Club Obi Wan

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.

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!

bink