Club Obi Wan

David, that AB looks great. That grey train hat is on my "bucket list" of hats. Hope you're mending well, I had a few weeks in a boot too, cumbersome little device that thing is!

Thanks, Jared. So you were stuck with the boot as well? The worst thing for me is having to wear it at night - it doesn't help with a good night's sleep.

Oh, well, if all goes well, after another week or so I'll be able to wear it just during the day.

I'm personally not a brown hat fan so I much prefer the grey Indy hats to the brown colour ones.

Any new ABs out there?

Yes, I too would be keen to see any Adventurbilts that have been delivered recently.

I've been wanting to get a Steve Delk beaver felt hat for years, but due to finances it's always been out of reach. About to start a new job in the coming weeks so I should be able to order my own in the next month or two.
Let me ask all the current owners, can you tell an obvious difference between the beaver and rabbit? I've been eyeing the beaver felt but if there's no obvious difference then maybe I'll get the rabbit and get one sooner. Would love to hear what everyone has to say on the subject.

Well, I guess that depends on how one defines "obvious." I mean, let me put it to you this way, here are some pics from the last few pages:



Now, see, I can tell which one is beaver and which one is rabbit from the finish of the felt. So, to me, it's pretty obvious. YMMV. Show these two pictures to someone who knows nothing about hats, and they might not notice the difference.

jlee562 wrote:Well, I guess that depends on how one defines "obvious." I mean, let me put it to you this way, here are some pics from the last few pages:



Now, see, I can tell which one is beaver and which one is rabbit from the finish of the felt. So, to me, it's pretty obvious. YMMV. Show these two pictures to someone who knows nothing about hats, and they might not notice the difference.

but keep in mind that last pic is MINE..it was shot in extreme light and right out of the box still hairy and messy..SO maybe the same settings and quality pictures would make it less obvious? Just a thought..?

Ok, round two.

They're even both Raiders hats at similar angles. Still pretty obvious to me, again, YMMV.

That having been said, I'm a "hat guy." I have well over a dozen vintage and custom hats. I wear a hat every day. I'm accustomed to look for such differences in hats. That's why I said it depends on how one defines "obvious." The visual cues to me, are obvious. If I picked two people off the street and showed them those pics, they probably wouldn't see much difference. And I should add, it's not always possible generally to simply pick rabbit from beaver on looks alone. But if we're talking about Steve Delk's hats, I think that the beaver ones end up looking differently than the rabbit ones based on the finish of the felt.

Whether or not this justifies the price difference between beaver and rabbit is in the eye of the purchaser. Either way, you're going to get a quality lid.

For me it's not as much about the look as the wear. I have a few hats in beaver and a few in rabbit. Each of them have different finishes and therefore different looks even though two beavers are ABs and two rabbits are Garrisons.

In the long run beaver will hold up better to the elements and abuse compared to rabbit. Having said that, Steve sources the very best rabbit felt available in the US so a rabbit hat is not going to fall apart the first time it gets rained on.

What's your intent with wearing it? Will this be your "don't leave home without it" hat? If that's the case, I'd recommend saving longer and getting the beaver. If you're thinking more of a 'dress up/special occassion' hat, then the rabbit will serve you very well and you could, in fact, get two rabbit hats in different colors for the price of one beaver and have more variety in your wardrobe.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

OK, no pics of new AB's recently, so how about some new pics of an old hat. This is my "Ford Felt" AB that is affectionately known as "#1." It has been worn thousands of hours, in the sun, hurricane remnants, blizzards, heat, cold, you name it. Steve made it in December of 2006. I believe it was the last week of that month. The date and Steve's signature have long since worn off the sweatband. It has never been cleaned or re-blocked. The liner is now a dirty yellow and is starting to get a little thread-bare. The second and third pics are fairly accurate as to the color of the hat, now. I love this hat. Here's pics from about a month ago.

Looking good brother.

looks like a very well loved hat you got there



regards


CJ

That hat's lookin' good, Blooze

Here's a picture of my five year old AB. This photo was taken over the summer while I was visiting Garden of the Gods in Colorado.

I haven't forgotten about you guys. I have just been real busy, what with losing my job & all.

Indiana Blooze wrote:OK, no pics of new AB's recently, so how about some new pics of an old hat. This is my "Ford Felt" AB that is affectionately known as "#1." It has been worn thousands of hours, in the sun, hurricane remnants, blizzards, heat, cold, you name it. Steve made it in December of 2006. I believe it was the last week of that month. The date and Steve's signature have long since worn off the sweatband. It has never been cleaned or re-blocked. The liner is now a dirty yellow and is starting to get a little thread-bare. The second and third pics are fairly accurate as to the color of the hat, now. I love this hat. Here's pics from about a month ago.

stood exactly where you are standing on the Ten/NC line couple of years ago. Drove alone from California to pay my respects to the Charles George, a Cherokee native who gave his life in the Korean War to save my father's. Charles George was awarded the Medal of Honor for his sacrifice. Hope you had a good visit there. Beautiful country!

Woohoooo. I just got an email from Steve, he shipped my hat today!!!
I would expect it gets home by next week

rarias wrote:Woohoooo. I just got an email from Steve, he shipped my hat today!!!
I would expect it gets home by next week

awesome news..when did you order it?? "if you dont mind?"

rarias wrote:awesome news..when did you order it?? "if you dont mind?"

About 4 months ago I honestly thought it was going to be longer, but it was not

It should be here by friday maybe, Mail in this country is slow, not as fast as in the US, But I bought myself a work of art!!!![/quote]
congrats..yea 4months isnt to bad..im sure you'll enjoy it..

youngjedi71 wrote:

rarias wrote:awesome news..when did you order it?? "if you dont mind?"

About 4 months ago I honestly thought it was going to be longer, but it was not

It should be here by friday maybe, Mail in this country is slow, not as fast as in the US, But I bought myself a work of art!!!!

congrats..yea 4months isnt to bad..im sure you'll enjoy it..[/quote]


As soon as I get it I'll post pics

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4 ... 5&refid=17" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just got done moving some wood wearing my new Raiders Adventurebilt.

Bruce Wayne wrote:https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4 ... 5&refid=17

Just got done moving some wood wearing my new Raiders Adventurebilt.

awee....LINK wont open??..

Looks like you have to have a FB account to get in there, BW.

Regards! Michaelson

I'm on my phone at the moment. I'll change it later this evening.

I just changed it to my profile pic. Try it now.

Bruce Wayne wrote:https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/hph ... 2975_n.jpg

I just changed it to my profile pic. Try it now.

there it is..now its working..looking good there dude..

Bruce Wayne wrote:https://fbcdn-photos-a.akamaihd.net/hph ... 2975_n.jpg

I just changed it to my profile pic. Try it now.

Cool looking hat dude.

I was messing around the other day with the camera on my phone, and I figured "why not have another picture of my AB in my camera roll...". Enjoy

Although I have a bunch of fedoras, my Adventurebilt is a big favorite - Saturday errand run in town.

I've had some dealings with Steve this year and I'd like to post my thoughts.

I ordered a hat at Steve's current price and it arrived in the timeframe he told me it would.

In the process, things happened that I thought shed a little light on his situation.

As we all know, Steve took a lot of hat orders at one point. One problem for him was that his prices were really low, I would guess he wasn't doing much more than covering his cost (I get the impression Steve is a much better hat maker than businessman!).

Of course this was fine for a while, but once he got sick it would have been hard to keep going - this is not a good country to be sick in, even with good medical insurance it is a very expensive prospect and has driven many into bankruptcy.

So what did I discover? One thing is that Steve doesn't have an inventory of felt bodies to make hats with. I know this because I switched my order from rabbit to beaver and he had to change his order with Winchester accordingly. Someone had posted that Steve was having delays getting bodies delivered - I'm sure it is that the felter doesn't want to extend him more credit and he is paying for bodies when he can.

From this I deduce that Steve is using the new orders at the higher price to fund buying materials to build hats for the clients in his backlog. I noticed that after my new hat arrived (and another one for another member), a couple of people posted that they received hats from their old orders.

So I personally am convinced that Steve is trying to get through his old orders, but needs to continue booking new ones to be able to do it. .

As others have mentioned, paying the difference between the old price and the new seems to be a way to get an Adventurebilt hat. I appreciate this isn't an attractive idea for many, but might be a way forward.

We will leave this post up, but will accept no futher discussion along these lines anymore, as stated by The Dude in the locked thread, and for the reasons stated there.

Unfortunately, some people want to keep posting threats and hate speech. I've been deleting nasty comments since last night.

Look, we can't do anything to Steve, especially when it's been proven he IS delivering hats. We have NO PART in his business other than outstanding orders with him also from a few Mods. We haven't banned him in hope that you guys can finally get an answer. We keep these types of threads open for YOU but end up getting brought down into this mess because SOME OF YOU think we have a part in it.

If we did ban him all of you with outstanding orders would have no hope of him ever reporting here leaving you one more venue at contacting him closed.

I'm closing this thread and any other thread from now on about his outstanding hat orders. Take it elsewhere. I hate that it's come to this.

We've tried to help you guys out.

These threads are for you customers that have outstanding orders.

Apparently an open hand to you ends up being a smack in the face to us.

I do wish you guys that have remained civil the best of hope in getting your hats delivered.


-The Dude

Regards! Michaelson

FordFelt®. Purchased on the secondary market (used) for $275. No fuss, no muss, no wait, no drama.

FANTASTIC hat!

Hey guys!!! I just recieved notice that my hat arrived. I'm at the post office queuing to take it home!!! I'll post pictures later.

HERE IT IS!!!
Rabbit felt, charcoal gray, super dark brown ribbon.
I LOVE it

Did it get squashed in the post? Looks a bit creased on the sides.

moses wrote:Did it get squashed in the post? Looks a bit creased on the sides.

Yep, it was a bit squashed, but no big deal. I love it!

Great looking hat Rarias! Congratulations it looks good on you!

cheers

Stones

rarias wrote:Yep, it was a bit squashed, but no big deal. I love it!

Has anyone ever told you that you resemble Donald Faison?

Strider wrote:
Has anyone ever told you that you resemble Donald Faison?

haha nope, never heard that before

I've been waiting since Feb 2008 for my Adventurebilt with no response from Steve. Does anyone know how he's doing? And when I can expect my hat?

Steve hasn't logged onto the forum since December 19, 2011. The Administration and Moderators do not have any more contact nor information than any other member of the forum. I know as much as anyone on the forum about Steve's status so here it is.

1. He's had health issues over the past two years, but is still making hats.

2. When any given order will be filled is entirely in his court.


soulmanrkc, I realize you are brand new to the forum and welcome aboard. It will be to your great benefit to read through this entire thread if you have not done so already.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

i got mine second hand from a friend here in france, fits like a glove, pictures soon!

http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=58928" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The site still says 8 weeks max.

What happens if a new customer has no idea this forum exists?

From my personal experience, 8 weeks is about what it takes at the moment for new orders.

Hey, here is mine!
i got it second hand from a friend here in France. It was originaly CS bashed, but i rebashed it Raiders style, to match my Kelso Jacket.
What ya think?

That's a nice hat, ltfoley! Swell job on the rebash

Looks like Kelso is losing his touch- what a terrible Raiders jacket!!!

that was a good one, jnicktem. I had to do a doubletake!

the hat looks awesome! every angle is suberb. great hat you got there! you wear it well.

VERY impressive transformation! Congrats on your New-to-You AB!

jnicktem wrote:Looks like Kelso is losing his touch- what a terrible Raiders jacket!!!

ouch, sorry if my sentence wasn't well constructed, english is not my "mother tongue"!