Creasing Felt?

[MS Jones]

Hi everyone. I'm a brand new member here, actually this is my first post. I've read through some of the posts here and most seem to be concerned with the "best hat to buy" or caring for your hat, etc. Along those lines, I have a question. About two months ago I became the proud owner of a "Downtowner Fedora" from Todds Costumes. First let me say that I was very impressed with the hat overall but I prefer more of the LC styling so I almost immediately set to work on reshaping and softening the hat. It was very stiff and needed to be worked quite a bit to soften the brim but I eventually got it the way I want it. After a couple of days I noticed that there are small creases in the felt, almost like "stretch marks" or thin spots. On is in the dead center front, where Coyle's had blocked in the "bubble" that is apparent above the brow on the Raiders hat. The other two are in the back, where I added the "swoop" to the brim. All of this was done dry and cold, in other words no moisture or steam was used to reshape the hat. Is this normal? Does it reflect on the quality of the felt or the hat? Can I do anything about it? And one other question; The crown of the hat is still quite stiff and I would like to soften and reshape it until it is basically back to "open crown". Can this be done? Sorry, I'm a nube when it comes to "high-er" quality hats. I've had a Fedora on my head since I was about 6 years old, but this is the first one that actually has a liner. I know, sad, right? Thanks in advance for the help.

[Chewbacca Jones]

The "creases" might be partly due to the stiffness of the hat and the effort of working the felt. It might fade as the hat breaks in.

I don't have personal experience with The Downtowner, but it is listed as rabbit fur felt. That means that it should be able to handle at least a little water or steam, which would serve you best in trying to open up the crown. If you use water, use room-temp or cool water that you trust, like distilled. Try not to soak it or cook it if you use steam. Use as little as possible. Getting a stiff crown completely open is tough, so you might want to try concentrating on getting out the pinch and side dents to make it more LC-like. Also, if you get caught in the rain, that's a good time to play with shape.

Welcome to the deep end of the fedora pool! Next up, a Federation!!!

[MS Jones]

Welcome to the deep end of the fedora pool! Next up, a Federation!!!

Yeah that's next on the list. If I had done more research I would have settled on the Fed to start with. Just waiting on a client to pay a retainer (no I'm NOT a lawyer, before I get ran off) so I will have the extra cash to buy one. Even specialized consultants are suffering in this economy. Thanks for the tips. I've been waiting on a good rain to see if it will relax a little. Odd, I didn't think South Mississippians had to wait for rains.... Oh well.

[Chewbacca Jones]

Drive to the east coast... NOW! You'll have no trouble finding rain for the next few days!

[gwyddion]

From what I've heard the Downtowner is a hat with quite a lot of stiffener in it and as Chewie said that could be the explanation of what you see. I'd say: from here on out you should use baby steps. Just a little steam or a little moisture and reshaping at a time and it'll probably be fine. Just be careful:Rabbit felt does shrink with too much moisture/heat at once, so err on the side of caution. Just try to get it to the point it gets pliable at and reshape it, but don't give it too much at once. Once again, I have no first hand experience with those hats so my advise might err on the side of caution too

Regards, Geert

[MS Jones]

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I'm sure that there's a thread here somewhere that deals completely with shaping and bashing, but, being a nube I haven't found it yet. I would really like to flatten the brim as well, the Todd's design incorporates the "bubble" effect above the brow as seen in the SOC scenes. This also makes the hat very difficult to shape, and may be contributing to my problems. Maybe I should just find a block and re-block it to open crown. I've never done that before, but I've also never met a challenge I couldn't overcome, and quicker than most. Thanks again for all the help. Any more ideas? I'd love to hear them. Been a gear head for 24 years, just never knew there was a whole community of people just like me that are, um, slightly off-tilt.

[gwyddion]

For bashing/creasing hats I would like to point you to Bendingoaks 'Penman's hat tutorial' thread: http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42046" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mind you, the hats in those videos are Penman hats that naturally have next to none or no stiffener at all in it, so you should take it easier and use some form of moisture to do that.

There's even a LC video IIRC

Regards, Geert