Moderators: Indiana Jeff, Dalexs
The stiffener is a key part of it. Even in a thin felted Optimo, those crinkles go away after the hat settles down and the stiffener wears away. CheersIndiana G wrote:ha ha! i just posted my opinion on "they don't make them like they use to" in the leather jacket section.....replying to your post
the AB blocks will give you the right shape but you're right, they're stock beaver won't give you that effect (maybe if you ask for extra pouncing and get the stiffener boiled out of it). i know what you are talking about as you can almost see and feel the texture of the fedora when he is being chased by the hovitos and trying to keep his hat on (where a big puff of dust comes off of it). the felt looks quite thin and seems to be held up with stiffener imo.
again, alot of consumers today want a good, tough hat....a thin felt wearing stiffener for protection is typically frowned upon......but there has to be a happy medium somewhere. i've never handled an optimo........maybe they're in that happy place?
Based on my experiences, I'm going to have to politely disagree with you Chewbacca. An AB is no doubt a great hat and it looks superficially just like a Raiders, but it doesn’t react and share some of the OG Raiders hat characteristics. It’s a tough hat & is more like what a real Indiana Jones would wear. Two out of three aint bad. It can’t be everything. Akubras are a great deal for the money. But I’ve never seen that effect with them either. I liken it to a lambskin jacket. I personally wouldn’t want one, but it has characteristics that can’t really be duplicated all the way with other leathers. CheersChewbacca Jones wrote:I don't think the felt is as important as you think. It's easier to get with thin felt, and even more likely to happen by accident. But since that effect was an accident in the movie, the best way to get it on any felt is to luck your way into it. One of my new AB's actually insists on that effect, and my Akubra Campdraft (which shares the Federation felt) used to be that way. Might still be, but it's not mine anymore. So that's a stiff rabbit felt and a somewhat thick beaver felt that naturally did it.
Felt has texture, memory, and it "behaves." Let it behave the way it wants, and you may get something special.
As for Optimo, I think that with all of the other Indy options now available, they've fallen out of the COW spot light. I wouldn't bother getting an Indy hat from them at this point. However, I would love to have something else by them someday.
How much does an Optimo go for these days?golpeo_rapidamente wrote:I purchased an Optiomo Indy in pecan and within a month i shelled out the cash for a second.
I have just got the second hat back after a well earned rebuild its actually better than when new.
To me the Optimo is the best raiders hat(s) ive owned ( and ive owned them all,Herby,PB,Akubra,Stetson,Mallory and AB)
It was Rundquist who put me onto them after his initial Pecan purchase (must be a million years ago now)
Ill get some pics up of my Indy brown up soon
JEEP got an AB deluxe based on that hat......"the waterfall hat". my raiders AB beaver was a waterfall hat........well......er..........only cuz fedora forgot to turn it and bashed it as soNobody ever goes for Hawaii.........
......i still get a kick out of that.........regardless, that hat has since been reblocked to a CS....
you wouldn't want to put on a male hat wouldja?mark seven wrote:At least now we know the sex of the hat!Indiana G wrote:....i guess we won't know unless 'screen used' allows us to come in and examine her.
Yeah my mistake. However, he did say that he crinkled it superficially to look like the Hawaiian hat. Those crinkles occurred naturally in a new Optimo. I believe that those crinkles occurred naturally in the original Hawaiian hat. We’re talking about esoteric differences here. You can rerecord a piece of music today using the same musical arrangement, using the same caliber of musician, and somehow (because of modern recording equipment), the result is just not the same. I’ll maintain that although Fedora has gotten the hat block shape down better than Optimo and his felt is more robust than Optimo’s, his felt doesn’t embody the Raiders hat as well as Optimo’s felt. Now, his hat all around embodies the spirit of what an Indiana Jones hat should be quite well.Kentucky Blues wrote:Actually, Rundquist, GCR's hat is an AB.
-KB
OK, that's two guys that say I'm wrong. I guess I'm wrongChewbacca Jones wrote:Rundquist, G; I wish I did have pictures, because I know I it can happen. I didn't want it, so I worked it out of my hats. My last attempt seems to be working on the AB... so far. This is the best I can do, and by then I was already fighting off the "crinkles." If you look closely you MIGHT be able to see the remains.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27810273@N ... 564349939/
Just for the record, I agree fully with Rundquist's assessment of the AB. It is a top notch hat with the right shape, but there are things it just won't do.
On the other hand, there are things my HJ won't do, either. Including what we're discussing. It goes in, but pops right back out! If it had more stiffener, I think it might hold.
I suspect that the felt is only a contributing factor. Pouncing, blocking, stiffener, and other things done to the hat probably work together. I guess Optimo has the right combo!
Out of curiosity, aren't Optimo's beaver, not rabbit?
. I think that Optimo's over the years have been various fur blends. They do/did have a pure beaver body, but they only used it for certain hat styles, mostly because pure beaver has characteristics that doesn’t lend itself to certain styles. To be honest, I’m surprised that Fedora is able to make his look so right for Raiders. Also make no mistake, I never said that Optimo made the best “Raider”, just that from what I’ve seen, their hat bodies had the most “Raiders” characteristics. Fedora & Lee Keppler have a better Raiders block. Don’t get me wrong, Optimo’s Raider block is really good. I’m just splitting hairs. Cheers
It helps when the pocket you're picking is actually Bufflehead Jones. Hey, Buff, we're identical twins!Satipo wrote:Bink, how did you get that effect where you're picking your own pocket? Photoshop?
