Indiana Jeff wrote:Beautiful!
Question though on the block sizes that will show my ignorance about hat making.
in order to make the block work better, I always used the next smaller size to make the film hats. So, for a 7 3/8 hat size, I used a 7 1/4 block, and so forth.
If you went down a block size for each hat ordered for the film, wouldn't the hats be too small for the person for which the hat was being made?
If answering that would give away your final secret (so many of which you have so generously shared) then I understand
.
Regards,
Indiana Jeff
Thanks for the question. No, one can easily use the next smaller block size with no problem. The sizing of a hat takes place in the sweatband, just as long as you don't try to go more than one size,up or down. But this also depends upon how one blocks the hat, and the blockshape or wood block used is a variable as well. Plus, I make my hats different than other hatters, because I do not put in the brim break, and never have, while the hat is still on the block. Now, putting in the brim break while the hat is still on the hat block is the general manner of doing the brim break, and the fastest and easiest way as well. But, I think my method is essential in making the CS hat look "right". And this is due to the vintage CS block having a 1 3/8 differential, while my vintage band blocks feature a 1 1/2 inch differential. I use the rounding jack to do the first cut of the brim with the band block inside, and then do the dimensional cut while the band block is still inside the crown. What this does is to slightly elongate the dimensional cut.
Plus even in a another Indy film fedora, not the CS, if a guy has a regular oval head, but a thin face, if you don't drop down one size in block size, the hat ends up wearing the man instead of the man wearing the hat. I have seen some hats here that the crown was just too full and large for the fan, and they look like kids wearing their dad's hat that is too large for him. Even though those hats actually fit the head size. They fit the head, but not the face, so its something the old hatters always did, to get a better hat/face proportion. And vice versa by the way. If the face is too full for a hat made on the right sized block, you can step up a block size to bring the hat into proportion with the wider face. It's just an old trick of the trade, that I learned about years ago from an old hatter. There are alot of trade secrets involved in hatmaking, and in the past hatters kept their own little secrets to themselves. It was tradition to do so, or so I have read. Yet, I have always shared most of those so called secrets here, to help others out. Its the way I started out, partly because I was mad at the secretness I ran into while trying to learn the craft, and I wanted to spill the beans, and the other reason was, I wanted to help other guys out here who were considering making their own hats, or even hats for others, to sell. Why not tell them the proper ways, so they could make decent hats? I saw no need for secrets.
The little so called tricks that I used, were NOT really done to make this hat harder to replicate, that really was not my intention at the time. Some of those tricks I was already using on all of my pre CS hats, and were of course carried over to the CS hats. When Marc and I were discussing this on the phone, I think he was the one that said, "well, no one will be replicating this one "exactly" for a long time, and we had a laugh about that. But he said it for a good laugh. And, he wasn't using my techniques at the time as he had developed his own, more traditional hatmaking techniques. I think he still hates how he has to make the CS hats, because it takes more time to do them that way. Its a pain in the rump, is what I mean.
When it comes to how I put in brim breaks, I just did what I had always did in all of the hats that I make. I have always set the shape of the block into the felt, pounced it, and then pulled it off the block. The hat then goes on the appropriate sized vintage band block(sweatband block) and at that time I define the brim break. This takes longer, but its the way that I do it, and have done it since day one. But this method of making the brim break isn't the other secret, although I guess it really is one of the so called secrets, just never thought about it til now.
Bink, you figured it out!!!!!
Just kidding. The final secret was done because of the creased heights Bernie was insisting upon. If creased with these specs, I would not have had much of a top crease at all, using this vintage block he had chosen. So, in order that I could present a deeper top crease, ala the other film hats, I had to come up with a solution to this.
Which I did, and that is the secret I won't share, except with John P and LLS, when I retire, so that these guys will be able to replicate with 100 per cent accuracy my film hat. I say "my" film hat, because while Marc made some of the hats, I actually designed it, working with Bernie. It was my own tricks, that Marc has knowledge of, and uses, that defines this particular hat. But, I have given enough info really, on this last secret so that a good hatter could figure out what I actually did to get a deeper top crease, when the blockshape would not have yielded it using Bernie's creased height specs. At the end of the day, the CS film hat was just made completely differently than a regular hat is made, and because of that, replication is difficult UNLESS you know exactly what I did, and my pecular manner of making hats.
And the closer I get to retirement, the more apt I am to spill the beans. I sure don't want this one Indy film hat to die with me, I want it to outlive me, and to be produced exactly the same way as I produced them, and showed Marc how to produce them.
So I can see LLS me and John getting together in the not so distant future, and showing them start to finish what makes the CS hat special, or different. And then take a cussing when they find out I just created more work for them, with each CS hat they make!!
And hopefully they will pass on the torch when they retire, so fans will always be able to own this one hat, and that it will be accurate to what you see on the film. Swales really took his own secrets to the grave and I do not want to do that. And won't. I got into hatmaking for the fans, and the fans are what matters to me.
I will post pics of the CS hat using Ford's block later on today, and nuance it a bit differently so you can see how these nuances occured in the film, and how it changes up how the hat presents itself. Since the above hat was a 22 3/4, I used a 7 1/8 block, but Ford's used a 7 1/4 block as his head is actually a 7 3/8, so a larger block. I always love making hats that use his exact same vintage block. Brings back memories of 07.
I just wanted the other guys to work a bit in replicating my work is all!! 
Well you flatter us by sharing your work. Well done. 
