I just got this vintage green Akubra Squatter on e-bay. My first tight telescope pork pie. Notice how the pork pie shaping bulges out the crown sides all around the top. Since sadly, this hat has too much front and back taper, I've top bashed it sideways to demonstrate. Note that the bulge remains, and you get the extreme Raiders backtilt! -In other words, free backtilt without gainig side taper! ..What you have with a pork pie is a MUSHROOMED hat! If this pork pie were a stove pipe, the crown's circumference would be greater at the top than in the middle! And that's a permanant fact , the felt doesn't shrink and pop back if you open crown it. :idea:
Last edited by 3thoubucks on Mon Dec 19, 2005 7:40 am, edited 11 times in total.
I'm not sure if I agree the Raiders fordora was a modified pork pie, but I have to say after following 3thou's experiments, a pork pie seems like a great base to make a Raiders fedora!
Good point Marc. But the reason I call it "vintage" is that the current Squatter is taller, more tapered and not a "tight" telescope. I know because I bought one about 7 months ago. So, my hat may only be a year old, before the block changed, for all I know. It doesn't seem to be very old. .O.K., here's an Akubra Pastoralist advertised as "Brand New" on our favorite auction site. It's pretty much the same block as my Squatter, but with "Imperial" quality felt instead of "Superfine". It has the same bulge around the top of the crown! (This hat looks stovepipe, but that's an illusion! look at the objets in the background and how they are tilted- I almost bought this one too before I figured that out.) Here's the picture of my hat that was on e-bay.
I posted this in Fedora's thread this week The Forrestal hat, it hasn't even been turned yet, so it's still fresh. It's even green! What the HECK is going on in that front bash? Maybe it's a Pork pie trying to be a pork pie again? This is someone's avatar, so it's tiny. A converted pork pie loves to dent here, as you can see. ...And I just noticed the line/bump entering the left side of that little b&w bash. What could that be???
As far as that back dent goes, I have a couple vintage fedoras with felt so soft that dents like that can practically be blown in. If I handle my mercury felt AB from the back, this happens. Keep truckin', 3Thou, because I'm always interested in your theories, whether I subscribe to them or not!
Since sadly, this hat has too much front and back taper, I've top bashed it sideways to demonstrate. Note that the bulge remains, and you get the extreme Raiders backtilt! 
-In other words, free backtilt without gainig side taper! ..What you have with a pork pie is a MUSHROOMED hat! If this pork pie were a stove pipe, the crown's circumference would be greater at the top than in the middle! And that's a permanant fact , the felt doesn't shrink and pop back if you open crown it. :idea:
Here's the picture of my hat that was on e-bay. 
The Forrestal hat, it hasn't even been turned yet, so it's still fresh. It's even green! What the HECK is going on in that front bash? Maybe it's a Pork pie trying to be a pork pie again? 
This is someone's avatar, so it's tiny. A converted pork pie loves to dent here, as you can see. ...And I just noticed the line/bump entering the left side of that little b&w bash. What could that be??? 
