JoelM]

Eat It?

[Michaelson]

Not so sure about that, either, Joel. Look at Ken's current avatar.

Regards! Michaelson

[JoelM]

Not so sure about that, either, Joel. Look at Ken's current avatar.

Regards! Michaelson

Okay maybe wearing it then?

[Indiana]

Now me, I've gone swimming in my old Keppler!

Heck, Ken's gone swimming in a WESTED!

[JoelM]

[Indiana Texas-girl]

I think ITG has some pix of Dan beating his hat around with his foot.

I don't think he did it with a car. I know he sat on it accidentally and then the term Dandalizing a hat evolved. Strider, here are the pics:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v179/ ... tkick7.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v179/ ... tkick4.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v179/ ... tkick1.jpg

*Disclaimer, Indygear nor myself indorses doing the above things on your hats. Attempt at your own risk if you dare to go there.

[Fedora]

I loved that last pic!! I recall when Dan was going through the motions. Is he still around these parts? Fedora

[Indiana Texas-girl]

He hasn't posted on Indygear in some time. He was at the last QM...really good to see him there. I've tried to keep in touch, but he hasn't returned any phone calls or email messages. So, I'm not sure how he's doing these days, regretfully. I think he was 16 or 17 at the time of the pics and is 21 now, so that was some time ago.

[Strider]

I bumped into him at the Raiders showing last November. He just happened to be there out in La Jolla.

[Fedora]

I think he was 16 or 17 at the time of the pics and is 21 now, so that was some time ago.

I guess when some of our members grow up, we lose them. And perhaps that is my trouble. I just never grew up. Fedora

[Michaelson]

I heard recently that he was pretty much working 24/7 trying to get the Templar film finished, so he's been pretty well off radar with that project.

Good old Dan. He gave me a heart attack the first time I saw those photos, and bit of administrative headaches here at Indygear to boot . I still find them a bit, disturbing.

Regards! Michaelson

[Dr.Seuss]

[I guess when some of our members grow up, we lose them. And perhaps that is my trouble. I just never grew up. Fedora

There is something very Peter Pan-ish, in that comment.

Fedora: If you grew up, your exemplary hatting skills would likely have been lost forever. Perhaps into the belly of a corporate crocodile. Your work, and that of your brethren, helps keep the fantasy alive for us all.

Sincerely,

[Castor Dioscuri]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v179/ ... tkick4.jpg

I've heard of distressing your gear, but this is just insane!

[Indiana Texas-girl]

Castor, if you knew Dan, you'd say he's insane too (in a good way).

[Strider]

Castor, if you knew Dan, you'd say he's insane too (in a good way).

Haha! I can vouch for that!

[sebas]

Hey guys,

I'm not familiar with the texture, stiffness of an AB, but I have an Akubra fed and the hat is stiff as a board. No complaints though, because it' maintains that Raiders shape admirably. Question is, is it advisable to sit on or crush this kind of stiff hat? My gut tells me no.

Any thoughts?

[Indiana G]

i've done it. it'll give some nice cairo mushrooming effects and soften up the felt. it will however remove the squeeky clean lines of the hat as the felt will show some wrinkling creases.

its all personal preference. i don't give my no. 1 hat in the rotation that kind of treatment....just the older hats.

[Dr.Seuss]

Mushrooming = creases in the felt. It is the price for the look. (At least, I cannot avoid felt creasing when sitting/crushing. Perhaps too much stiffener in my mix.) But IMHO, the creases give an "adventurer's hat," character.

Sincerely,

[GCR]

I've sat on every one of my hats, beginning with my Indiana Millers back around 2000. Some I've gone a bit further with, like My Fed Deluxe, but each and every one has been sat on at least twice (including my 2 AB's and my AB Deluxe). It does help to soften up the felt in some cases, or add a bit of mushrooming in others, but it's never given me any negative "side-effects". In the case of the Beaver AB and ABD, you can't even tell I ever sat on them, the hats still look new!

-GCR

[VP]

I have an Akubra fed and the hat is stiff as a board. No complaints though, because it' maintains that Raiders shape admirably. Question is, is it advisable to sit on or crush this kind of stiff hat? My gut tells me no.

Go ahead, it will soften up nicely after a few crushes.