Club Obi Wan

@restless dreamer - I think the color is intentional. Steve and Marc always make their hats a little dark so that when they fade, they'll be the perfect color. -M

cowboy827 wrote: I realize that the orginal AB and ABD is made of different felt from the Henry (100% beaver vs. 80/20 rabbit-beaver blend), but I had assumed that the color would be the same. Is this not true?

Squidkidd provided a side-to-side comparison between a Henry and a AB

http://picasaweb.google.com/squidkidd/H ... SgIZsiR8ew#

It's the last photo

cowboy827 wrote:In light of Restless Dreamer's review, I have to ask: Is the color of the Henry any different from the color of a handmade AB or ABD?

I realize that the orginal AB and ABD is made of different felt from the Henry (100% beaver vs. 80/20 rabbit-beaver blend), but I had assumed that the color would be the same. Is this not true?

For that matter, how does the color of the AB and the Henry compare to HJ"s sable? I don't own any of the above, but I've been long considering a purchase, and I've been leaning towards a Henry, given the price, the durability of a beaver blend over pure rabbit, and the floppiness I expect out of a rabbit-beaver blend.

Trying to compare colors online is impossible.

I've done some research on this and this is what I came up with: The Henry is indeed a bit darker than an AB and an AB is a bit darker than the HJ. However, with wear the hats will fade to a lighter shade, bringing it to the shade of a HJ eventualy. This is what Marc told me a while ago and I know he knows his stuff.

Restless Dreamer: It appears that the larger sizes do have a litle bit of taper to the sides (at least my 62 does) but if it does have it when worn depends on the shape of your head. On a long oval like me it certainly does not have any taper when worn, it even apears to have some reverse taper.
The curves on the side bash are there if you put them in, but are usualy only visible when the light hits it in a certain way. I've seen this on a lot of hats and I think this is quite normal
The line caused by the cardboard tube (which in my opinion was just put in upside-down) are completely gone when you brush your hat.

The only thing I'm not satisfied with myself is the matter of back-taper: as a person with a long-oval head the back-taper tends to get exagerated when wearing it. I wish this hat had a non symetrical block with taper in the front and no taper in the back. other than that I am extremely pleased with this hat.

Regards, Geert

I'm 58, but my hat shows a very little amount of taper even if it's not on my head. I suppose it just took the shape of it.

To solve your problem with the back taper, I suggest you to lower -if possibile- the back of the center dent

I placed my order with Marc for a Henry yesterday. Now I (im)patiently wait . . .

does anyone know the price of the henry and can u get them to bash it for you or do i have to do it im not very good at bashing and dont know where to start i want a crystal skull fedora and if i have to bash it i would be lost

Indyfan1234:

For COW members, a Henry costs 165 Euros, which is somewhere between $220 and $225 USD, depending on the daily flux in exchange rates.

So far as I know, the Henry is only available in an open crown, so you have to bash it yourself. However, based on the other posts I've read in this thread, I believe that the hat is forgiving, and can be bashed and rebashed over and over again.

And don't sell yourself short. I personally don't think that bashing is as hard as you may think.

A few more words about my Henry, after a good period of usage.

The brim used to be quite nice and stiff, but after taking a little bit of rain it is now floppy. This causes the brim not to warp properly when the hat is turned: the right side should be parallel to the ground, but it appears to be curled up just like the left one.

This could be caused also by the fact that now my hat has stretched and took the shape of my head

The hat showed a nasty and annoying amount of side taper and I was really getting mad about solving the problem: I tought it was my fault (bad bashing), but I couldn't manage to make the taper disappear. So I got angry and I said "you sssstupid hat, I spent 165 bloody euros for you, you CAN'T be like that!", and I sat on it.





That's how I got reverse taper.

Sitting on my hat I accidentally formed two shallow bashesh under the ribbon, near the brim. This made the taper disappear, and now, if you look the hat from a certain angle, you can notice a very slight reverse taper

I never felt too happy with my Raiders Henry. I liked the hat, but I didn't like how it suited my face, and I continued to get a slight taper on the sides due to my round head. So I decided to rebash it and make it a LC hat. I had to soak it and maybe this is the reason it tapered on the back and deformed a bit (look at the Henry reblocking thread for photos).

There is still a shadow of the old tight pinch, and you can notice a fold in the liner too, but the overall look of the hat isn't bad. here some photos for you (even if it seems I'm the only one who still cares about this topic )



http://img13.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=imgp1843.jpg

Thanks for the pics!

I have also struggled a bit to get my Henry to look "just right" - but as I've continued to work at it, I'm actually very pleased with the results. It may not be shaped to perfect "movie specs", but it sure feels good to put it on!!

Now that the weather finally is warming up, I can't wait to get outside and get it dirty!

Very nice

Straight and stovepiped with a perfectly looking radius where the crown curves in. Good to see some talented hat creasers showing the true potential of this hat.

Regards,

Marc

Marc, thanks for the positive feedback! It means a lot coming from you.

The COW forum has proven to be a valuable resource. I don't think there's a better place out there to learn all the fedora secrets...

Thanks to all for your feedback and expertise!

Mine got here today, a little less than four weeks after I ordered it. Dark chocolate color, lightweight and comfy, great tall stovepipe shape, and it takes thirty seconds to bash. Speechless.

Gobo: Nice work on the bash.

BUT you received yours in less than 4 weeks?!?

I ordered mine 12 weeks ago today. Marc sent me an email almost 2 weeks ago to tell me that it finally shipped from the factory. I still haven't received it! ARRRGH!!!!!!!!

That's a bummer... the hat came in a box covered in Spanish stamps, meaning it didn't have to travel too far to get to Oslo. Maybe yours is aboard a cargo ship in the middle of the Atlantic right now.

Also factor in that it might be delayed by U.S. customs as that can easily explain why it has not arived.

Regards, Geert

nice bash, gobo! LC, right?

you might want to try to curl up the sides of the brim: give it a try, you wont be disappointed

Hey, cowboy, I'm right there with ya. I ordered mine in mid November and I'm still waiting! I too was told it was on its way about two weeks ago, but as of today, still nothing. I'm not doubting that it will get here, but the waiting is painful. I know, I know, it's nothing compared to the wait for an AB, but when you're expecting 4-6 weeks, and it becomes 4-6 months, it's tough. I know that Marc is good to his word, so I'll just keep patiently waiting for that magic box to show up! Great looking hat, gobo!!!

As Marc and Stefan said in the "Fast and Bashed" thread the wait is because the factory is "hoarding" orders to minimize the amount of times they have to shut everything down for cleaning This is why they are ordering a load of hats to be shipped from Marc's shop. So the problem lies with the inner logistics of the factory and Marc and Stefan are already working on a solution.

Regards, Geert

Restless Dreamer wrote:nice bash, gobo! LC, right?

you might want to try to curl up the sides of the brim: give it a try, you wont be disappointed

Actually, I was aiming for a CS bash... But hey, LC ain't bad either

well, from what I can see from the pics it looks more like LC than CS. the 2 styles are similar: what makes them different is that CS has a more deep and long center dent, and its side bashes are more pushed further in the back.

The pics are taken right after it came out of the box, the dents are shallow because they are fresh. I'm still fiddling with it to make the dents deeper.

FINALLY!!!! My Henry arrived today. I haven't even taken it out of the box yet.

Vaderbreath - I'm guessing this means that you will be receiving your hat any time now.

You're right, cowboy, I just took mine out of the box, and it not only fits absolutely perfect, but it is one beautiful hat!!! I'm going to bash it, wear it, and take some pics later so I won't get the "This thread is worthless..." ...well, you know the rest. Thanks, Marc, for the awesome hat!

Here are some mediocre pics... This is it next to my Fed IV. (Henry on my head of course!). It isn't as dark as the Fed, and it is smoother and the sweat is far superior. However, for the Fed being about half the price, it still is a great, great hat for the money. 'Course, so is the Henry!





Without flash, Fed on left, Henry on right...


With flash...


Side profile...


Thanks for the great hat, Marc!

Before anyone says it... ;0


Yeah, i got my Henry today almost exactly a month to the day, i ordered it on February 24th and Marc sent it to the hatter on the 25th, it arrived the 26th of March. Not bad, not bad at all.

Im pretty stoked with the hat the color is far more impressive than the pictures here and elsewhere are giving the hat credit for. Its got a beautiful reddish brown color that looks great in all sorts of light. The sweatband is awesome this is arguably the nicest part of the hat, and thats saying alot. The felt is buttery, but its more margernine than butter, close but its not Beaver. Its still really nice, and its far superior than any of the trash that you can buy from Stetson today. The ribbon is nice, better than my Fed IV, its color is, again, spot on in all types of lighting conditions, and i like that the tacs are off to the side of the lid so from the front its not seen. I hate ribbon tacs that are on the front of the lid, it looks gaudy.

I've decided to bash it with a CS style. It suits the hat well, i have no tapering issues at all, its a square box with all the right angles. My center dent is maybe not as deep as the film hat, but that is probably the little compensation im going to have to make to keep the side profile level on the top and the front profile nice and boxy. Also the issue with the back of the hat tapering (ie from a side profile) is almost non-existant on my hat. I decided against a ROTLA bash, i've got that in my Fed, and feel once you put a ROTLA in a hat it never can be anything else because of the sharp crease. *****, but thats life.

For $220 the hats a steal, and if Marc and Stephen are going to start bashing them and you're going to start getting them quicker, its an ever bigger steal. Now i need it in grey and dark green and im set.

Ill post pics when ever i decide to buy a camera, i dont even have one on my Blackberry. Itll probably be in a week or so. So this is a teaser.

Thanks for all your kind feedbacks guys!!! - It's truly a relief that the hard work and the constant pickyness that the manufacturer has been a victim of ever since he heard from me the first time, are appreciated.

We'll order a couple of dozen hats as soon as my insurance pays the car that I wrecked the other week and once all is up and running we'll DEFINATELY have other colors in stock. What we've discussed so far is grey, black, blue and green, which would be the classic colors of yesteryear, so it's all in the plan

Regards,

Marc

Marc wrote:Thanks for all your kind feedbacks guys!!! - It's truly a relief that the hard work and the constant pickyness that the manufacturer has been a victim of ever since he heard from me the first time, are appreciated.

We'll order a couple of dozen hats as soon as my insurance pays the car that I wrecked the other week and once all is up and running we'll DEFINATELY have other colors in stock. What we've discussed so far is grey, black, blue and green, which would be the classic colors of yesteryear, so it's all in the plan

Regards,

Marc

Sweet, i have been holding out for a dark green lid because i haven't found one i really like (outside of one that Art Fawcett makes). But, a Henry in green would be perfect. And ive never really thought of blue, maybe a really really dark blue. And i have to say it here the Grey traveling lid Indy wears in KOTCS is my favorite hat, even more than the brown, that is a gorgeous hat.

Oh and a little update on the Henry after wearing it for a while, you forget you're wearing it, its insane how the sweatband feels, and the hat is light in comparison to a PB or FED. One downside, its a fuz magnetic That said i think i really like the CS bash, blasphemy i know, but i like it, it has a classic Fedora look to it.

and sorry to Stefan, i mis-spelled your name.

Ok i spent money on a camera, Marc is costing me a lot of money...LOL, but i needed an excuse to buy a new one anyway. I took a couple of pics in the "yard" and made a little movie. I've always felt the lids looked better in motion than in static pictures.

This is my first really attempt at a CS bash. Im really good at a Raiders bash, but wanted something different. I did this bash from memory, i have yet to look at the film to compare. I used no Steam or liquids of any kind to bash this lid, just my sweaty hands and repetative motion. This is the first time i've never had to do this.

Warning the pics are large in quality.

Changed the pics, took some better ones in this Gorgeous weather we're having in Virginia. That hat has "shrunk" a bit after a few days of wear, and me beating on it a little bit, and steaming it to get the center crease just right.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/ ... ics057.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/ ... ics058.jpg
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/ ... ics059.jpg


And the vid

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/ ... ics025.flv

Ladies and Gentlemen, it was worth the wait. The felt of my Henry is like silk. The sweatband, like butter (pronounced "butta").

I took some pictures over the weekend. I used my son, whose first birthday was Saturday, for a side-by-side comparison. In the pictures of both of us wearing hats, I'm wearing the Henry and he is wearing my Fed Deluxe. In the last picture, which doesn't include much of me, he's wearing the Henry.

Even in these pictures you can see some difference in the felt.

Hope you like my bash.

http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu34 ... wecute.jpg

http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu34 ... mesTwo.jpg

http://s661.photobucket.com/albums/uu34 ... keIndy.jpg

Congrats on the hat. It looks great! And your son is very cute.
J-

Thanks, J. I wish I could find a good fedora and jacket in his size, but all I can find is junk. Just as well, though. He grows so fast.

Since i paid money for a camera i've decided to use it a lot. So, since i had to take pictures of my new Carbon Fed, i decided to take a few in my usual weekday attire. I think i look pretty dapper, i had several positive comments today. Maybe its the green tie

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a323/ ... ics064.jpg

Ill post the Carbon fed pics in that thread.

Hi Everyone,

I posted these pictures in the "Henry Fast and Bashed" section, but thought I'd post them here and ask for comments so I didn't Hijack that thread.

Anyway here are pics of my new Henry bought under the new "Fast and Bashed" regime.

The first set is what came out of the box. A nice bash, but some things may have been distorted or popped out during shipping.

http://indyhat.shutterfly.com/23

I didn't want to mess with the front ones too much (after all they were done by Marc and his partner Stefan), but I did want to get the top crease deeper. In getting that deeper it distorted the front ones a bit so I tried to fix them up again.

http://indyhat.shutterfly.com/30

Let me know what you think and what needs work.

Thanks,
-Matt

P.S. Love my Henry! I've never owned a "nice" hat, only baseball caps and a DP so I don't have much to compare to, but this hat is amazing. Super soft and light.

Hi I just recieved my new henry it was reblocked with marc's raiders block and I got to tell you It's amazing,the felt is beautiful.

I 'll post some pics soon.

Here it is my new henry.

It's awesonme.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex1152/3624574060/

I had to go the same route as you did because of a mistake I made. Marc is realy good, isn't he? Wear it with pride: It's a great hat.

Regards, Geert

Thanks Geert! I saw your pics and your Henry is amazing too, I was wondering how did yo work the brim? because It looks great.

Alex.

alex1152 wrote:Thanks Geert! I saw your pics and your Henry is amazing too, I was wondering how did yo work the brim? because It looks great.

Alex.

I didn't That's one of the few advantages of haing a long oval head: as long as a hat is turned, it'll do exactly what it's supposed to Well, that and Marc's awsome work on my hat: as he didn't know yet how a Henry would react to a Raiders block made for beaver hats, and the hat produced a "lightbulb" effect comming of the block, he decided to do the brim (and bash) in SOC style to match the crown.

Regards, Geert

Can you Henry owners comment on the durability of the rabbit/beaver blend?

I'm going to be running around Hong Kong/China in the fall, and won't have time to get a nice Penman ( )....do you think the felt will hold up to the heat/humidity and not taper/shrink too much?

I think it will hold up with no problem, I tokk a peter bros to canada last winter and nothing happened, so I guess nothing will happen to the henry.

Alex

While I've never actually wore my Henry outside, I think it's save to say the hat will be okay. This beaver blend is more durable than any rabbit hat out there. I just wouldn't let it get wet to the core.

Hey Alex, how's that Henry of yours comin' along?

Richard

I can't realy say how it will react to those conditions, or make any sollid judgement on durability since this is the first summer for the Henry. My guess is it will hold up fine, but it's just a guess. True, a guess based on what is known of Marc's pickyness and atention to detail, but a guess nontheless.

The best part of the Henry though is that it's a factory hat that can be reblocked numerous times, so if it should happen to taper it will be fixable.

Bottom line: It probably will hold up just fine, but in the off chance it wont, it's fixable.

Regards, Geert

Sounds like the Henry will be my next purchase then!

Hi Richard

I'm lovin it, but i don't know... I still thinking that's something is not right, I think that the brim is my biggest problem,I can't give it the right look, any advice? here's another pic where you can see the hat.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alex1152/3645610504/
Thanks
Alex

Hi Alex,

Your brim looks fine to me. I'm not sure, because I haven't seen the sides of the hat, but I think you might need some deeper dents allround. You could also try to grab the hat by the top of the front pinch, everytime you reach for it. This will get the sharper lines of the Raiders hat.

Keep us updated!

Richard

I ordered a new henry from penman hats in CS styles John told me it will arrive next week I can't wait to get it

Bullitt wrote:Hi Alex,

Your brim looks fine to me. I'm not sure, because I haven't seen the sides of the hat, but I think you might need some deeper dents allround. You could also try to grab the hat by the top of the front pinch, everytime you reach for it. This will get the sharper lines of the Raiders hat.

Keep us updated!

Richard

I agree, the brim swoop is just great. The creases look like they popped out.

Marc wrote:We'll DEFINATELY have other colors in stock. What we've discussed so far is grey, black, blue and green, which would be the classic colors of yesteryear, so it's all in the plan

Regards,

Marc

Marc or Stefan, is there any news on these color offerings for the Henry? I really want one but don't really need another brown hat with Indy specs. Not sure I would wear the grey one much either after I get my grey hat from Steve. Now, blue or green, I don't have any hats in those colors and would love one. Either of those colors would certainly get worn a lot.

Dave

Just wanted to share this with you guys and dolls.

http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f ... ead#unread