question for the hat makers

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:42 pm

i bought this hat-block and flange last night:

it looked to be a rather straight block but what sold me is that the price for both was a fraction of what it would cost to buy the raiders hat block and flange from richard at lamode.

i normally wear a 22.5" size fedora and from that, richard recommended a 22 7/8 block. the one above is a 23" block which i believe will still work. it measures 5 5/8" tall which is the height of one of my AB rabbit raider feds which suits me fine.

my questtion is in regards to what you can see from the top of the block. do you think this would generate a good indy hat? i know that $3K is using a winston 360 block which he has to porkpie the top as it comes off the block quite flat. i just want to know if anyone can tell if this will yield a decent hat......if not, i bought some spruce last night for $1.01 which i can construct a better block out of. the good thing is, i got the flange....cuz that's pretty pricey

any help would be much appreciated. i've never made a hat before, but i've always wanted to. steve, marc, oak, mark brody are great inspirations for my latest venture.

Mark Brody · Post by **Mark Brody** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:54 pm

From what I can tell from the picture, it looks like a great block and flange. The numbers stamped on the side of the flange are always a dead giveaway for the measurements, but from the picture, it looks good.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:18 am

i've confirmed that the size markings will work with the size of hat i want to make and i am quite happy for the reassurance on the shape of the crown. thanks for your opinion MB

....and thank you for sharing your tutorials as i have found them invaluable.

cheers,

g

3thoubucks · Post by **3thoubucks** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:14 am

Good luck with that Indiana G!

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:20 am

g, it's hard to tell from that angle. Can you show some straight-on pics of the side and front? Also, is there another number on the block, like a 52 or 60? These were numbers that generally identified the style and shape of the block.

As far as it making a good Indy block, the truest way to figure that out is by physically reblocking a hat on it. My initial feeling is if your block is like the vintage block that I have, it will likely provide a slightly tapered Indy hat. But if this block is a little bigger than your usual hat size and you sew in a sweatband that is your size, it might cause a bit of the reverse taper to even that out. Anyhow, half the fun is playing around with it and seeing what works. And don't worry about doing a horrible job of it at first. Have fun with it and realize the more you work at it, the better you become. Good luck!

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:53 am

binkmeisterRick wrote:g, it's hard to tell from that angle. Can you show some straight-on pics of the side and front? Also, is there another number on the block, like a 52 or 60? These were numbers that generally identified the style and shape of the block.

As far as it making a good Indy block, the truest way to figure that out is by physically reblocking a hat on it. My initial feeling is if your block is like the vintage block that I have, it will likely provide a slightly tapered Indy hat. But if this block is a little bigger than your usual hat size and you sew in a sweatband that is your size, it might cause a bit of the reverse taper to even that out. Anyhow, half the fun is playing around with it and seeing what works. And don't worry about doing a horrible job of it at first. Have fun with it and realize the more you work at it, the better you become. Good luck!

thanks for the input rick

you won't believe the hoops i have to go through to get this block to my doorstep. i won the auction, but the seller doesn't ship to canada so i have to handle payment and shipping in a round-about way. i will post a good pic of the block when it is in.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:55 am

Gotcha. Good luck!

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 1:46 pm

i got the block and flange today.

here's a front/back profile:

and the profile from the side:

it's etched with 'S.M. MUND' and number '32' along with the 71/8 size and 5 5/8 height.

do you think this would yield a good raiders hat? i think it looks very promising but then again i'm a noob when it comes to this. any advice would be appreciated.

thanks,

g

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:04 pm

Nice block! I think you might be able to get some good results from that one! It's definitely worth a go. It looks like it's got a hint of taper towards the top, but quite straight overall. The dome makes me think a bit "Winston" a la 3thou, so that may also work favorably. Really, the only way to know for certain is to take a hat and throw it on that block! I surely wouldn't be ashamed to own and use that block regardless of the results.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:07 pm

i'll find out tonite

thanks bink.

the only part that's got me hesitant in this whole project is sewing......i've never done it before. i think i can harness my OC nature to remedy that.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:33 pm

Just keep in mind these things: take your time and realize it will probably look like a money sewed things together. But the beauty of it is that you can take it back apart and resew it again. The next time will look like someone a little higher up on the evolutionary chain did the job. Each time you get better and better.

I love finding beater hats in poor condition and paying next to nothing for them, if that. They're great for experimenting on, and if you ruin a hat, worse thing is you're only out a few bucks. Most importantly, have fun with this!

Nicolas Jones · Post by **Nicolas Jones** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:35 pm

Hello,

You block looks perfect to me (if you want to make an Indy hat!)
Post some pics of your self made hat when it will be done!

My block :

Gave that result :

This one (Mac's) :

Gave that result:

Regards!

Nico

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:50 pm

thank you for posting the pics NJ....and for the words of confidence.

it seems that this block has a very minute taper as it gets to the top....which is hard to see unless you place a ruler on against the side. i'll see what results this yields. it would be nice to start out with a perfect stovepipe block such as those. the height is 5 5/8 so i will at least have enough crown to play with. i may just need to go with a soft pinch at first so i don't cave in the sides entirely. like bink said,....i'm gonna have some fun tonite

3thoubucks · Post by **3thoubucks** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:14 am

No doubt that will give you a VERY nice hat.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 8:54 am

Okay, it's the next day! Pics already!

jacksdad · Post by **jacksdad** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 11:12 am

I made a block,I 'm trying to get the wife to post the picture but my question is how round does the top need to be. Mine is oval and rounded edges but not round like the blocks shown is that really important? I looked at a freeze frame of the raiders hat and I think my block might work. I'll try to get pictures up soon.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:36 am

all right........some results. i took my ratty HJ, soaked it, steamed it and threw it over the block. as expected, that cruddy HJ felt shrank. i lost about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the brim (a combo of a taller and wider crown....coupled with unstable felt). no problem as i was expecting that and the hat was already ruined long ago. i just wanted to see what kind of crown this block will yeild.

bink, you were bang-on in your guestimate......the block can give me a decent TOD fedora.....remeniscent of the village hat. it doesn't look too bad on the pictures....but i'm too anal about pinching the crown tight and calling it a raiders hat.......it will look extremely bad.....steve has enlightened me to what a raiders hat should look like so i'm not stopping with any of these close enoughs:

maybe when i get meself one of them upcoming TOD jackets, i'll make myself a hat with this block. for now, no time to waste....gotta get a good raiders block going.

so i went to my dad's and we built this:

she's currently got wood filler drying on her right now. tomorrow i'll sand it off and dome out the top.....then i should be cook'n

the best part of this project so far was the fact that me and my dad got to do something together in the garage. i even wore one of his old overall's

he usually just sits on the computer playing card games on the weekends so i knew it would be fun for us to play with his multitude of tools..........the only downside was that he couldn't remember that he loaned his jig-saw out

......so the patterns were cut out with a table saw, and a router (sp?), and then sanded on his disc sander. and since i'm not the most patient man in the world, we screwed all of the layers together instead of glued them. hopefully if time permits, i'll have that ratty hj back on the new block by mid week.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:35 am

g, the hat still came out pretty well, though! If you really fiddled with the bash, you might be able to get a closer Raiders or LC bash. Still, I like the shape the block puts out. I bet if you put a C-dent or diamond dent bash in it, the hat would also look really sharp! It might give you some cool reverse taper, too.

On the flip side, it's great that you and your dad got to share some quality workshop time together!

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:42 am

I like the fact that you got some quality time with your dad, that is very cool my friend.

How hard was it stretching it over the block?

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:09 pm

binkmeisterRick wrote:g, the hat still came out pretty well, though! If you really fiddled with the bash, you might be able to get a closer Raiders or LC bash. Still, I like the shape the block puts out. I bet if you put a C-dent or diamond dent bash in it, the hat would also look really sharp! It might give you some cool reverse taper too

the hat does look sharp bink and i'm sure that won't be the last time i use it

oak, the hj was pretty easy to throw over the block.......considering i wasn't concerned about losing any brim

update: i finished my block today.......er, my dad finished it by puting a nice radius on the top of the crown. i tested the block with a cruddy wool cowboy hat that i found in my parents basement and the results look very promising

i'll put the HJ through the test to see exactly what she'll yeild........after that, i'm expecting that i'll only have an inch left in the brimi

but that's okay cuz raw hat bodies come with lots o brim.

my dad was laughing at me when i explained to him how to finish the hat......installing the sweat and ribbon, etc.........he proclaimed, "you can't even hem your own jeans...and you're gonna sew all that?"

.....he does have a point.........it's gonna be a difficult learning curve here-on in.

Indiana G · Post by **Indiana G** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:23 pm

jacksdad wrote:I made a block,I 'm trying to get the wife to post the picture but my question is how round does the top need to be. Mine is oval and rounded edges but not round like the blocks shown is that really important? I looked at a freeze frame of the raiders hat and I think my block might work. I'll try to get pictures up soon.

thats a question i was asking today

i've seen folks reblock on pails and other things with 90 degree edges and they've come out looking great. my new block is pretty flat on top and i think i can work with it........this is where my practice on bashing will come in pretty handy.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:37 pm

Indiana G wrote: my dad was laughing at me when i explained to him how to finish the hat......installing the sweat and ribbon, etc.........he proclaimed, "you can't even hem your own jeans...and you're gonna sew all that?"

That made my day.

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:30 pm

.......... and my day as well. I don't think I sewn anything together before trying to sew in a sweat, ribbon and liner. maybe a patch on a jacket about twenty years ago. believe it or not I'm getting #### good at it.

See , you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:44 pm

Nice to close out the long weekend with a smile and a laugh!
Indy G, dare I say it?
Thanks for keeping us in stitches

...and good luck with yours!

Mitch

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:44 pm

Oh...

Ugh...

CanNOT believe I WROTE that!