A new hat for Fedora

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:30 am

Well, my good friend Marc has gotten my mink/beaver body in!!!!!!! As some may recall, I was quite disapointed that when Marc was making this hat for me a couple years ago, he messed up and ruined the body. He promised to see if he could talk his feltmaker into running another one, and I reckon he must have talked the guy into it. Here is a pic that Marc just sent me of the mink/beaver body.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c225/ ... CN1806.jpg

This is the new color that we will eventually use for the Henry, because I thought the Henry was a bit dark for my own tastes, although felt does lighten up over time. I liked this new color of brown better, and Marc used that for my mink/beaver body.

Now what is so special about a mink/beaver blend? Not much, except it is the worlds rarest felt blend. Mink fur, felts too fast, and because of this there is a max that can be used in a felt hat. There are no pure mink felts, due to this. So, Marc's feltmaker experimented, and determined just "how" much could be used when mixed in with beaver. Through trial and error he arrived at the max amount. Remember that old Stetson "Touch of Mink" hat sold years ago? Well, it was indeed just a "touch" of mink, probably a pinch.

Just so they could say it had mink fur in it. But these mink/beaver bodies that Marc had made have the maximum amount of mink that could be used, and may very well be the most mink ever used in a hat in modern times. And that makes it special.

So, when Marc gets around to making this hat for me, I will post pics here, of it on the old ugly head. I have requested that he make this hat using our CS block, as I have enough Raider fedoras already. Plus, if I get tired of the CS look, I can simply recrease it per Raiders as this CS block does a good job in pulling off the Raiders look. And unlike my other hats, I will "baby" this one. It will be my Sunday go to meeting hat. Not often that I get excited about a hat these days, but this one here has me once again excited about a hat. So thank you Marc for doing this for me. I cannot find the time to make myself hats these days, and if I get one, it has to come from someone else. Fedora

gwyddion · Post by **gwyddion** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:52 am

I hope it will go well this time around, cause I really would like to see a picture of you wearing this hat Fedora

It was too bad hearing about the last one not coming out right because you and Marc both should have these IMO. You guys did so much for our little hobby that in my mind you definitely deserve to receive the best and the rarest

High regards, Geert

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:54 am

Horray! Progress!!!!

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 10:07 am

Glad to get you giddy my friend

These bodies just beat ANYTHING I have ever seen in my entire life. Modern or vintage - you name it! They're just soooo incredibly fine to touch... unbelievable!!! Once I'm done with yours, I'll make one for myself, put it on and never look back. Even though they're just RAW bodies, they're nicer to touch than a ABD that has been pounced with a 2500 grit sandpaper, so it's hard to imagine what they'll be like, once they've been pounced

To this date I have only seen a single company selling beaver / mink felt hats and they're charging 5000$ and upwards for it

Of course that's plain rediculous, however - as Steve mentioned already - mink is a terribly difficult material to work with and the price for the raw bodies reflects this. When the felt is made, one has to be EXTREMELY carefull to not get too much mink into one spot, as it would imediately lump together and leave bumps in and / or under the surface. Since this is very, very difficult to avoid, the percentage of rawbodies that don't even make it past the production stage is extremely high. In this case my felter started with a dozen and ended up with eight rawbodies. Of course I had to pay for the other four hats as well, as the material can't be re-used...

So, even though just a small percentage of mink can be used, it's still a cost driver bare none

Now, what does the mink fur really do? - Even on a ever so tight felted pure beaver felt, you'll have microscopical room inbetween the single fibers. On a rabbit felt this room is a little bigger, as the single fibers aren't as fine as on beaver (and on wool... well... when you cut it up to use it as inlays for your boots, it'll still let your feet breath - which is why I think that even wool felt has its use

). The mink fur fills up this microscopical room inbetween the beaver fibers, so it's technically still a pure beaver body, "filled" up with mink fur.

Ok, back to the hat shop, where I'm renovating a little today, so I can block this beauty tomorrow. I'll take pictures and post them to see the progress.

Regards,

Marc

fenris · Post by **fenris** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 10:24 am

Is it possible to get a super macro shot of the felt? That would be a real treat.

beaverlid · Post by **beaverlid** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 10:30 am

Marc,

I commend you for the very selfless deed that you are doing for Fedora. It sounds like they will be a couple of beauties. One of the things I love about my AB beaver is how it feels cool to the touch because the beaver felt is so great. It sounds like this felt will surpass it by leaps and bounds.

If I may offer a amateur opinion

This brings to mind the thread that you showed us the mythbusters hat you traded out for a new ABD. If I read correctly you had 8 felts that came out correctly. Minus the two for fedora and yourself leaves 5. If I were in your position, offer Harrison Ford a similar trade.

A screen used AB for an AB made of the rarest felt on the planet. Win, Win my friend.

Anyway I am just a lowely COW member, what do I know...

It is good to see fedora giddy as a schoolboy over a fedora

Beaverlid

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:32 am

Marc wrote:Glad to get you giddy my friend

These bodies just beat ANYTHING I have ever seen in my entire life. Modern or vintage - you name it! They're just soooo incredibly fine to touch... unbelievable!!! Once I'm done with yours, I'll make one for myself, put it on and never look back. Even though they're just RAW bodies, they're nicer to touch than a ABD that has been pounced with a 2500 grit sandpaper, so it's hard to imagine what they'll be like, once they've been pounced

To this date I have only seen a single company selling beaver / mink felt hats and they're charging 5000$ and upwards for it Of course that's plain rediculous, however - as Steve mentioned already - mink is a terribly difficult material to work with and the price for the raw bodies reflects this. When the felt is made, one has to be EXTREMELY carefull to not get too much mink into one spot, as it would imediately lump together and leave bumps in and / or under the surface. Since this is very, very difficult to avoid, the percentage of rawbodies that don't even make it past the production stage is extremely high. In this case my felter started with a dozen and ended up with eight rawbodies. Of course I had to pay for the other four hats as well, as the material can't be re-used...

So, even though just a small percentage of mink can be used, it's still a cost driver bare none

Now, what does the mink fur really do? - Even on a ever so tight felted pure beaver felt, you'll have microscopical room inbetween the single fibers. On a rabbit felt this room is a little bigger, as the single fibers aren't as fine as on beaver (and on wool... well... when you cut it up to use it as inlays for your boots, it'll still let your feet breath - which is why I think that even wool felt has its use ). The mink fur fills up this microscopical room inbetween the beaver fibers, so it's technically still a pure beaver body, "filled" up with mink fur.

Ok, back to the hat shop, where I'm renovating a little today, so I can block this beauty tomorrow. I'll take pictures and post them to see the progress.

Regards,

Marc

You just made me want this hat even MORE! Now admittedly, this reeks of hat snobbery, but once you have made alot of hats, you really do appreciate the finer felts. I doubt anyone but a hatter would appreciate felt of this nature. Alot of so called pure beaver felt actually has just a bit of rabbit in it, and with this one, the rabbit has been replaced with mink. I like that idea as mink is even finer than beaver, so as to fill up the gaps between fibers. I would imagine felting this sort of blend is tedious, and no wonder feltmakers really don't want to fool with it. But that makes it rare.

Looks like you will have 6 bodies left. You gonna offer a special run using these bodies? For the very exclusive "hat snob club"?

Or perhaps you should put one back, and you can give it to Harrison if we do Indy 5. It would be a nice bookend for him, if he does one more Indy film. Just an idea...Regards from happy as a school girl Fedora.

DR Ulloa · Post by **DR Ulloa** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 12:47 pm

I can just imagine your eyes lighting up, Steve, when you saw that faster than that first mink/beaver had lit up huh? Too soon?

I'm very happy Marc was able to get this done again. I felt bad when I read that that first body went up in flames. Hopefully this one will turn out better than this mornings bacon. And if you do decide to do a small run...uh, you know who to reserve one for...Penman, but then me!

Dave

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 1:24 pm

You gonna offer a special run using these bodies? For the very exclusive "hat snob club"? Or perhaps you should put one back, and you can give it to Harrison if we do Indy 5. It would be a nice bookend for him, if he does one more Indy film. Just an idea...

I'll DEFINATELY keep some of them in case Indy 5 happens Steve! I believe that even Harrison would go nuts over this felt and even if he would prefer a non Indy, it would be nice to see him wearing a Fedora in private.

As for offering them... you know how I've been begging on my knees to get them and as of now, I really don't find the idea of selling any of them very appealing. I really doubt that anyone would want one of them anyway, considering what I had to pay. Freakin' unreal!

And if you do decide to do a small run...uh, you know who to reserve one for...Penman, but then me!

John is the third and last on the list Dave. He's always been a stand up guy and taken the friendship towards Steve and me further than most people I've known for my entire life. Considering we never met in person (yet) that's something you really don't experience very often. I have been furtunate to experience this with both Steve AND John!

So, I'll have to make up my mind yet, if I'll make an Indy Fedora for John or if I'll make him a completely different design - which I'd call The Penny

And then I'll make it a little too tight so he can't wear it and it'll remain in mint condition

Regards,

Marc

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 3:51 pm

Marc wrote:
You gonna offer a special run using these bodies? For the very exclusive "hat snob club"? Or perhaps you should put one back, and you can give it to Harrison if we do Indy 5. It would be a nice bookend for him, if he does one more Indy film. Just an idea...
I'll DEFINATELY keep some of them in case Indy 5 happens Steve! I believe that even Harrison would go nuts over this felt and even if he would prefer a non Indy, it would be nice to see him wearing a Fedora in private.

As for offering them... you know how I've been begging on my knees to get them and as of now, I really don't find the idea of selling any of them very appealing. I really doubt that anyone would want one of them anyway, considering what I had to pay. Freakin' unreal!

And if you do decide to do a small run...uh, you know who to reserve one for...Penman, but then me!
John is the third and last on the list Dave. He's always been a stand up guy and taken the friendship towards Steve and me further than most people I've known for my entire life. Considering we never met in person (yet) that's something you really don't experience very often. I have been furtunate to experience this with both Steve AND John!

So, I'll have to make up my mind yet, if I'll make an Indy Fedora for John or if I'll make him a completely different design - which I'd call The Penny And then I'll make it a little too tight so he can't wear it and it'll remain in mint condition

That is sooooooooooooo funny but mean.

My friendship with you and Steve is very important to me. I feel like you two guys have given me a 2nd chance at being productive again, I will never be able to thank the two of you enough.

Regards,

Marc

DR Ulloa · Post by **DR Ulloa** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 4:04 pm

Marc wrote:
You gonna offer a special run using these bodies? For the very exclusive "hat snob club"? Or perhaps you should put one back, and you can give it to Harrison if we do Indy 5. It would be a nice bookend for him, if he does one more Indy film. Just an idea...
I'll DEFINATELY keep some of them in case Indy 5 happens Steve! I believe that even Harrison would go nuts over this felt and even if he would prefer a non Indy, it would be nice to see him wearing a Fedora in private.

As for offering them... you know how I've been begging on my knees to get them and as of now, I really don't find the idea of selling any of them very appealing. I really doubt that anyone would want one of them anyway, considering what I had to pay. Freakin' unreal!

And if you do decide to do a small run...uh, you know who to reserve one for...Penman, but then me!
John is the third and last on the list Dave. He's always been a stand up guy and taken the friendship towards Steve and me further than most people I've known for my entire life. Considering we never met in person (yet) that's something you really don't experience very often. I have been furtunate to experience this with both Steve AND John!

So, I'll have to make up my mind yet, if I'll make an Indy Fedora for John or if I'll make him a completely different design - which I'd call The Penny And then I'll make it a little too tight so he can't wear it and it'll remain in mint condition

Regards,

Marc

Woohoo! I am in line if you decide to sell these. I'm speechless. Just...WOW!

Dave

Restless Dreamer · Post by **Restless Dreamer** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 4:19 pm

Fedora wrote: This is the new color that we will eventually use for the Henry, because I thought the Henry was a bit dark for my own tastes, although felt does lighten up over time.

I agree 100%

the Henry is indeed a great hat, but it's too much "chocolate" brown to pull off a good indy feel. the christy's sable is what I reckon to be THE color for an Indy fedora, and the new color you plan to use seems good to me too. so, well done.

I'm glad Marc managed to have other mink/beaver rawbodies produced. I'm looking forward to see what your AB LEGEND will look like, Fedora

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 4:51 pm

he Henry is indeed a great hat, but it's too much "chocolate" brown to pull off a good indy feel

Hey, that's what happens if you hand over a project to me. Everything is planned LONG term

A couple of years down the road and the color will be just PERFECT! - Yeah, I know... me in a nutshell...

The Henry is a different material than the AB and the ABD, hence the felt takes the die differently. However once you pounce a felt by hand, it'll behave differently AGAIN, so it's almost impossible getting one felt to look like the other.

The Christy's sable has a nice color, but it's not the same color as the sable that HJ used back then. The HJ felt had a LITTLE more reddish undertones, which I've seen on several vintage HJs from the Raiders era. Now on FILM again, this shows up a little different than in pictures, so it's a never ending story.

Anyway, this color here is based on some vintage HJ hats from the Raidersera and I've sent a couple of samples to Steve to chose from. We both agreed on this color, even though it looks a little different in real life, than on the picture

I'll try to get some decent pictures while I make the hat.

Regards,

Marc

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 9:52 am

Marc wrote:
he Henry is indeed a great hat, but it's too much "chocolate" brown to pull off a good indy feel
Hey, that's what happens if you hand over a project to me. Everything is planned LONG term A couple of years down the road and the color will be just PERFECT! - Yeah, I know... me in a nutshell...

The Henry is a different material than the AB and the ABD, hence the felt takes the die differently. However once you pounce a felt by hand, it'll behave differently AGAIN, so it's almost impossible getting one felt to look like the other.

The Christy's sable has a nice color, but it's not the same color as the sable that HJ used back then. The HJ felt had a LITTLE more reddish undertones, which I've seen on several vintage HJs from the Raiders era. Now on FILM again, this shows up a little different than in pictures, so it's a never ending story.

Anyway, this color here is based on some vintage HJ hats from the Raidersera and I've sent a couple of samples to Steve to chose from. We both agreed on this color, even though it looks a little different in real life, than on the picture I'll try to get some decent pictures while I make the hat.

Regards,

Marc

Oh, we both think alike in regards to hat colors, and longevity of hats in general. We both know dyes fade with time and exposure especially if the hat sees alot of outside wear. So, way back we decided to go a bit darker than the film colors so the hat over time would fade out to be closer to the film color. And it is still a good idea. But, with that said, it is nice to buy a hat that isn't as dark as our browns are, so the color is close from the get-go. I think we need at least one hat that we sell that is close when new. And that is why I suggested we eventually change the color of the brown on the Henry. Plus, if we use the Henry in Indy 5, we NEED the lighter brown to match up closer to the lighter browns used in CS.

I understand on offering the remaining Legend Hats.

But I do hope one finds its way into our good friend John Penman's hands. I consider John and LLS to be good people and good friends, although you seldom see competitors as friends.

But given my age I expect these guys to carry on my own tradition, yet do it even better than I have done. Both of these men make great hats, and both were Indy fans like us before ever thinking about making a hat. And that sets them apart from other hatters, IMO. Yet we have several fans offering their own "take" on the Indy fedora and I have always felt the more, the merrier. These days the choices are so much greater than back when we started making Indy fedoras. And that is a GOOD THING. If you can't find a great Indy fedora today, from these fan/hatters, you are a sick man.

The Christy's sable has a nice color, but it's not the same color as the sable that HJ used back then. The HJ felt had a LITTLE more reddish undertones, which I've seen on several vintage HJs from the Raiders era. Now on FILM again, this shows up a little different than in pictures, so it's a never ending story.

Yes, I agree 100 per cent! Given the fact that HJ changed suppliers several times from Raiders to now, to expect the exact same "brown" from HJ today as the Raiders fedora would be a long shot. Feltmakers never used the exact same browns as their competitiors. And whoever suppled the hats to HJ for Raiders had their own browns. Just by viewing Raiders, it seems most of those hats indeed had a noticable red undertone, like the Henry, although I think the red undertone is a bit more in the Henry. But, I COULD BE WRONG in my perception. But I do see a red undertone in most of the hats in Raiders, while the current Sable has none, to my own eye. So Sable, the original Raiders color is not the same Sable as today, IMO. Fedora

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:32 am

VERY interested to see how this progresses!

My eyes are gonna be ALL OVER this Thread as I wait with baited breath and fingers crossed just to see what I'm hoping will be a spectacular final result!

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 1:35 pm

Ok guys, here we go...

Here's the rawbody for Steve, right out of the box:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1809.jpg

And the close up as requested (again: this is a RAW body!!! It only has the factory pounce):

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1810.jpg

Ok, as always the rawbodies takes a nice bath in some hot water to open up the fibres (reminds me on how my wife once told me how to add cream to the face, so I guess this is very much like wellness for the hat...

):

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1811.jpg

...where after it takes a while in the sauna:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1812.jpg

And on the block it goes to get a nice wrinkle free surface:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1813.jpg

Now it's time to relax for a while with some classic music, while I'm off to help my wife cooking some pumpkin soup

Don't miss the next episode of "A new hat for Fedora"!!! What will it tell us about? - Extra brut rawbodies? Liftings? A new fur cut? Stay tuned!

Regards,

Marc

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:24 pm

tekors · Post by **tekors** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 2:51 pm

This is so great Marc.
Thanks for sharing these pictures with us.

Interesting insight from Steve and Marc about the colours. I think is a great idea to make Henrys with lighter colours for those who want a closer colour to the film from the begining.
I like the current colour of the Henry, specially the red undertone ( good to know the Raiders hat had this red undertone).
But I want to see the Henry after it fades out over time and exposure. Will probably have a beautiful tone similar to the Raiders.

jlee562 · Post by **jlee562** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 4:10 pm

BendingOak wrote:

My sentiments exactly!

Travelsonic · Post by **Travelsonic** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 5:58 pm

Marc wrote: As for offering them... you know how I've been begging on my knees to get them and as of now, I really don't find the idea of selling any of them very appealing. I really doubt that anyone would want one of them anyway, considering what I had to pay. Freakin' unreal!

More expensive than the Peters Bros. "mercury Indy"? [$1200, all beaver, fur finished with mercury]?

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:08 am

Welcome back to another episode of "A new hat for Fedora"!

The hat was dry to the bone this morning, so I could start with the brim break and the preaging. To put a brim break into this felt is a real pain in the rear

What usually takes approx. 15-20 minutes, kept me busy for over 45 minutes here. The felt is so buttery soft it "crawls" while ironing the brim. Very irritating! When working with very soft hats, this is pretty normal but not to that degree.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1818.jpg

Anyway, I finally got the brim break to be how and where I want it and will continue to add some pixie dust here and there and then I can start pouncing.

Steve: what kind of bow would you like on the ribbon? My personal favorite (monkey bar scene) or rather a CS bow? Please let me know.

Stay tuned,

Marc

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 7:13 am

This is amazing getting to watch the magic happen! Marc, thanks for taking the time to document as you go.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:28 am

Marc wrote:Welcome back to another episode of "A new hat for Fedora"!

The hat was dry to the bone this morning, so I could start with the brim break and the preaging. To put a brim break into this felt is a real pain in the rear What usually takes approx. 15-20 minutes, kept me busy for over 45 minutes here. The felt is so buttery soft it "crawls" while ironing the brim. Very irritating! When working with very soft hats, this is pretty normal but not to that degree.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1818.jpg

Anyway, I finally got the brim break to be how and where I want it and will continue to add some pixie dust here and there and then I can start pouncing.

Steve: what kind of bow would you like on the ribbon? My personal favorite (monkey bar scene) or rather a CS bow? Please let me know.

Stay tuned,

Marc

That is some great looking felt there my friend! Oh, Monkey bar scene!!! Fedora

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:36 am

The felt is so buttery soft it "crawls" while ironing the brim. Very irritating! When working with very soft hats, this is pretty normal but not to that degree.

Yeah, looks like the felt really did not want to shrink under the heat, which is a GOOD sign. I ran into the same deal with that vintage mercury felt I got from "you know who" years ago.

When making a hat, the fact that felt shrinks when you wet it and heat it up actually allows the hatter to make a hat from a body. Looks like this felt is harder to shrink up which means it is already REAL stable felt. Ok, gotta go and get a napkin to wipe this drool from my chin!!!

ALL hatters salivate at the sight of top drawer felt! Or SHOULD.

Hollowpond · Post by **Hollowpond** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:43 am

I can't believe how smooth that felt looks, unpounced!!!

Is it even possible to pounce an even smoother finish on this felt? compare a pic of this felt to regular AB deluxe felt (like there's anything regular about it...

)

(taken from the, "Why is it taking so long?" thread

Travis

Speedster · Post by **Speedster** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 3:01 am

WOW !!!

I thought that i just received the most perfect hat i could ever imagine from you Marc, but this one is out of this world...

Looking forward to follow the progress.

René

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:18 pm

FINALLY(!) finished the pre-aging process on the hat today. To those of you who don't know, this is a process that I developed after talking to some oldtimers (hatters that is) over here and Steve then perfected this technique later on. It "kills" the felt so to say and makes it WAY more resistant to shrinkage. Both Steve, John and I do this to all hats and it's a very tedious and time consuming process that you absolutely don't see but it sure helps making a better hat.

For reference, here's a picture of it now:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1819.jpg

Tomorrow I'll cut the brim and YES!!! I AM nervous about it

Regards,

Marc

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:48 pm

Tomorrow I'll cut the brim and YES!!! I AM nervous about it

Don't sweat the brim cutting my friend. Any miscut I will simply see as "adding character' to the hat. I like hats with character that sometimes perfection negates.

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:59 pm

I like hats with character that sometimes perfection negates.

Go ahead and add character by wearing the "excrementum" out of it when you get it my friend. I want Penman to continue to call me a bloody machine

Ok, before I would lose sleep, I figured I better give it a shot and cut the brim incl. the dim. cut already, so here's actually a progress you can see:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1820.jpg

Tomorrow I'll smoothen the dim. cut and start pouncing - something I'm REALLY looking forward to do on this baby

Regards,

Marc

BendingOak · Post by **BendingOak** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 4:06 pm

Fedora wrote:
Tomorrow I'll cut the brim and YES!!! I AM nervous about it

Don't sweat the brim cutting my friend. Any miscut I will simply see as "adding character' to the hat. I like hats with character that sometimes perfection negates.

Sorry my friend. You are not getting the right hat then. The machine is making this one.

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:44 pm

ROBOMARC is on the job!

fenris · Post by **fenris** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:46 am

Was the last pic still unpounced?

Wow! That's a really smooth felt.

tekors · Post by **tekors** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:42 am

Just amazing...
Makes you want to touch it!!!

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:01 pm

I'm really enjoying working on this hat! It's a really new experience and that doesn't happen too often anymore.

Today I smoothed out the dim. cut and pounced it, starting with 400 grit and working my way up to 2500.

Here's a shot:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1822.jpg

Then I pounced it. Since it's a LITTLE lighter felt than what I use on the ABD and it's so incredibly nice as it is, I didn't want to go ballistic (is that spelled correctly John?) with the sandpaper. So I started with 800 grit and worked my way up to 2500 again. This felt mottles like CRAZY when pouncing

From all the felt I've worked with, this mottled the most but luckily it all cleaned out later (will post pictures later). Here it is right after the pouncing:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1823.jpg

Next up: water repellent.

Steve: Do you want me to sew the sweatband together in the back as I always do, or would you prefer stitches only behind the tie bow, so you won't see them?

Regards,

Marc

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:59 pm

Ok, mottling gone after the clean up:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1826.jpg

Time to soak it in water repellent - it'll take a while before it dries, but since it's 8pm over here, I reckon it'll be dry tomorrow morning:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1827.jpg

So, once you let me know how you want me to put the sweat band together Steve, I can start to put it together

Regards,

Marc

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:26 pm

A-maz-ing!!

Thanks again for showing us the play-by-play.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Noah · Post by **Noah** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:38 pm

It's looking great! I'm looking forward to the finished hat!

fenris · Post by **fenris** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:34 am

Will this be an Indy hat?

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:43 am

o, once you let me know how you want me to put the sweat band together Steve, I can start to put it together

Oh, the traditional way, or the way you generally do this is just fine. Thanks! Looking mighty fine there Marc. Fedora

Dr._J · Post by **Dr._J** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:49 am

fenris wrote:Will this be an Indy hat?

What does your gut tell you?

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 1:40 pm

It being lunchtime here, I really don't think you want to know.

Regards! Michaelson

MurdocXXL · Post by **MurdocXXL** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:12 pm

Marc...what an incredible work

Thanks to let us being part "walking down the road to the finished hat".
Very, very interessting. I love to follow up this thread. keep posting.....

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:25 am

Well... I ruined it

Or rather, the water repellent did some weird stuff to the felt that made it look like @#$%.

So, after sitting and feeling sad for myself for a while, I took the hat and tryed a few different things to find out what had gone wrong. While pouncing it I had realized, that the felt behaves like the vintage hats I've been working with: The felt rather "croumbles" instead of dusts (for the lack of better words). So I had to start completely different way of making it.

I took a new body out of the box and this time I treated it as if I'd be renovating a vintage hat much more than making a new one in some parts, while in others I did as usual. After the blocking, pre-aging and dim. cut, I "dry singed" it and started with a 600 grit sand paper this time, carefully moving my way up to 2500 grit. Worked out MUCH better and the felt - while still a pain in the rear to add the brim break to - slowly but surely started to develop an incredibly velvet like surface.

In the meanwhile I had cut the sweatband and put it together. Steve wanted me to have a sweatband specially made from the same leather as we use on The Henry, due to it's vintage appearance and feel, so this is what he'll get:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1829.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1832.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1828.jpg

The hat will rest a few hours yet, before it'll get a good shower of water repellent:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1830.jpg

Macro shot:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1831.jpg

I'll keep posting as I move along.

Regards,

Marc

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 8:24 am

So sorry to hear (read) about this setback...
All part of the journey, I guess...huh?

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 8:49 am

Wow, so once again the hat specter raises his ugly head! And Murphy's Law makes a visit as well. (and I don't see an icon with tears streaming down to use here)

So the water repellant treatment did strange things to the felt? Very strange indeed. The stuff we use generally makes the felt "clean up". But once again we discover that with felt, ANYTHING that can go wrong WILL go wrong. If I had a buck for every body I have had to trash because of things going wrong...

Oh yeah Marc, I do love the sweats in the Henry. I have had several vintage hats that used this same sort of leather, very thin, very lightweight, and very soft to the touch. Our other sweats are more heavy duty, which means longevity, but that also adds weight to the final hat. I am amazed at how light a hat is UNTIL you add the sweat, the ribbon and the liner. I think most of the weight in a hat comes from the accessories. Sorry to hear of the trouble. Fedora

Marc · Post by **Marc** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:14 am

I learned a lot about this felt... the hard way, granted, but still I learned a lot new and that is always good IMO.

THIS time everything turned out AWESOME!!! Here's a picture after the first coats of WR have dried:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/ ... CN1833.jpg

I LOVE how this felt kinda "glows"!!!

Looking forward to putting it together now

Regards,

Marc

Mitch LaRue · Post by **Mitch LaRue** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:34 am

That is gloriously beautiful, Marc!

VP · Post by VP » Sat Oct 30, 2010 10:03 am

Lookin' good!

tekors · Post by **tekors** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 10:49 am

Bemo · Post by **Bemo** » Sat Oct 30, 2010 2:53 pm

Looks fantastic Marc!

I'll take that "ruined" hat off your hands, least I can do to help out.