Fedora,
I wonder if your quest for THE block will ever be over.
We heard so often in the past that you are as close as one can get, we order your hats, wait for months, get it and soon after that you tell us you got even closer.
I mean, isn't it a bit unfair that somebody who ordered just one or two month after me gets a hat that is much closer to the real deal?
You know, probably not. Seriously. But understand, the difference between my very first handmade block, and the one I am using now is actually minimal. I still have the first block, as it was made of bondo, and can't wear out. On my first block, I actually have the back lower than the front, and the radius on the sides is basically unchanged. I tweaked my blocks over time, and in all honesty, I will be tweaking the day that I hang up hatmaking. The tweaks originally were just corrections that I noticed needed to be done. Then once I got ahold of the two vintage HJs, I tweaked again, and again. But only to get my block closer to those blockshapes. I was already there, but taking off 1/16th of an inch isn't much of a tweak, but a tweak it is. I have never had a vast change in shape from my original, years ago. I would even find it hard to tell the difference between a hat I made 5 years ago, and one that I am making today. The tweaks are just that, tweaks, and not changes in the classic sense. I am seeking perfection, as I percieve it. And no doubt, will continue to do so.
I see my fanaticism as beneficial to the Indy gear crowd. I have constantly tried to improve, since what I use is a reverse engineered block. It would have been much easier to just use my first block, without the added work I have put into it. Afterall, that is what most hatters do. Grab something "close enough" and then use it forever. So, I won't apologize for my tweaks. In fact, I am self gratified by them, as I am doing it mostly for myself. I want the most accurate Raiders fedora for me, which is why I got into this to begin with. I did not start out with the intention of producing income, and that is what separates me from some others. I am in this for other reasons. 3M$ is the same way. Although he and I don't agree much on "the fedora" we both are intensely interested in this hat, and in that respect are just alike. Both of us are on quests, and there is alot of enjoyment in this quest.
I also remember that you told us beaver is the only felt to make a good hat these days, because rabbit isn't anymore of the quality it was back then.
Now, you go back and advertise rabbit because it's the felt the Raider's were made of and it looks much more as THE hat than beaver.
So, is rabbit better suitable for a Raider's than beaver after all?
And I also remember you told us beaver and rabbit on the same block yield a totally different hat. So, will there be two versions of your new block? One for beaver and one for rabbit?
I use pure beaver because it has always been the top drawer of felt. When I started making hats, I wanted a better blockshape than was on the 7500 hundred bucks I had spent on hats, as I had bought them all, mostly in 3's. But, I also wanted the best felt, as I am a quality nut. I knew beaver was not used in the films, and I was well aware of that tradeoff. And, I used to offer rabbit as well as beaver. But, 99 per cent of my sales were the beaver, probably because I was charging 225.00 when most beaver hats started at around 500 and went up. It was a huge bargain for folks. Plus, in felt you get what you pay for, and it is no big secret that beaver is just a more durable felt, stronger, and I knew it was the way for me to go since I am obsessed with quality and durability.
But with this said, rabbit was the felt used in the first 3 films. And being such, there will always be folks that want the original fur. Rabbit moves differently, generally speaking.
When I spoke about beaver vs rabbit and the block, what I was talking about was not so much the fur, but the stiffness of the respective felts. Now, the rabbit that I was getting at the time came with a bit too much stiffener. A stiff hat does not move the same as a softer hat. You can compensate for this, in the block shape. An example would be a new Christy. If I put a stiff felt on that same block(if I owned one) the results would be different than if I used the felt they are using, which is softer, much less stiff. The stiff felt would be more tapered, that is, the final hat. That is because the stiffer felt does not move the same as a non stiff felt.
If I were using stiff felt, I would actually have to exagerrate my blocks a bit, so as to pull off the look of a soft felt. And that is what I was talking about. I get my bodies with no shellac added, and while they can never be as floppy as a no shellac rabbit, they are soft enough to use the same block as one would use for a no shellac rabbit body. Hope this helps. Fedora
PLus, who wants to see an old man??? 
Otherwise it looks great. I can tell you're really excited about this, Steve, and just from reading LLS's latest post, I can tell you two will get along great - you have very similar speech patterns! 
