Club Obi Wan

kiltie wrote:Looking good and, most importantly, looking like a good time. It appears that your hat has taken on a similar sort of distortion that mine did. That is to say, sort of a "lean" on the bow side. I wonder if this is ( and actually I assume it is ) due to incorporating "the turn", as it not only manifests itself in the side of the hat, but also makes the front pinch cant a bit. I'd end up putting mine on, then grabbing the whole front pinch in my fist and jerking it back into the upright, 90 degree position. I'm just about to get mine out for "summer trials" without the liner.

That´s exactly what I´m always doing with my hat, it works but not for very long. I guess the distortion could be due to the turn, my other 2 Christies (one is only very slightly turned and the Young Indy of course not) don´t have this kind of "lean". But I have to admit, somehow it adds really to the look of it..

Yes it was a great weekend, and as you all know it´s always good to have a good time and wearing a part of the gear.

Well, about two hours ago, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a Christy's Adventurer in Cork! Since this is going to be my Young Indy hat, I took Tremolo's advice and asked for a 3" brim all around and a 2" ribbon in dark brown. I haven't heard from Hornets yet, but hopefully they have that ribbon!

The slight taper on the bowside seems to be "built-in" (when it's turned). Something I got used to and I've seen also in the film (Raiders) so I do tend not to notice it. Some others might. Your hats looks GREAT, let me tell you Tremolo.

What a beautiful place, where did you take the pictures?

Thanks all!

Indy89, I´m really looking forward to see your Young Indy hat! I´m happy that more people like that style!
The pictures were taken on a trip to Lubmin at the Baltic Sea, it´s a very beautiful and quiet place. And due to the fact that it´s quite near to the place I study at, me and my girlfriend go there a few times a year.

Looks like a lovely place. Lucky for living near the sea.


By the way here is a new video of my Christy's... since some people were curious about the "feel" of the hat, I tried to touch it a bit more this time. I don't really have a pleasant voice so there is no comment to it.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO
(Don't forget to watch in High Definition if your connection allowes it)

If you like it I might do the same for my other hats (AB Deluxe)

Good video Erri! It really shows how floppy Chritsy´s can get. I would love too see a video with your AB Dlx, maybe you could even do a "touch-comparison" between the two, so that more people can see the difference between floppy rabbit felt and beaver. Just an idea

Just to be safe : please don´t misunderstand me, I know you really can´t compare a Christy´s to an AB

I'll probably do make a video about the AB. Not as a comparison, just to have another "hands-on" Indy hat video out. I won't place them side by side. I'm thinking of two separate videos.

Thanks for the compliments

Erri wrote:The slight taper on the bowside seems to be "built-in" (when it's turned). Something I got used to and I've seen also in the film (Raiders) so I do tend not to notice it. Some others might. Your hats looks GREAT, let me tell you Tremolo.

What a beautiful place, where did you take the pictures?

It's like that erri because they dry block their hats and I think it's a result on how they pull it off the block.

Newbie here, so please excuse my ignorance, I'm still learning!

I'm on a budget, so I'm trying to decide between a Christy's and Fed VI....from the comments here it seems like the Christy's is going to bash easier than a Fed VI?

jlee562 wrote:Newbie here, so please excuse my ignorance, I'm still learning!

I'm on a budget, so I'm trying to decide between a Christy's and Fed VI....from the comments here it seems like the Christy's is going to bash easier than a Fed VI?

I don't own the newer Federations, but I can tell you that my Christys was extremely easy to shape. The brim was a little stiff at first, but with wear it becomes very soft and floppy.

Jack

jlee562 wrote:Newbie here, so please excuse my ignorance, I'm still learning!

I'm on a budget, so I'm trying to decide between a Christy's and Fed VI....from the comments here it seems like the Christy's is going to bash easier than a Fed VI?

Well take into account, you can specify much more on the christy's you can customize crown height/ brim width and what kind of ribbon you want ! You can't do that on a fed.

Also take into account how you plan to wear this hat. Will it be a true adventure hat or something you wear only once in a while? It is a functioning piece of gear, or for display only? The Federation is a tough hat and can take a lot of abuse, arguably more than the Christy's, though there are those who wear their Christy's as every day hats. The Federation line was also developed with direct input from fans right here on the IndyGear forums. On the other hand, you will also find folks who have done a good job shaping their Christy's. The best thing to do is read through the hat forums on both hats and decide what's best for you and your needs. There are a lot of opinions regarding both of these hats (some very passionate, too). Do some reading, and make your choice based off how each hat suits your criteria. Good luck!

If you don't see to much difference between the two yet I would say go for the cheapest... you need to start saving money from now if you're new to the hobby

If bashing is your main criteria, they both bash easily. The felt on the Fed IV is a little stiffer/dense, but it is also made of rabbit and wild hare felt, so the consensus is that it is very durable in weather conditions, rain, etc. I found them both easy to bash.

As for the "look", I'd go Christy's, under light to not so strenuous activities, around town, etc. Durability, my vote is the Fed. Also, the Fed IV Deluxe sweatband is very good!

Pure personal opinion, I have handled a Federation for only a few minutes but... I didn't like the way the felt reacted to the bashing at all. It seems to be way too fussy to work.
The Christy's comes very easily.

Texan Scott wrote:If bashing is your main criteria, they both bash easily. The felt on the Fed IV is a little stiffer/dense, but it is also made of rabbit and wild hare felt, so the consensus is that it is very durable in weather conditions, rain, etc. I found them both easy to bash.

As for the "look", I'd go Christy's, under light to not so strenuous activities, around town, etc. Durability, my vote is the Fed. Also, the Fed IV Deluxe sweatband is very good!

Bashing isn't my main criteria per se. I'm not going to be really picky about getting it to look 100% SA. I just want something to wear occasionally (not really under harsh conditions, unless you count San Francisco wind!) that captures a general Indy feel. But if one is easier to work with than the other, it would certainly be a factor.

Looks like I should probably go for the Christy's....

P.S. Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions!

From this last post I would say that Christy is exactly what you need. Especially for the San Francisco wind. When you get the brim flapping in the wind for its softness you get some satisfaction let me tell you!

To summarize it to you:

general Indy feel... check!
easy to bash... check!

Let me tease you with a "city picture" of me in my Burma colour Christy hat

You know I'll bet you a christys' the guy with the camera is thinking< HOLY freck Keanu reeves is standing here wearing a hat !

LOL actually that was a friend of mine, not just a casual turist
Thanks for the compliment though ;-)

Erri wrote:LOL actually that was a friend of mine, not just a casual turist
Thanks for the compliment though ;-)

I think he's refferring to the grinning old man behind you on the left

That's who I meant

Hello, This is my first post. Please excuse my lack of Picture, I'm waiting for my Adventurer, I had seen erri's Youtube videos and seen the pictures here and I think, being a college student on a budget and all, that's the best choice for me.

I've been lurking on these boards for a little less than a week now and it's safe to say I am obsessed. Some times when I look at people and what they are saying is boring, I compare their eyebrow to nose ratio to the ROTLA bash. Am I the only one who sees a face in it?

Anyway, I have a question on the crown height. Right now, I wear a brown fedora that comes from a 1950s-ish block--that is short and tapered. The fact that when I got it, it was too large so I shrunk it to my size makes these features exaggerated. I have this hat and my Jaxon Iconoclast, both of which, the crowns seem really short on me.

I'm a large guy, from my hat size down to my shoe size. How do I reconcile if the standard 5 3/4 inch crown is good for me. Should I go 6 inch? I mean, although I do love Indy, and that's why I started wearing hats (and I'monna try to put a Raiders bash in it), I want this hat to be epically perfect FOR ME!!

How do you guys decide what crown height is good?

Trial and error is the best way to nail your perfect dimensions down. Realize that Ford is about 6'1 (I think) and the Raiders hat was somewhere between 5 1/4'' and 5 1/2'' tall. So with a 5 3/4'' crown you will be getting a hat taller than the Raiders hat. My suggestion would be to stick with the 5 3/4'' crown, but only you can decide what is best for you and what compliments your face shape.

dave

Mikemietlicki are you the one whom I addressed to this forum? Nice to see you around.

DR Ulloa wrote:Trial and error is the best way to nail your perfect dimensions down. Realize that Ford is about 6'1 (I think) and the Raiders hat was somewhere between 5 1/4'' and 5 1/2'' tall. So with a 5 3/4'' crown you will be getting a hat taller than the Raiders hat. My suggestion would be to stick with the 5 3/4'' crown, but only you can decide what is best for you and what compliments your face shape.

dave

Why would he want to do that, when he could just choose a crown height between 5 1/2-5 1/4 ?

Its my understanding that the Christy's comes 5 3/4''. I simply suggested that he order the hat stock. I think a six inch crown would look rediculous, but thats just me.

Dave

Whew...Didn't mean to touch on some hostility here...

Maybe should have started a new thread...I was just wondering how you guys picked your crown heights. I'll probably buy myself one for my Birthday in June...Pics will come then. Oh boy, they will.

Thanks you guys.

Also.. I am the same, Erri. I saw your videos and found out about this around the same time.

mikemietlicki wrote:Whew...Didn't mean to touch on some hostility here...

Maybe should have started a new thread...I was just wondering how you guys picked your crown heights. I'll probably buy myself one for my Birthday in June...Pics will come then. Oh boy, they will.

Thanks you guys.

No hostility. I like Dutch very much.

Dave

No hostillity here either just wanted to point out, get whatever specs you feel comfortable with, like Dave said, between 5.25 and 5.50 is the length of the Screen hat.

mikemietlicki wrote:Whew...Didn't mean to touch on some hostility here...

Maybe should have started a new thread...I was just wondering how you guys picked your crown heights. I'll probably buy myself one for my Birthday in June...Pics will come then. Oh boy, they will.

We pretty much live on hostility around here (read also the previous pages of this thread), even when we don't mean it. So 90% of the hostility you will witness is either not meant or simply based on misunderstanding, sometimes cultural factors are involved too. The other 10% are usually locked by the moderators

To answer your reply. I don't think that any of us who ordered a Christy (even if we could) has picked up a height different from the standard one... we really just got what they gave us. To be honest wth you I can hardly measure the crown height properly so I never really confirmed that the Christy is 5 3/4, I always thought it was around 5.5 simply because my ABs are taller and I always thought they were 5 3/4 (makes me wonder if some of my ABs are 6"?). But they say Christy is 5 3/4. I take it as true...

DR Ulloa wrote:
No hostility. I like Dutch very much.

Dave

Don't leave it hanging...you like Dutch what?

I had a Dutch uncle named Earl. I liked him a lot; he could talk your ears off, though.

Jack

RCSignals wrote:

DR Ulloa wrote:
No hostility. I like Dutch very much.

Dave

Don't leave it hanging...you like Dutch what?

Dutch_Jones, if you are being serious.

Dave

Oh that dutch...yes he's OK

DR Ulloa wrote:Its my understanding that the Christy's comes 5 3/4''. I simply suggested that he order the hat stock. I think a six inch crown would look rediculous, but thats just me.

Dave

This was Indy's grandfather...Abraham Lincoln Jones! No, as he said, the crown height could/should be bashed at your own comfort level. Mine is slightly under 5".

Here are some "Christys' at Play" pictures. I went to the lake yesterday to poke around for some "holey rocks" and some arrowheads ( came back with a point and a bit of a knife - dad found a drill... ).
This is the Adventurer that I've really put through the hoops. A good bit of wear, a professional re-block, another good bit of wear, then stuffed a towel into the crown and ironed it, then... well, I don't remember what all else. I was about to write it off, but after thinking about it, I didn't have a decent "beater". I've left the liner out, and I have to say, it's a pretty good weight. After a bit of digging, I completely forgot it was on my head, and it did it's job really well, keeping the sweat and sun out of my eyes without being intrusive.
One thing I have to say that the Christy's has over ANY hat - for me - is the ride. At least in terms of the way an Indy hat should ride, this one has it. It sits just slightly above my ears the way the Raiders hat should, without looking silly; like i've got it pulled down too far. I don't wear any other hat like that ( usually about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch off the top of my ear, depending on if it's cocked or not....), but this one sits naturally in a lower manner.
Anyway, here are some pics:
On the drive ( I have enough cab room to wear it when I'm driving - I feel bad for those who don't )

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0180.jpg

dashboard conformity - an important feature:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0181.jpg

Destination:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0183.jpg
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0189.jpg

On the head:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0187.jpg

The Aldens got into the act...
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj29 ... G_0186.jpg

....and I think I ruined my Todds' shirt, at least for regular public wear. Lots of natural distressing as I was "digging in the dirt, looking for the stuff..."

rule #1 when on one of these adventures in the hill country....don't let your kilt fly up!

Texan Scott wrote:rule #1 when on one of these adventures in the hill country....don't let your kilt fly up!

Doooood... If I haven't learned anything else in the last 35 yrs, it's that a good, real kilt is hot as H-E-Double Hockey Stick in Texas after St. Paddy's. It makes for a very special kind of soup . That, and I can't see myself doing kilt and fedora, though I did see a pretty neat picture of a guy wearing all of his cowboy gear, including boots and a sweet two gun rig, with a kilt in a shop in Colorado.

Anywho - next chance I get, I'll take the Adventurebilt out and see how it compares, comfort-wise, in the heat. I hate to say it, but at this point, as I put in my AB review thread, I think the sweatband is by far the AB's weakest feature. The Christys' seems to have a pretty quality piece of leather in there; comfortable, anyway.

Whoa! After the ribbon stitching, I'd say that the sweatband is the Christy's weakest feature. It is a thick cowhide that is not soft or comfortable in anyway. They may as well have sewn cardboard onto it. Its not uncomfortable, per se, but definately not comfortable. The AB sweatband isn't my favorite either, but it is miles ahead of the Christy's. But, to each his own.

Dave

I've found the Chrity's leather band to be not bad after repeated use, once the ol' gord breaks it in a little. Yet both could take a lesson from the Fed. IV band.

kiltie wrote:

Texan Scott wrote:rule #1 when on one of these adventures in the hill country....don't let your kilt fly up!

Doooood... If I haven't learned anything else in the last 35 yrs, it's that a good, real kilt is hot as H-E-Double Hockey Stick in Texas after St. Paddy's. .........

Kilts and St Patrick's day. Such an odd combination.

For suitability of the Kilt in various climates, look up and read the writings of Col. Cameron, when the British Army tried to take the Kilt from Scottish Soldiers.

kiltie wrote:I think the sweatband is by far the AB's weakest feature. The Christys' seems to have a pretty quality piece of leather in there; comfortable, anyway.

Don't let Steve or Marc hear you!
I think you find it more comfortable because after the felt soften also the sweatband "fits" better your head shape. The common ABs, being beaver felts, obtain the same result only after an incredible amount of "usage".
I agree that the Christy's is more comfortable in shorter times but that's something else from leather quality. Just to be precise before thunders and lightening break out.

Texan Scott wrote:I've found the Chrity's leather band to be not bad after repeated use, once the ol' gord breaks it in a little. Yet both could take a lesson from the Fed. IV band.

Agreed.
And I was probably a tad quick to judge ( and comment ) on the AB's comfort factor, regarding the sweatband. In fact, this assessment is based primarily on handling it with my fingers. I have worn the AB for nearly eight hours straight, taking it off only to eat ( not the hat, but food ). I have to admit, by hour two, the point at which I stopped giggling to myself that I actually had an Adventurebilt on my head, I pretty much stopped thinking about it all together.
In fact, truth be told, I just don't know what my hang-up with the AB sweatband is, other than it just seems ( gasp! ), cheap... I'm not talking about cost, of course; it has the cool logo and stuff. I just feels...chintzy, compared to how overall beefy the rest of the hat is. The Christys' is a total study in contrast: it has the lighter, obviously less substancial body, but that super-chunky sweatband.
And the above posts are both right, in that out of the box, the Adventurer's sweat was a little cluncky, but it seems that every time I've had the Christys' on, it's either been for a relatively long period of time ( over two hours ) or less hospitible climates ( 90's F and high humidity ) over a period of time. Therefore, the sweatband broke in quickly. I also have to admit, for all it's advertised toughness, I just cant bring myself to get my AB in a muddy hole like I had the Christys' in on Saturday. Not that I don't believe it could take it; I just don't want to wait the months it would take for any sort of restoration I'd need if anything happend. The Christys', while I wouldn't refer to it as disposable, is, let's say "more available".
The Federation IV, and all the three other different model Akubras I have, are indeed a comfy sweatband.

What I have found with the Christy's sweatband is that if you take some leather lotion and massage it around the band with a good application, it will soften up.

good thinking Texan Scott

Hey, kiltie. Where in Texas are your photos taken? Nice hat, by the way.

89 -

I accidentally answered you via PM

While perusing the Ciro Bazaar I came across Jason of the Isle of Malta who sold me a Christy's Adventurer. It would appear that Jason dusted his hat with fullers earth and set it aside with his Indy collection. Its like new! So now I have joined the ranks of Christy's owners. I will wear this hat all through the summer and see how it holds up. If it does I will order a cork and a gray. Right now the hat looks GREAT! Lets see how it wears, eh?

Thanks again Jason!

Mike

I like that color.

Dave