First, let give give a little praise to Steve Delk for his customer service. It was my own ignorance about hats and sizing that stuck me with an Indy hat by a different maker that really didn't fit well or look good on me. I contacted Steve and told him about it, showed him pictures, gave measurements and we kinda used that hat hat as what not do to. I was afraid that this was all going to be a terrible bother to him and that he surely would rather just take my order, make the hat, and be done. I didn't want to be some nit-picky, whiny customer, but at the same time I didn't want to end up with another less-than-stellar hat. Well, Steve assured me this was not the case at all. He said I was no bother and that my $250 bought me all the time neccessary to get a hat on my head that I would be absolutley happy with. And I think we succeeded.
My long-oval Indy fedora wasn't perfect right out of the box. I had to tweak it a little to get it like I wanted and what I thought would look best on me. The off-center pinch and top dent weren't working for me, so I popped them out and made them semmetrical and also deeper. The brim was pretty flat and floppy so I took some time to give it some curl on the sides and a strong turndown in the front. I found the soft beaver felt reacted well to a little light steaming to shape. If I had one complaint, it would be that I asked for my initials stamped into the sweatband – JVR. I got JR. I really like the V. Not really worth complaining about, though.
As for the size, when I first tried on the hat it dropped all the way to my ears. I assumed Steve was allowing room for shrinking but that seemed like an awful lot. Now I have a couple pieces of foam in the back of the sweatband and have already had to switch one out for a smaller piece because the hat had in fact gotten tighter. Time will tell if it will eventually shrink enough that I don't need any inserts, but for now it's a very comfortable, snug fit and the long-oval shape is perfect for my head. Even Wilma's leftover winds didn't knock it off my head, though I did pull it down to my ears just to be sure. I can pick this hat up and put it on my head and it fits perfectly and comfortably every time without needing to check a mirror or anything to see if it looks good. This is the hat I've wanted most of my life. Thank you Steve for this beauty, and thanks to all of you on this list who turned me on to Adventurebuilt.
Justin
), and is quite 'comfortable' in working with folks with heads like ours.
Welcome to the AB club. 
](./images/smilies/Indy_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
Here, let me TURN THAT FOR YOU... 