Bringing the sides in...

fatwoul · Post by **fatwoul** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:33 am

So the Fed deluxe is shrinking nicely - two pieces of foam are now out. It's still very comfy, but I can feel it is resting on the front and back of my head more than the sides - when it first arrived, the foam seemed to be applying even pressure all around. hatsdirect did a great jop of stretching it LO for me, and front-to-back the size is great, but it feels a little as if the hat is trying to return to its pre-stretched dimensions. Is there anything I can do to bring the sides in slightly? It would exaggerate the brim a little, and enhance the sides of the crown slightly.

I'm getting a LO hat stretcher this week, so It might just be that by leaving that in it overnight set to the size the hat currently is (no real pressure being applied by it), that will mean that any continued shrinkage of the band will draw in the sides.

Does that make sense? Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks guys

Kaplan · Post by **Kaplan** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:49 am

There might be a better way. My advise is to turn your sweatband inside-out. Then take a glass of warm water and dip your finger in it and apply water to all parts of the raw inside part of the sweatband until it is completely saturated. Then I would place it outside in direct sunlight with the sweat turned inside-out until it is completely dry. However, I would recommend placing a white cloth inside the crown to absorb the sunlight for superstitious reasons.

After a day in direct sunlight, your akubra sweatband should have shrunk WAY too small.......

DON'T PANIC! Just turn off the air conditioning, put your hat on, turn on Man vs. Wild, and by the time the show is over you will have a well fitting hat.

fatwoul · Post by **fatwoul** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 12:58 am

Kaplan wrote:There might be a better way. My advise is to turn your sweatband inside-out. Then take a glass of warm water and dip your finger in it and apply water to all parts of the raw inside part of the sweatband until it is completely saturated. Then I would place it outside in direct sunlight with the sweat turned inside-out until it is completely dry. However, I would recommend placing a white cloth inside the crown to absorb the sunlight for superstitious reasons. After a day in direct sunlight, your akubra sweatband should have shrunk WAY too small.......

DON'T PANIC! Just turn off the air conditioning, put your hat on, turn on Man vs. Wild, and by the time the show is over you will have a well fitting hat.

Interesting. Thanks Kaplan. So am I to also take it from this advice that as long as I keep wearing my fed regularly, particularly in warmer conditions, for an hour or two here and there, that will keep the band stretched for my head too, and prevent it shrinking too small in the future?

Indycop · Post by **Indycop** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:15 am

The LO hat stretcher works for me. I just use it every now and then and just enough to maintain the shape.

Dutch_jones · Post by **Dutch_jones** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:40 am

Kaplan wrote:There might be a better way. My advise is to turn your sweatband inside-out. Then take a glass of warm water and dip your finger in it and apply water to all parts of the raw inside part of the sweatband until it is completely saturated. Then I would place it outside in direct sunlight with the sweat turned inside-out until it is completely dry. However, I would recommend placing a white cloth inside the crown to absorb the sunlight for superstitious reasons. After a day in direct sunlight, your akubra sweatband should have shrunk WAY too small.......

DON'T PANIC! Just turn off the air conditioning, put your hat on, turn on Man vs. Wild, and by the time the show is over you will have a well fitting hat.

Thi is what is most commonly used as the Lamshade trick , only now you expose the hat to sunlight,

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:34 am

It sounds a little to me like it wants to go back to its regular oval shape. But the more you wear it, the more it should conform to your head, even if it takes a little longer for the sweatband to come in on the sides. I would think the long oval stretcher should work, and you may want to try that first, especially if you've already ordered it.

fatwoul · Post by **fatwoul** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:37 am

binkmeisterRick wrote:It sounds a little to me like it wants to go back to its regular oval shape. But the more you wear it, the more it should conform to your head, even if it takes a little longer for the sweatband to come in on the sides. I would think the long oval stretcher should work, and you may want to try that first, especially if you've already ordered it.

Cheers bink. I got the stretcher for my old hat, really, but when It arrives I'll probably leave it in my fed overnight a few times to see if that helps.

I think you're right about the sides taking longer to pull in - I guess that's partly because the front of your head is putting lots of sweat directly onto the band, but the back and sides are (usually) covered in hair, which will soak come of it up, and lessen the amount of moisture that part of the band interacts with.

Anyway, it's reassuring that you also think the hat will conform to my crazy head shape. Like I say, the hat is perfectly comfortable, but at least I know I don't really need to worry about it.

Thanks for your help, everyone.

fatwoul · Post by **fatwoul** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:56 pm

OK this isn't me ignoring advice. This is me trying something for myself, safe in the knowledge that if it doesn't work, I can fall back on the suggestions you guys have left for me.

I wore my fed all day today, in warm weather (I was on a commission - photographing endurance horseriding), so the headband got good and sweaty.

What I've done is put a basic hat stretcher inside (one I made for my old hat - best I've got until my eBay stretcher arrives). It's not putting any significant stretch on the hat itself, but at the same time, I've put a couples of threads through the hat side to side, across the open space you head goes in, and the thread it pulled very slightly taut, so the sides of the hat are pulled inwards. I'll leave it like this overnight, and see if the shape takes. If it does, it should leave the sides with a very straigh look, and perhaps even slight reverse taper.

To be honest, much as I love this hat, I'm so far unimpressed with the headband wire so many of you guys pull out. It's supposed to be a memory wire, but I think mine must have amnesia, because it doesn't seem interested in taking on any new shapes I offer it.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:07 pm

So many of us tend to experiement with our hats sooner or later and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. Still, there's no way of knowing what works without trying. I'd love to hear how this works for you. Keep us posted!

Chewbacca Jones · Post by **Chewbacca Jones** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:34 pm

You know, I can't help but wonder... where is this wire everybody is suddenly talking about? I don't feel it, I don't see it, I've never heard of it... until a few days ago. I mean, my Feds fit fine (say that 3 times fast), but I'd be interested to compare comfort with and without. How do I get to this thing?

Castor Dioscuri · Post by **Castor Dioscuri** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:38 pm

Chewbacca Jones wrote:You know, I can't help but wonder... where is this wire everybody is suddenly talking about? I don't feel it, I don't see it, I've never heard of it... until a few days ago. I mean, my Feds fit fine (say that 3 times fast), but I'd be interested to compare comfort with and without. How do I get to this thing?

I wonder about that too... Kinda makes me paranoid now, especially after reading that people can get injured by the steel wire in their feds...

3thoubucks · Post by **3thoubucks** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:14 am

I've pulled many wires out of Akubra sweats. At the seam in back, just hook the 1/3 inch long brass joiner tube with a pocket knife, and start to pull it out- then pull the stainless all the way out with a needle nose pliers. I have a couple older Akubras, one I'd say is 15 years old, the other maybe Raiders vintage or older. -- They both have nylon wires. If the Raiders hat was an Akubra, my guess is it didn't have a stainless steel wire in it. But maybe it did. - Fatwoul, The Cairo hat really pulls in at the top of the ribbon, on the sides and back. I crease the crown inward all around at the top of the ribbon. This will pull the sides and back in. I do it often, untill it's permanent. You can also try stuffing the inside of the sweat front or back or both.

fatwoul · Post by **fatwoul** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:59 am

Chewbacca Jones wrote:You know, I can't help but wonder... where is this wire everybody is suddenly talking about? I don't feel it, I don't see it, I've never heard of it... until a few days ago. I mean, my Feds fit fine (say that 3 times fast), but I'd be interested to compare comfort with and without. How do I get to this thing?

My wire showed itself at the back of the band, where 3thoubucks described, when I flexed the hat. I was gently pulling the hat into a longer shape, to see how the brim changed shape, etc, and after doing that a few times, the ends of the wire appeared out of the back. Had I been wearing the hat, the wire still wouldn't have hurt me as the ends stuck outwards slightly.

Castor Dioscuri wrote:I wonder about that too... Kinda makes me paranoid now, especially after reading that people can get injured by the steel wire in their feds...

As I say, I'm not worried about injury at all from the wire. The ends are not sharp, and seem to stick out backwards away from your head. If they are left exposed for a while I suppose they could bend in a more harmful direction, but if you see them, you could just cut the exposed ends off, if you wanted to keep the wire in place.

3thoubucks wrote:...Fatwoul, The Cairo hat really pulls in at the top of the ribbon, on the sides and back. I crease the crown inward all around at the top of the ribbon. This will pull the sides and back in. I do it often, untill it's permanent. You can also try stuffing the inside of the sweat front or back or both.

Thanks, 3tb - I may try some very gentle creasing. I need to be careful, because the sides of the hat are actually a little softer, following the stretching process hatsdirect kindly did for me.