Changed my hat with the leather band to a Fedora

[Darrell4926]

Hello Everyone,

I decided to rework my hat with the leather hat band,
I took it apart and blocked the crown so it would have a taller crown,
the open crown is 6.25", the brim front and back is 2.75" the sides are 2 5/8".
The hat band is chocolate Grosgrain ribbon,
I had to make changes to my crown block also, I added an inch to the height
and increased the diameter.

I am getting ready to make another Fedora Hat, I will be using a rabbit fur felt
hat body that I purchased from a supplier in Greece. I will try to post photos as
I work on the new hat, the brown color of the new hat body isn't a dark brown.

I like making hats, it can be a challenge especially when you have to make changes
to your brim and crown blocks.

Any suggestions or feed back on my hat would be welcomed and appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
Darrell

[Kentucky Blues]

Looks really good! Crown is a bit tall for a raiders lid, but you did a great job with shaping it none the less! What will the crown height be on the new hat?

[Darrell4926]

Hello Kentucky Blues,

Thank you for your response and kind words, much appreciated.

Well I can make the crown taller or shorter.
I guess the open crown for a Raiders Fedora would be about 6" ?
I haven't checked yet but I think the crown on this hat is about
6" after bashing or shaping it?

I am wondering if I should add a little more fiberglass to the top
area of my crown block in order to give my hats a little more
stove pipe look at the top?
Any suggestions?

I wear a 7 3/8's hat size and after increasing the diameter, this hat
fits comfortably. I also added 1" to the crown block height giving
me some options on height.
I am on a budget so I make my crown blocks, wood and fiberglass,
I have 5 antique brim blocks dated 1926, I use two with wooden
Dowels to iron and shape the brim.

Thank you for your time and help,
Darrell

[Mulceber]

I guess the open crown for a Raiders Fedora would be about 6" ?
I haven't checked yet but I think the crown on this hat is about
6" after bashing or shaping it?

5 1/2" was the height of the original Raiders hat, open crown. Once it's bashed, it's significantly shorter than that. We all think of the Raiders hat as this really tall crown, but it really isn't that high. There's a good post a couple pages back on the height of the Raiders hat by Fedoraiders:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=67452" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Darrell4926]

Hello Mulceber,

Thank you for the web link, looks like a good source of information.

Well I decided to check the crown height on my Fedora and
it measures 5 1/2" on the side, 5" at the front pinch and
4 7/8" at the back.

I was looking at the Indiana Jones pictures on the link you posted
and it shows a side view on the hat with a 5" height and about 4 5/8"
at the front.

Looks like my Fedora has a bit more height than Indiana's hat, I think
that I can bash it a bit more to get the height fixed??
I could be wrong???

Thank you for your time and help,
Darrell

[Mulceber]

My experience has been that trying to adjust for a hat that's too tall by making the bash deeper doesn't end up working, as that just throws off the look of the bash. If it's possible, I'd recommend rebocking it at 5 1/2". If not that, then I'd just give it a normal bash and cheerfully accept that you'll have a hat that's a little taller than screen accurate.

[Kentucky Blues]

The original federations were 6” open crown if I’m not mistaken, and we all used to be soooo sure that the raiders crown was really tall. Over time we came to learn that we over estimated it. Its that tight, narrow pinch that throws us off. But yeah, 5.5 is much more accurate. You can lower the dents a little to help the look, but dropping it by an extra inch won’t come out as nice as you’d like. Finally, I agree that you might want to add some to the top of the crown, it looks like your block starts to taper off a little further from the top than what’s ideal. Someone else might want to chime I though.

-KB

[Darrell4926]

Hello KB and Mulceber,

Ok, Well if I am going to make a hat with a 6" open crown,
I will have to find a piece of wood 3/8" thick to place under
my crown block or remove that much material from the
bottom of the block.

I will add some width to the top of my crown block using
auto body filler, see if I can get that stove pipe look.
Should be some interesting work?

Thank you for your time and help,
Darrell

[Darrell4926]

Here are a few photos of how my Fedora fits my head,
kind of hard getting good photos when your taking
selfies.
Going to start working on my crown block, might be ready
for use in a couple of days?

[Kentucky Blues]

The brim suits you well, you may want to try a diamond crease instead of a center dent. It can straighten a hat that has some taper, the trade off being it shortens the crown, which in this case might work well.

-KB

[Darrell4926]

Thanks KB,

I tried doing a little reshaping on this hat and decided to just wear it the
way it is.
I am going to make some changes to this hat, I ordered some binding
material that should be here tomorrow that I want to use on the
leather sweatband, I made the sweatband slightly larger trying to get a bell
shape so the sweatband would fit properly, the material that I ordered
Should work.

I started working on reshaping my crown block, tomorrow I
will sand on it a little more and then check, maybe it will be ready for
use??? I located a piece of wood to use as a spacer, just have to measure
and cut a oval shape.

My next hat I am going to try for something closer to the Indy hat.
If everything works out on my next hat, I may try to make one in
Grey with black grosgrain ribbon????

Thank you for your time and help,
Darrell

[Darrell4926]

Well I finished working on my crown block, I increased the diameter around the
top and along the sides using auto body filler or Bondo.
I found a piece of wood to use as a spacer, I marked the 6" level at several places
around the sides close to the bottom. This crown block is about 7" tall, anyone interested
in a 10 gallon hat, Dan Blocker style?
I have my new hat body to work with, time to boil some water.
This hat body has a little stiffener already applied to it by the company that I purchased it
from.

[Darrell4926]

I worked on my hat block some more then reshaped my hat.
The front is 4 5/8" side is 5 3/8" back is 4 3/8",
I know that the sides are still a little to tall but this hat
is my tester hat. I reshape the crown block and then
the hat, each time I get a little closer to the right hat
crown sizes.
Last night I worked a little on the hat band ribbon, looks
like I need to make the knot a little tighter to get the "V"
shape?

[Mulceber]

Looks pretty good! Pretty good work for being one of your first few hats.

[Kladdagh]

Great work on your hat Darrell ... Congratulations

[Darrell4926]

Well I have done some more work on my hat, I re-blocked it to get the stove pipe shape,
I also used Rit Dye, brown and a few drops of black to make the ribbon a bit darker.
I did a lot of work on the sweatband, getting the stitching right I used a sewing machine needle
to attach the sweat to the hat, this method really works great, it does take a bit longer but
it is well worth it. I tried to attach the sweatband using a Stitching Awl normally used to stitch
leather, I found it easier to just use the sewing machine needle.
My wife snapped a few pictures, I still need to do some bashing on it but it is getting closier,
the bashed crown is 5" on the side, 4.5" at the front crease.

I edited my previous post made while working 0n my hat to remove some previous photos in
this process, I had a few more photos posted than what is allowed for a single project.

[Mulceber]

This is some great progress on this hat - the 5th and especially the 4th pictures look fantastic. Now it just needs some reverse taper.

[rick5150]

Looking better every time! Nice work.

[Darrell4926]

Thank you Mulceber and Rick5150, good to hear that I am making
some progress.

After my last post I made a few more adjustments on the bashing of
my hat to the front of my hat and the brim area.

I think that I have re-blocked this hat about four times getting it to
the currant shape and condition, all of the re-blocking has created
a lighter color making the hat look old and well worn, I think I am
going to stop while I am a head.

What do you think of the ribbon color?

As for the reverse taper, I guess that could be done by applying a little
down pressure on the hat while the hat sits on top of the crown block
and applying some felt stiffener to the side of the crown.


Darrell

[Darrell4926]

I decided to do a little reading on the Raiders Fedora and after running a search
I found this web page link describing the Herbert Johnson Fedora giving the
measurements and how the hat rung, sat on a lot, given bleach and dirt treatment.
The original hat was made of rabbit with a 6" crown and sat on a number of
times, rung by hand creating the reverse taper and the well worn look.
The hat looked rough, well worn, beat up, the one thing that is missing is
sweat stains, even with a leather sweatband sweat will transfer to the felt material.

Check out the information at this web link:

https://propstoreauction.com/view-aucti ... /lot/28402" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Hat sold for over $300,000.00

I am thinking about making another Fedora, after dying the ribbon and getting
closer to the Coco color there is a big improvement in the way the hat looks.

[RiffRalf]

Great work you did there congrats