COMING! - April 2006!

[3thoubucks]

Here's a floppy Tonak I reblocked on my own total stovepipe block. Crown height is nearly 6 inches. I used up the brim, but this is about the crown. I've tightly pinched it into a pork pie (both folds), no steam or water, and it's going to sit in my closet for 3 months, like the Raiders hat sitting on a shelf in Herbert Johnson's untill Deborah N. selected it. Then I shall unfold it and see what kind of permanent DISTORTION has been imparted, and what kind of Raiders crown I get with bashing. It's a week old now, and it took a couple days for this distortion to set in. I have been talking about there being a pork pie block, but hand formed seems likely. I say that because the lines on the Raiders hat look thin and sharp, while the lines on my block formed Akubra Pastoralist were rounded and dull edged. The pork-pie-ing has put reverse taper in the sides and taper front and rear.

[binkmeisterRick]

Wow, Thou, it'll be interesting to see what you come up with on this one. I've had one or two porkpies I turned into "regular" fedoras before (one being an old beaver blend Steve reblocked into an Indy lid for me) and there was a line all the way around the hat where the original telescope bash was. There wasn't a dent left per sae, but there was a light discoloration line around the mark left behind from the original bash. (This shows up on my second reconfigured porkpie, too.)

I guess I'd have a hard time believing they'd use a hat with these kinds of marks left on it. I'd also expect to see the line show up more obviously in other places on the hat, too. Still, I think what you're doing is great and shows your determination to find out the truth about the Raiders hat. Good luck!

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