Club Obi Wan

Great looking Federation!!!

GCR wrote: I'd still love to see what someone can do with a hat closer to the original Raiders hat, like one of those vintage 70's HJ's we've seen Fedora post pictures of...
-GCR

You want to have a look over at Indylounge

moses wrote:

GCR wrote: I'd still love to see what someone can do with a hat closer to the original Raiders hat, like one of those vintage 70's HJ's we've seen Fedora post pictures of...
-GCR

You want to have a look over at Indylounge

If you're referrencing Pagey's thread about the vintage HJ that Fedora sold to him, I've seen it already. It took me a while to overcome the wave of awe that struck me when I saw that hat. It's magnificent. A masterpiece.

Of course, I doubt anyone could work up th nerve to sit on that beauty!

Heck, I'd be afraid to just wear the thing! (Besides, if I wore it, I wouldn't be able to stare at... )

-GCR

sure you can GCR, just make sure there are mirrors, windows, silverware...wherever you go!

Indiana G wrote:sure you can GCR, just make sure there are mirrors, windows, silverware...wherever you go!

Ha! I don't think that would go over too well in my house. My girlfriend is already on my case about how I spend half an hour in front of the mirror everytime I go to leave the house. Of course the reason for this is that I've abused my hat so much that it's become very soft and floppy. So much so that I have to fiddle with it everytime I put it on, just to get it to look right! And to think, I used to complain about her spending 20 minutes on her HAIR.

That vintage HJ really is something else though...I can't get over it. Once again, I will ask: WHY HJ, WHY DID YOU EVER HAVE TO CHANGE?!?!? :evil:

Indiana_Tone wrote:Yeah, you raise a good point about that. An older HJ fed would be so cherished that it'd be hard to try any of those steps to take it into a Cairo. Can't say I blame a person, either. So, we're left with making what we can from the hats of today. And some darn fine work, too.

I wonder if Fedora could pounce my Rabbit AB down to the same thickness as those vintage HJ's? I might be able to bring myself to at least sit on my Rabbit AB once I get it, since it's one of the "bargain" deals, and would technically cost me less than buying another hat (say, a new Fed Deluxe) to experiment on. That might take well to the "Cairo" look, and even if I end up with a squashed, mishapen shell of a hat, I can always get it reblocked, I suppose. My Cairo quest isn't over yet.

-GCR

Indiana_Tone wrote:Actually, the work you've done on that fed deluxe looks really close, bash-wise. It's maybe just a bit too clean still and missing the dust and dirt (the subliminal and often underestimated element) to finish it off. The shape you've gotten out of it already really looks good! ::tup:: Since you do have the AB rabbit coming, don't hang up the fed for experimentation just yet.

The experiment continues...

After viewing the Cairo scenes in Raiders again and examining several good screenshots of the Cairo hat, I decided that I needed to correct the volume issue in my Fed Deluxe crown. While my Fed Deluxe did not have any visible taper issue when I was wearing it, it did have some noticable taper when it was off of my head. Even worse, when all the dents on the hat are popped out, the shrinkage is VERY apparent, so much so that I'm surprised the hat could even pass for a Raiders hat. When I'm not wearin' it, I keep my Fedora on the top of my roll top desk in my home-office, the same desk were I have my computer. So whenever I'm online, my tapered Fedora would stare me right in the face. It was driving me nuts. I had planned on sending it out to JP design for a reblock, but that would leave me hatless for a week or more, and I'm so use to wearing my hat that I don't think I could deal. But SOMETHING had to be done to help with the shrinkage factor, as it was not only annoying me, but I believe it was also preventing me from reaching the right SOC look. I don't have a block, but I had had decent results in the past from using an old plastic trash bucket. That particular bucket is long gone, and it was never quite right anyway, as it was not straight sided, but I did have a nice, large, round tupperware (or some generic knockoff) storage cylinder. The cylinder fit on my head, so I knew it would work. I tested it by giving my old Indiana Miller a full reblock on it overnight. The results were far better than I had hoped. That gave me confidence that the "block" would be suitable for some touch-up work on my Akubra, to try and get the taper out of the hat and add some of the lost volume that was preventing me from getting the right SOC look. I didn't remove the sweatband, ribbon or liner, I can't sew to save my life, so I left all those things on. I basically stretched the front of the hat out on the front of the cylinder, and used a steam iron (with a small towel in between to keep the hot iron from burning the felt or melting the rayon in the ribbon) to steam it into shape. I repeated the process on the back of the hat and then let it cool on the "block" before I took it off and rebashed it. The old bash dents weren't totally erased, but the front pinch needed to be tightened up and the crease in the right dent needed to be added again (I don't actually have it sewn in like 3thoubucks, just folded and creased). The little experiment with the makeshift block certainly helped, but not much. Unfortunately much of the sagging and mushrooming that had developed from the SOC treatments I had applied, was also erased. I sat on the hat once just to soften it up again, and steamed the brim a little to accentuate the turned look a bit more, but I'm going to have to repeat the whole sitting and crushing and beating process to bring it back to where it was. Hopefully when I do that, the volume that was added by steaming and stretching will be more apparent and the hat will look closer to the actual Cairo hat. After reading Tone's post, I sat on the hat again and went scouring my neighborhood for some nice desert-like dust. I found a site where they are clearing land for a new development and some of the fresh dirt looked very Egyptian. We had some rain here yesterday, so I had to dig down a little ways to get some dry, dusty dirt, but I got it! After a quick application with a medium sized (never used before) paintbrush, here is the hat as of now.













One other thing that puzzles me about the Cairo hat, however, is the front pinch. In certain angles, it almost looks as though it curves in toward the middle and then back out toward the top of the crown. You can see what I mean in these pics:







Again, I wonder if this phenomenon is due to the additional volume in the crown because of the block shape, the turn (my hat is turned, but not as much as the Raiders hat), or the thin felt. It's probably all three to some dgree or another. I'll continue to experiment with my Fed Deluxe, but I'm almost certain I won't be able to make it 100% without sanding it thinner and giving it a full reblock on one of Fedora's blocks, neither of which is a likely scenario.

-GCR

hey GCR,

ain't playing with your hat addictive? it never ends does it. your question about the front pinch and how it curves is probably the results from sitting on it. my front pinch goes all around the place because of all the compression and popping out. i'm sure the next time you squish your lid and intentionally angle the front pinch inward like that, you will get that nice bowing that you seek after you pop it out. hope that will help. happy hat bashing!

s7eng!
I love my Akubra as well (have it since a few years). I got used to it so much, it's hard for me to decide to order AB, though its price is really not an issue... Akubra has seen a lot of beautiful places with me and is a kind of a "silent companion"
Anyway, I like to play with a shaping as you do and noticed your avatar. We are very similarly built and your photo just helped me realize, we probably should seriously think about cutting a brim a bit. I am sitting here and thinking about going to a nearest shop for a good scissors...

s7eng,please don't take this the wrong way but I have to agree with Raider,your hat looks way too big..it looks like you've just killed Goliath and pinched his hat as a trophy!

Finding the right brim length to correspond with the shape of your face is very important. I was looking at the hat in s7eng's avatar, and it seems like the back of the brim is pulled down, rather than curling up a bit like normal. Perhaps this is the reason it looks a little large.

Sometimes, though, cutting the brim would be a good idea if it is too long for your face. When cutting, be VERY careful, and I'd recommend getting some sandpaper just in case you get a couple lumps from a slightly uneven cut. You can sand the lumps down and make it uniform again.

Strider wrote:Finding the right brim length to correspond with the shape of your face is very important. I was looking at the hat in s7eng's avatar, and it seems like the back of the brim is pulled down, rather than curling up a bit like normal. Perhaps this is the reason it looks a little large.

Sometimes, though, cutting the brim would be a good idea if it is too long for your face. When cutting, be VERY careful, and I'd recommend getting some sandpaper just in case you get a couple lumps from a slightly uneven cut. You can sand the lumps down and make it uniform again.

I have to agree with Strider about the sandpaper. In fact, I would actually skip the scissors and ONLY use sandpaper to sand down the brim. It takes longer than just snipping away, but it allows you to be far more careful about the amount of brim you remove, and it's far less likely that you'll remove too much. When I first got my Fed Deluxe, I thought the brim looked too big, but I had had a bad experience cutting a brim before, so I decided to just sand it down. It took a couple of hours, but in the end, I was surpirsed how little brim I needed to remove before it looked right. With scissors, I would have cut too much off from the get go, and there would have been no putting it back on...

-GCR

CUT! CUT! CUT!

Guys, I seriously ran for a scissors and DID IT! This is so much better for a slim face!

Here is a pic o my beaten and finally cut fedora. Waiting for you suggestions! Thanks!

The brim looks like it suits your face. I don't know what it looked like before, so I can't comment on whether it's a marked improvement or not, but from what I can see, it looks good.

OK, direct link to HJ - Cairo by Todd:

http://www.toddscostumes.com/indy/HJ%20 ... _cairo.htm

What do you think about it?

That's a Cairo styled Herbie? NICE! I like!

we probably should seriously think about cutting a brim a bit.

I agree and have yet to grab the scissors!

s7eng,please don't take this the wrong way but I have to agree with Raider,your hat looks way too big..it looks like you've just killed Goliath and pinched his hat as a trophy!

Not taken the wrong way. That Goliath guy did not put up as big of fight as I thought he would.

Raider wrote:OK, direct link to HJ - Cairo by Todd:

http://www.toddscostumes.com/indy/HJ%20 ... _cairo.htm

What do you think about it?

Nice! Once again, I can't believe that's an HJ. Another one of the better looking HJ's I've seen lately. I will admit, on first glance, I thought the front pinch was too tall, but I did a crude measurement, enlarging the pic and holding the ruler up to the screen and it looks to be well within the accepted Raiders specs. I'd say all that beauty needs is a turn, a pleat, a good squashing and a bucket of desert sand!

-GCR

Yes GCR and that's the reason why "Akubra-lover" just cannot decide. AB or HJ...?

:junior: Raider

todd's soc looks good there but i would be wearry in ordering that bash due to the nature of the felt. IMO these hats are too soft and pliable to bash it in that manner....i would simply order it as a dress bash and turn it into an SOC via "the michaelson treatment". i would be scared to have it bashed in this way as it would be pushed to the edge of its lifespan. just my 2 cents.

oops, forgot to mention....raider, go with the AB for sure. its an all weather, anywhere hat. if you go with the HJ, you'll be throwing on the old fed whenever the weather gets crummy.

cheers.

Thanks, Indiana G! I'll remember that.

Cheers,

:junior: Raider