I have a slightly tight beaver AB. So I looked around for a stretcher and found lots of choices and prices. Finally, I went for this wooden item on eBay and it's so fantastic, I want to share it.
Its made of 2 kinds of wood. the top is a cedar lip so it won't fall into the hat! Brilliant. And cedar for moth & silverfish protection, too. I also like that it has no finish to possibly get on the hat. Best of all this cost me $11.99 + $8.85 shipping...priority mail box. These are the little ebay picks and I'll give you the link. I'm really happy with this little item made by a retired preacher!
I seem to remember hearing years ago that raw (un-varnished) cedar may be corrosive to some materials, I dont know how true that is but I thought I'd just throw that out there.
RayROnline wrote:I have a slightly tight beaver AB. So I looked around for a stretcher and found lots of choices and prices. Finally, I went for this wooden item on eBay and it's so fantastic, I want to share it.
Its made of 2 kinds of wood. the top is a cedar lip so it won't fall into the hat! Brilliant. And cedar for moth & silverfish protection, too. I also like that it has no finish to possibly get on the hat. Best of all this cost me $11.99 + $8.85 shipping...priority mail box. These are the little ebay picks and I'll give you the link. I'm really happy with this little item made by a retired preacher!
You might want to rethink this one. Look at the sweatband from the first photo. Look how it's pulling away from the felt. This is happening for two reasons. The shape of the stretcher is off and the person cranked the handle to much. This is the main reason I never liked the hand cranked ones. Be careful using the hand cranked ones. You can easily damage your hat this way.
I thought that too at first. If you follow the link, its actually what appears to be a rubber band around the stretcher...
Having said that, you DO have to be careful with stretchers of this ilk, because they can damage your hat.
I appreciate the input! I used mine since this post with great results. Hopefully someone is smart enough to not crank down too hard. The wooden blocks are on a pivoting connection and adjusts to the hat. (I took the rubber band off) BTW the cedar part doesn't actually touch felt if inserted correctly. Anyway, worked great 4 me =)
RayROnline wrote:I have a slightly tight beaver AB. So I looked around for a stretcher and found lots of choices and prices. Finally, I went for this wooden item on eBay and it's so fantastic, I want to share it.
Its made of 2 kinds of wood. the top is a cedar lip so it won't fall into the hat! Brilliant. And cedar for moth & silverfish protection, too. I also like that it has no finish to possibly get on the hat. Best of all this cost me $11.99 + $8.85 shipping...priority mail box. These are the little ebay picks and I'll give you the link. I'm really happy with this little item made by a retired preacher!
You might want to rethink this one. Look at the sweatband from the first photo. Look how it's pulling away from the felt. This is happening for two reasons. The shape of the stretcher is off and the person cranked the handle to much. This is the main reason I never liked the hand cranked ones. Be careful using the hand cranked ones. You can easily damage your hat this way.
If you check the eBay web page (I included a link previously) you can actually enlarge the photo and see the sweatband is not pulling away at all! It does look like it in these timy photos. You may be seeing the rubber band the person used. I didn't find it necessary to use it due to the unit's pivot action. The thing fit surprisingly well.
