Club Obi Wan

I've just recently been looking into what is involved in 'bashing' and 'blocking' a hat to get the indy look..and i had no idea that hats dont always come 'pre-styled' before reading information on these forums.
I just read the faq and tutorial it links to on how to shape the hat...and the guy who did it has a section on trimming the brim.

now it seems to me a very risky thing to do. at least with shaping the hat, i assume you can (sort of) redo it all if you dont get it right or if you screw up? but with trimming it, well....once it's done, you can't go back.

so how many of you have trimmed your hat brim?

I trimmed the brim of my Akubra Federation - it was a bit too "sombrero-like" for my taste. No biggie, really - just trace the cut line with a bit of tailor's chalk (follow the brim outline and you can't go wrong), use a sharp pair of scissors - and a steady hand.
Measure twice, cut once does apply.

I made the dim. cut on a very fine hat of mine. Since I had the block it was originally made on, I traced the shape of the block on a piece of thick cardboard. Then I took a pencil and made another oval, 1.7mm outside the blockshape (for the felt thickness). I cut the oval hole into the cardboard and put the crown through the hole. Then I traced the actual brim onto the carbord, so I had a cardboard with a hole and and an oval tracing. I then cut along the tracing and made a dimensional cut on the cardboard. Finally I put the crown through the hole again and cutted along the sides of my template.

Took a couple of hours all in all, but probably the most secure way to do it without a prof. brim cutter.

Regards,

Marc

My first Akubra came with the brim cut to the wrong dimensions. Narrow front and back with wide sides. I ended up cutting the whole thing down to 2 1/2" and making a Last Crusadout of it. The main advice I would give is to make sure the brim is perfectly flat. Use a warm iron trough a towel if you have to. This will aid in the measuring and cutting.

I trimmed the brim of my Akubra last week. It was a little wide for my face shape.

I have.

Both the Indy look ala Swales with scizzors (sic) and the more refined perfect oval.

My Fed Deluxe is a good width for me. I have not trimmed it.

I did and screwed it up.

Make sure you are VERY careful when cutting.

I got a case of the "yips" (ask a golfer what THAT means) when I was cutting and was stuck with little waves and dips along the edge. I tried to fix it with sandpaper, but it still looks crummy.

It was a perfectly beautiful Adventurebilt. The brim was little too wide for my face. I could have lived with it, but NOOOOO...

You should PM Pagey. He has cut his while he was wearing them! And we all know that he is very good at bashing a hat.

Hemingway Jones wrote:He has cut his while he was wearing them!

For me, that's a formula for disaster.

Hemingway Jones wrote:He has cut his while he was wearing them!

He no nuts, he crazy!

Hemingway Jones wrote:And we all know that he is very good at bashing a hat.

He has the best AB and HJ, I have seen!

I trimmed my Akubra... twice. I took off an eighth inch the first time, but it was still too wide so I took off another eighth. I'm satisfied now!

In Christ,
Shane

I tried it on my PB Borsalino, and screwed it up. Fedoras really do look like they have a wide brim on me - I guess because of my fat head and skinny face. I ended up cutting off too much so it looked like a Blues Bros hat.

I actually am interested in trimmin, but I don't have the courage! I might mess up my beautiful Akubra....

I wouldn't have done it unless the hat was defective to begin with. The demensions were wrong from the supplier. They sent me a new hat, so I experimented with the defective one. I don't know if I would do it again. As for Pagey, well, I think he is a wizard or something. The guy seems to be able to do whatever he wants and it looks great. He has also owned a lot of hats and knows what he is doing.

I suggest, remember one golden rule when you trim - LESS IS MORE!

It's amazing how little needs to be trimmed to effect the look of the hat.

A gulp of something medicinal beforehand helps, too. But not too much or you might end up with a pork-pie hat.



Al

I have never "trimmed" a brim. I have sanded plenty. Over a period of days untill I think it's just right. I haven't gone for the "sloppy Swales corners", but I guess I could reproduce them using sand paper, if I tried.

I just cut the brim of my Fed Deluxe. I took away 1/8 of an inch all around. But it still looks a little too wide for my small face from the front view. So maybe I´ll take away a little more from the sides. For me cutting the brim is not a problem.

The other thing I think about trimming a hat brim is, you may find that after a little while you get used to a hat and decide the brim doesn't need trimmed after all

If you cut off the felt, obviously you can never put it back on - so taking a bit of time to get used to the look of a hat is important too, I think. If after a few days you decide it really does need trimmed, then its no problem.

Regards

Al

Wow Tone. You dug this thread out of the vault.

I did with my Camptown. Used the part of the method described in the Indy Gear Fedora section and part of Johnnydy's method. It came out great. Patience is the key.

Cheers!

Dan

Well, if you look at the Swales cut, it was done by hand and had it's "imperfections." I trimmed my Akubra about 1/8 of an inch around and yes, patience is the key. I also sanded down any rough transitions. I think it came out fine, though the hat is now rests someone else's head. The problem with the Akubra brim is that it's a dimensional cut, but the actual brim size is exactly the same on a 6 7/8 hat as it is for a 7 7/8 hat. In order to get the right proportions, you need to have a hat size somehwere in the middle of that. Why Akubra didn't trim the brim proportionally with each hat size is beyond me, though it probably has something to do with the cost factor. Still, the Akubra is a great hat and served me well before I got my AdventureBilts.

bink

It depends on your face shape and what suits you. I left my fed deluxe for about 2 years without trimming and I was never totally satisfied. I then trimmed 3mm off the entire edge with a hobby knife. Gave it a sand and it looked a million times better.