Club Obi Wan

fenris wrote:Huwaaaaahhhh!!!! My hat still hasn't arrived! It's been more than 10 working days already....

Was that from date of ORDER? Because mine took a month.

My mom and friends told me it might take time before our post office sorts out the package. They say it might take from 1 to 2 weeks before the post office dispatches it to the right areas... especially now that it's almost Christmas.

It's hard but be patient. The PO has caused me fits over the last several years. It seems as postage rates go up, service goes down.

I'm thinking, once I get my PB indy back from the fuzz (don't ask, very long and complicated story), if they didn't bother to take care of my hat and it is ruined, I might want to get a Christy's - given the similarity to the HJ Poet without the astronomical cost, or the astronomical quality problems. I am liking the color choice, the softness, the price, the customizing options, etc, though I can deal with the potential issues from the soft felt.

Kinda keeping my fingers crossed - well, my PB is a great hat, but I am thinking about the alternatives just in case it doesn't make it through.

Travelsonic wrote:given the similarity to the HJ Poet without the astronomical cost, or the astronomical quality problems.

Well the quality problems are probably mostly still there but the difference, which also made the fortune of the Christy regardles what experts and quality hat-lovers have to say, is very simply this:

for £50 from Christy you can get to choose within a wide range of colours, customized height, brim size, ribbon size, ribbon colour and even bow knot shape!!! (with no extra charge of course)

instead, for

£190 from HJ you get a poet of your head size and you can just cross your fingers that is what you imagine it is.


It's not just about the price but the fact that for Indy fans these Christys come in a correct-looking colour, you can personalize it to the very last detail and receive it within a month (but usually less if you're in Europe - average time is 2 weeks I think from when you place your order). These things COUNTS! Not everyone need a hat that is showerproof and not everyone can afford it either.

People can discuss as much as they want as to the limited durability of these hats (which is still JUST a blind supposition but not a fact), the low-density felt and the tapering accounts... but in the end, the pros of this brand are enough to make many people forget some of the cons.

Travelsonic wrote:I'm thinking, once I get my PB indy back from the fuzz (don't ask, very long and complicated story)...

But... it is such an intriguing remark! Remarks like this make me want to get a bag of popcorn, hunker down and make you tell the whole story

Regards, Geert

was your hat impounded for speeding?

fenris wrote:was your hat impounded for speeding?

Dave

IT ARRIVED!!!!!!!

Yaaayyyy!!!

It was supposed to come with a LC bash, but when I opened it, the bash was gone... hehehe... the trip must have unbashed it. Now I need more time to bash it properly before I post pics.

It's waaaaayyyy better than my costume hat, but people here at home think it's too tall and that it looks weird. But what do they know, right?

Special thanks to Texan Scott!

fenris wrote:but people here at home think it's too tall and that it looks weird.

If they say that of a Christy what will the say of an Adventurebuilt when you'll buy one?

Come on, show us IMAGES!!! Don't make me use the "this thread is useless.. etc" banner

Last crusade bash is easy anyway. I never even knew that Christy's employees could bash it according to a movie scene, if you asked this to be done I guess they know by now the reason for this sudden rush for the Adventurer model in Sable colour.

Erri wrote:

fenris wrote:but people here at home think it's too tall and that it looks weird.

If they say that of a Christy what will the say of an Adventurebuilt when you'll buy one?

Come on, show us IMAGES!!! Don't make me use the "this thread is useless.. etc" banner

Last crusade bash is easy anyway. I never even knew that Christy's employees could bash it according to a movie scene, if you asked this to be done I guess they know by now the reason for this sudden rush for the Adventurer model in Sable colour.

I'll post pics in an hour or two...

I didn't buy the hat directly from Christy's. I bought it from Texan Scott... according to him it was bashed in the LC style. When I opened it, the bash was virtually gone. Hahaha! The trip to the Philippines must have unbashed it.

fenris wrote:

Erri wrote:

fenris wrote:but people here at home think it's too tall and that it looks weird.

If they say that of a Christy what will the say of an Adventurebuilt when you'll buy one?

Come on, show us IMAGES!!! Don't make me use the "this thread is useless.. etc" banner

Last crusade bash is easy anyway. I never even knew that Christy's employees could bash it according to a movie scene, if you asked this to be done I guess they know by now the reason for this sudden rush for the Adventurer model in Sable colour.

I'll post pics in an hour or two...

I didn't buy the hat directly from Christy's. I bought it from Texan Scott... according to him it was bashed in the LC style. When I opened it, the bash was virtually gone. Hahaha! The trip to the Philippines must have unbashed it.

That does happen sometimes, but bashing is easy. Just check Bendingoak's great tutorials in his thread for a "how to" (stickied at the top of the page). Glad to hear you've got a hat you really like

Regards, Geert

gwyddion wrote:

Travelsonic wrote:I'm thinking, once I get my PB indy back from the fuzz (don't ask, very long and complicated story)...

But... it is such an intriguing remark! Remarks like this make me want to get a bag of popcorn, hunker down and make you tell the whole story

Regards, Geert

In 13 days, I'll legally be able to tell my tale. for now, I'll just do to Fenris what Erri wanted to do:

;0

C'mon, that Adventurer must look heinie.

What???!! You mean we have to wait 13 days before you're gonna spill the beans???

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Here's the hat... still haven't gotten to work out the bash in the right way. Looks kinda off.


It's kinda hard to get a good angle since I'm the one taking the picture...


A comparison shot of my cheap costume hat and the Christy's...

Marco, I'm glad you received the hat and it arrived safely. LC has a shorter crown height, around 4" to 4 1/2", depending on the person. In certain scenes, the CS hat was bashed like the LC hat with a low crown. Once you work with it some, and wear it, the kinks will begin to work itself out, and conform to you better.

Oh, a little story about the hat when I picked it up from the post office...

When the customs guys opened the box to inspect the contents; I was surprised that when the main guy saw the hat, he immediately associated it with Indiana Jones. Most people here would only assume it's a cowboy hat or something... never a fedora. Then we got into a conversation about fedoras and the other people who wore 'em. He mentioned Bogart, Dillinger among others.

They'll customize the brim for you, but they don't bash, AFAIK. It's really not that hard, check out John Penman's videos at the top of this forum.

I think bashing takes a lot of patience... The bash on the left side of my hat (when it's on my head so it's on the right if you're staring at hit from the front) doesn't seem to want to stay put. If I don't pinch it when it's on my head, it flattens out a bit. I know some of you use clothes pins... I'm not that adventurous when it comes to bashing my hat. I might ruin it. If I do, it'll be another looooong time before I get a replacement.

Oh, since this is a Christy's fedora thread, what tips do you have for maintaining the hat? Should I treat it with something? Do you guys have any basic hat care tips for Christy's hats? Hats, after all, are all slightly different from brand to brand, fur to fur...

fenris wrote:what tips do you have for maintaining the hat? Should I treat it with something?

err... I'm not really an expert with this but I would just not treat it with anything. Store it in dry places and it should be fine.
I have no idea how Christys react to stiffeners, waterproofing etc...

Erri wrote:

fenris wrote:what tips do you have for maintaining the hat? Should I treat it with something?

err... I'm not really an expert with this but I would just not treat it with anything. Store it in dry places and it should be fine.
I have no idea how Christys react to stiffeners, waterproofing etc...

Anybody here who's treated their hat with such stuff? Did it taper?

Anyway, since this is my first REAL hat, what hat care tips do any of you have to impart? Like how to clean a hat or remove a stain (just in case... I've had an accident with mayonnaise before with my old hat), how to keep it smelling fresh (cuz of sweat, cigarette odor, etc).

I've been trying to search for "hat care" here in the board, but keep coming up with insignificant search results.

Are you just being very precautious or are your worries real?

All I can tell you is to clean it with a brush (if it gets dusty), that is all.
Avoid to splash it with mayonnaise, don't eat while wearing your hat in general. If you smoke indoor and you don't like smoke-smelling hats either you stop smoking (which is always the healthiest of the choices) or you keep your hat in a room where you don't smoke, closed in a closet and wrapped in plastic... and even that won't be enough to protect it 100% (depending how much you smoke obviously).

If you're only concerned that your hat will smell of smoke for wearing it outside while smoking, I don't think it would absorbe much of it in open air.

Yesterday, I managed to get rid of the left-side taper of my Christy's... If you'll notice from my previous posts the pics I took. The left-side (my left-side, right-side if you're looking at it from the front) was kinda rounded and wasn't that straight.

I made a poor-man's block by using tightly rolled-up newspapers and masking tape (it looks really weird, believe me). And "stretched" the hat over my make-shift block (it was dry, I didn't wet the hat or anything) and left the house for a couple of hours. When I got back, I removed it and re-bashed it. Voila! The left-side taper was gone!

Ya gotta love the home made remedies. I do stuff that way a lot.

Oh, you should see how stupid the newspaper/masking tape block looks... I'm sure a lot of people here would laugh at the site of it.

...but it did get the job done. The taper was gone and the hat looks great (well, in my opinion).

I'll try posting pics as soon as I can. I tried using a mirror, but the camera's focus light kept on fooling the camera's focus. All I got were blurred images. The fact that my camera's quite big (prosumer cam - it's in between a point-n-shoot and a DSLR) makes it hard for me to just extend it in front of me and snap pics.

I finally got to have my picture taken with my hat on.

...well, I was still the one who took 'em via the timer setting (I actually forgot about that feature!).

Here they are:



Indy and Willie Scott! hehehe... That's my 4yr-old daughter.

Nice hat and beatiful daughter, Fenris!

I'm going to pick up a Christys in burma for my plane travelling hat. I'll have a couple of beaver hats for inclimate weather and a couple of rabbit hats for when it's sunny.

Great pics, Marco! Thanks for posting them! Hope your hat will shrink as desired.

I actually had a hard time taking those shots. A lot of shots were ruined due to my wife, her sister and my daughter trying to tickle me while I was posing in front of the camera.

So for my solo shot, that was quite an effort trying to keep still. A lot of the shots had my face off-cam or laughing like a madman. Somehow my solo shot came out like I was glaring at the camera or trying to hold down a F@rt. Hahaha!

fort? Hold down the fort?

Hehehe... That's an A. But I'm sure you knew that.

I was browsing through themovieshop.com and found this:



http://www.themovieshop.com/Indiana-Jon ... Fedora-Hat

It's a wool felt... is this a Christy's?

I have that hat, decent enough for a wool felt. Theres no mention of it being a Christys anywhere on the hat or the movieshop, it could well be though.

Just throwing a note in here my Christy's project with shots of the hat is in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44705&start=0

rover smith wrote:I have that hat, decent enough for a wool felt. Theres no mention of it being a Christys anywhere on the hat or the movieshop, it could well be though.

My best guess (and it is just that, a guess) is that the same factory which makes the Christy's hat also makes this hat.

I emailed them and asked if it was a Christy's and they replied that they themselves manufacture the hat. So I think you're right that it comes from the same factory.

It is my understanding that the Movie Shop hat is the same hat as the Christy, and if you order from Christy you will save some money.

Actually, I've been meaning to buy another hat so that I could rotate them. I really like the look and feel of the Christy's I got from you but I'm also considering the Akubra Fed IV because of it's durability.

Honestly, I think the Christy's looks a lot better compared to the Fed IV's I've seen in pics. I've seen a close up pic of the Fed IV and the felt looks kinda fuzzy... not as smooth as the Christy's. The only reason I'd buy the Fed IV would be if I'm gonna wear it during the rainy season (which is around July to September... give or take a few weeks).

Anyway, here are other pics of my Christy's:


Street scene.


New Year's day by the pool.


On my niece's stuffed bear with my brown denim jacket (non-Indy).


My Christy's with the rest of my Indy stuff

I think the more I wear it, the more it gets better... Thanks, Texan Scott!!!

I've got to say, that location you picked for your Street Scene looks VERY well suited to stand in for the Streets of Cairo.

ALL great photos, fenris! Good job!

The Christy's really seems to be shaping up for you! Pleased to hear it!

Most of the UK is covered in snow at the moment and tempertures are the lowest they've been here for years.

I've misplaced my woolly cap, so I've been wearing my Christy's Adventurer to work on the daily commute for the last week. Previously been far too self-concious about wearing a Fedora on crowded Buses, Trams and Trains, but I'm kind of getting used to it...and it doesn't look incongrous. In fact as the week has gone on I've noticed more people wearing feds and similar hats.

Yeah, yeah. I know "this thread is useless without pictures"...I'll see what I can do later.

Thus far left the 10' Joe Strain at home...but there are some fellow commuters I'd like to use it on !

PaulW wrote:I've misplaced my woolly cap, so I've been wearing my Christy's Adventurer to work on the daily commute for the last week. Previously been far too self-concious about wearing a Fedora on crowded Buses, Trams and Trains, but I'm kind of getting used to it...

Thus far left the 10' Joe Strain at home...but there are some fellow commuters I'd like to use it on !

I'd like to see some video of a ten foot whip being used on a crowded bus!

PaulW wrote:Thus far left the 10' Joe Strain at home...but there are some fellow commuters I'd like to use it on !

Some even deserve a Webley, to be "used" on them.
Looking forward to see pictures in the snow

scottyrocks6 wrote:

PaulW wrote:I've misplaced my woolly cap, so I've been wearing my Christy's Adventurer to work on the daily commute for the last week. Previously been far too self-concious about wearing a Fedora on crowded Buses, Trams and Trains, but I'm kind of getting used to it...

Thus far left the 10' Joe Strain at home...but there are some fellow commuters I'd like to use it on !

I'd like to see some video of a ten foot whip being used on a crowded bus!

..as a garrotte ....

Just for the sake of curiosity, I've read through this thread again and noticed a few people commenting that the Christys might use a little smaller sizing than other hats. For example, I normally wear a 61 in an Akubra. Does the Christys run true to size or would a 62 be a better bet?

crismans wrote:Just for the sake of curiosity, I've read through this thread again and noticed a few people commenting that the Christys might use a little smaller sizing than other hats. For example, I normally wear a 61 in an Akubra. Does the Christys run true to size or would a 62 be a better bet?

From the one I had, I needed to go up a size.

Erri wrote:Some even deserve a Webley, to be "used" on them.

If you've ever been to my country's capital and tried driving a car here, that would be your exact sentiments!

A lot of my friends who live in the US or some other foreign country and come here for a visit cannot imagine how I can drive around. They compare Manila traffic to a demolition derby.

fenris wrote:

Erri wrote:Some even deserve a Webley, to be "used" on them.

If you've ever been to my country's capital and tried driving a car here, that would be your exact sentiments!

I can imagine it's a bit like Naples here... but we're digressing

Is the Adventurer comparable to Todd's Uptowner in any way?

In terms of what....durability? I would suspect the Uptowner would be more durable than the Christy's, which is apparently dry blocked and prone to shrinkage. But the Uptowner simply hasn't been around long enough for anyone to say definitively, IMHO.