Club Obi Wan

It's massive, a size 62. The sweatband really doesn't have wrinkles in it... but actual bends in the reed.

You're right... it's massive!

Even the reeds??? Wow! Now how did it develop those bends? Did you leave it near the furnace or something?

Let's just say it happened while I was "softening" the felt.

N i i i i i c e.

Luke Warmwater wrote:Sent my F4 to Penman for a reblock job and it looks fantastic:

John replaced the sweatband, liner and ribbon.

Wow, hard to believe thats a fed IV. Looks great.

Yeah, that side view just doesn't resemble the felt color of a Fed. If not for the thickness of the brim, I would not have known.

My recently acquired Fed IV..I'm loving it!

Looks great!! I think part of my problem with getting a good LC curl on the sides...is my head seems to be wider then it is long....I have a round head instead of an oval. When I initially put on my fed out of the box, the sides were dead on and the front and back, not quit touching. I've since put in some foam but that doesn't give me that long oval Ford head that makes the indy hat do its greatness......*sigh*

I heard that PB used to make a hat specifically shorter in front and back for people like me so it would do what I want it to do....wonder if I can get a penman like that, or if he'd recommend it?

Just got my brown FedIV Deluxe a couple of days ago:



It's SO nice and dry-bashed perfectly for the way I liked it

Perfect! Suits you right down to the soles of your boots, my friend!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

That's a coupla' VERY nice Fed IV's right in a row!



Congrats gents!

Thanks man, I'm really loving it...the sickness is taking me over...slowly...

Michaelson wrote:Perfect! Suits you right down to the soles of your boots, my friend!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

Thanks Michaelson

Joe

EDIT-Nevermind.

@ Joeyeah_right--Very nice looking Fed and really suits you. I'm also digging that jacket. What's the story there?

@ The Antiquarian--I'm not a "right hat for facial type" expert by any means, but I think that hat suits you just fine!

2010 Cherry Blossom Festival, Washington DC:

VERY nice photo, Luke.

Question...I'm fairly new at ordering hats so forgive for the newbie question. What's the plastic thing that comes with the akubra's? It's black, about 6 inches long, and tapers at both ends then fans out.....

I think it's like a Shoe Horn for a person's Head if
it's a little bit big for the Hat.

Kilgour Trout

Kilgour Trout wrote:I think it's like a Shoe Horn for a person's Head if
it's a little bit big for the Hat.

Kilgour Trout

Yeah I don't know what it is.....but it comes taped to the top of every akubra I've gotten (granted I've only bought two...)

I'm sure one of the hatperts on this site can tell us....

backstagejack wrote:

Kilgour Trout wrote:I think it's like a Shoe Horn for a person's Head if
it's a little bit big for the Hat.

Kilgour Trout

Yeah I don't know what it is.....but it comes taped to the top of every akubra I've gotten (granted I've only bought two...)

I'm sure one of the hatperts on this site can tell us....

Actually, I think it may be the handle for the box the hat came in. I have 2 FedIVs and inside the box is taped a bit of plastic that looks like it should be the handle that would fit inside the slot on the side of the box.
Is this what you are referring to?

Joe

Regarding these Fed 4's, I pulled a new one from the box yesterday, a size 7 1/2 and its been awhile since I have seen one. My own is packed up with a CS crease in it, so I was surprised to see just how well this block pulls off the Raiders look. Pretty close IMO. So, looks like this hat makes a great Raiders fedora, and better than the old Feds IMO. Fedora

Joeyeah_right wrote:
Actually, I think it may be the handle for the box the hat came in. I have 2 FedIVs and inside the box is taped a bit of plastic that looks like it should be the handle that would fit inside the slot on the side of the box.
Is this what you are referring to?

Joe

Yeah....thats probably what it is.....

I kinda feel stupid now........

..they make large toothpicks in Aussie land.

Hey Steve: Would you mind clarifying your thoughts on this.
Do you mean the Fed IV "block" lends itself to a Raider's bash
better than the Old Fed III's? That's interesting as I've heard
some concerns about not enough crease depth on the Fed IV.

I don't expect the Fed IV to have the brim of a Raiders but the
crown is a surprise.

Perhaps you could take a few snaps of your new Fed IV?

Cheers
Kilgour Trout

Hey Steve: Would you mind clarifying your thoughts on this.
Do you mean the Fed IV "block" lends itself to a Raider's bash
better than the Old Fed III's? That's interesting as I've heard
some concerns about not enough crease depth on the Fed IV.

Sure. The one I have here, a brand new Fed 4 bought early last year has a really good blockshape for the Raiders fedora. Now, not perfect, but pretty darn good. I recall Ron sending me one of the new Fed 4s back right before they came out with them, and I just creased it CS style, but never paid any attention to the crown that much. Then I picked this other new one up creased it Raiders style and was surprised that it looked better to me than the old Federation. Had no trouble with the top crease. I will snap a pic tomorrow and show ya what I am talking about. Fedora

that's a pretty good endorsement!!

scottyrocks6 wrote:

Luke Warmwater wrote:Sent my F4 to Penman for a reblock job and it looks fantastic:

John replaced the sweatband, liner and ribbon.

Wow, hard to believe thats a fed IV. Looks great.

Agreed, looks Fantastic!

I would like to change the ribbon on my Fed 4 Deluxe too, I don't know if I should go with Todd's ribbon, or just by some black ribbon. I was think the contrast of a black ribbon might look better on a Fed because of its darker felt color.

-Scott

Well I went ahead and made a new bow. I went with plain black grosgrain ribbon that I got from Wal-mart. I've never sewn before or done anything like this so I was a bit nervous, especially once I ripped off the original bow.

EDIT: I think I have a little OCD. I went to JoAnn fabrics and bought some better ribbon that wasn't so thin/glossy looking and made another bow.

ORIGINAL AKUBRA BOW



MY NEW BOW





-Scott

Wow, fuzzjunk... I'm impressed!
For what it's worth, I think you did pretty darn great with that ribbon...
If you hadn't said it, I'd never have guessed that you'd never tried something like that before.
Well done!

Great job Scott! Very impressive, and I agree with Mitch I wouldn't guess it was your first time!

I would suggest taking of the fed 4 ribbon ( just the bow and knot). leave the ribbon that raps around it. Iron the bow flat and re-make the bow. The sew the bow and knot onto the hat.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really enjoying the new look.

BendingOak wrote:I would suggest taking of the fed 4 ribbon ( just the bow and knot). leave the ribbon that raps around it. Iron the bow flat and re-make the bow. The sew the bow and knot onto the hat.

What type/size of needle should I be using when sewing into the felt?

It was weird to see that the original Fed bow was taped on the backside.


-Scott

fuzzjunk wrote:Thanks for the comments guys. I'm really enjoying the new look.

BendingOak wrote:I would suggest taking of the fed 4 ribbon ( just the bow and knot). leave the ribbon that raps around it. Iron the bow flat and re-make the bow. The sew the bow and knot onto the hat.

What type/size of needle should I be using when sewing into the felt?

It was weird to see that the original Fed bow was taped on the backside.


-Scott

taped? like those thin, transparent double-sided adhesive tapes?

Yes, but it wasn't double sided though, the adhesive was on the side sticking to the bow not the felt. The bow was sewn to the hat, I'm guessing the tape was used to hold the knot in place on the bow. I'll have to take another look at it.

I've seen that on a few vintage hats, where they will use a piece of tape to keep the knot of the bow in place as it's sewn to the hat.

Not particularly "Indiana Jones," but here's me going on a hike today while wearing my Federation IV and a cotton, khaki B-15 bomber jacket.

Another angle:

What do you think, can I pull it off? I guess I can, as I frequently get compliments while wearing it... especially on campus at school. But what's your opinion? Is the Fed IV a bit big for me?

It is not too big for you.

Maybe someone can get a shot of you about 10 feet away.

binkmeisterRick wrote:I've seen that on a few vintage hats, where they will use a piece of tape to keep the knot of the bow in place as it's sewn to the hat.

It's a short cut and a no, no.

Here's a couple of outdoor shots of me and my Fed4. Man, I love this hat!!

My Federation at it's current state, I had re-creased the whole thing from scratch today after wetting it. In my opinion, it's just about screen-accurate, moreso than the way I had it before, with the semi-diamond crease and slightly lower crown, and all.

Yeah, I know. Probably not one of the best examples of screen-accuracy, but this will do until I feel the need to try to fine-tune it even further. For now, I'm happy to see the return to an authentic Raider center-crease.

ok....so I bought a Henry...

BUT MANNNNNNNNNNN I STILL LOVE MY FED!!!

Mmm, me too. Went to Gettysburg Battlefield today with the family; the F4 kept my head dry.

On my Youtube video a guy is ranting about the current Akubra Federations, complaining about taper and other issues, anybody experience a degrade in quality, or is this a guy making a big deal over 1 bad hat kinda thing?

Well, after numreous rainstorms, swimming in the Potomac River, digging out from Snowpocalypse, mine did develop a taper. I had it reblocked and it and it's good as new.

This is what mine looks like at present:

What do you think, a bit of a Crystal Skull look going on with it?

The bottom of the pinch looks a bit too wide even for CS, imho.

The Antiquarian wrote:

At first glance from that angle, it looks like it's tapered.

But on the 3rd pic it doesn't look like so.

I have a new Fed. IV Deluxe size 58 cm and would like to exchange it for a new 59 cm, if any are out there.