Club Obi Wan

I saw a new Mythbusters "coming show" spot tonight, and Adam was wearing what looked like a dark brown Akubra Bushman? ---- Here's video of my newest Bushman. It's fairly vintage and has softer felt than a new one from David Morgan. I didn't trim the ribbon edged brim, change the crown ribbon, sand it thinner or fold the sweat, and I only turned it about 2/3 inch. ( I've abandoned the 2 inch turn) There's a little bit of sweat stuffing just behind my ears, and it has a sewn pleat in the front dent. The front of the crown has been transitioned into brim just under a quarter inch, so the sweat is detatched in front. .... This hat can produce a pretty good Raiders crown. ...My confession- I've always gone a size big or small, thinking Ford's hat had to be wierd in this way, but this hat is actually my size, for the first time. I always knew my size was 7 1/4, since the 1960's. This is a 58. Bushmen run a little smaller than Federations. They have less taper- less dome and less height. http://www.raidershat.com/PIC_0146.AVI

I don't care, Raiders or not, that is a fine looking hat! I love the wide brim.

Kind regards,
Indy

I agree Indy Magnoli, I like this old hat as is, and won't be altering it any further. It has a unique liner, and smells strongly and pleasantly of ... bacon.? ... Here's Adam's darker Bushman. I don't think it's as dark as a Fed Deluxe's "Loden" brown. ....... I've got to say, The Raiders hat might have had this block. It has more front and back taper than an AB, but it might still be in the running. I read both Adam's and Jamie's bios at Mythbusters. They both worked on Star Wars 1 and 2, and live near George Lucas's Ranch and ILM . Adam may have acquired some inside info on the Raiders hat, ...... who knows?

3thoubucks wrote:They both worked on Star Wars 1 and 2, and live near George Lucas's Ranch and ILM

That's right where I live, in Lucas Valley in Marin County, CA (not named after George Lucas, by the way). I wonder where he lives here?...KC

Nice Bushman, 3k! I've been thinking of getting a Bushman for a while. Heck, I've been thinking of getting a LOT of things for a while!

thats got a unique style of her own. nice work $3K....its as if you've "fedora-ized" an outback hat. it looks good on you for sure

3K, did you notice that Morgan has a 360° image of the Bushman on his site? As it turns you can see those funny stretch marks that all your Akubras came with.

Both my Bushman have the marks, Whiskeyman. ..... Kapaloni Craig, someone found the front gate to the Lucas Ranch and posted a pic at Indyfan.com a few years ago, but the Indyfan Vault has been down lately. . Here's the fedora Adam wore in the very first episode. Click "preview clip" http://shopping.discovery.com/product-58347.html

You can get a Bushman without eyelet vents and with the nice grosgrain ribbon (standard on Australian models) from Hats Direct if you ask for one. Takes a little longer, but the price is the same. Right now (April) is supposed to be the best time to ask for special orders like this.

Russ, they show the Drover on the Hats Direct website, but I don't see the bushman like on the David Morgan site. Do you have to specifically ask for a Bushman, or is it somewhere on the HD site? If you look at the two, the Bushman (on DM site) has a bound brim and no vents, just the eyelet where the chin strap hooks on the inside.

Yep, I actually bought a grey Bushman from Hats Direct with no eyelets and it came recently after a few months' wait.

The David Morgan version also has no vent eyelets but it does have chinstrap hooks and a thinner ribbon, which I didn't want. The Australian version has the wider traditional grosgrain ribbon and no chinstrap hooks -- but it does have vent eyelets which I don't want. Both versions have a bound brim.

Hats Direct can get you a custom (ie. no eyelets) Bushman special ordered straight from the Akubra factory, but you do have to ask for it by name since it's not displayed anywhere on the web site -- and you have to specifically request one with no vent eyelets since they are standard on the Australian version.

A picture is worth a thousand words:




It comes open crown, and was extremely stiff at first, but after a few days of wearing and fiddiling -- and no water at all -- it became so soft I can't put it on my head without inadvertantly putting in bashes.

Nice, Russ! That tells me what I want to know. It's good to know you can get something that's not necessarily on the Hats Direct website, even if you had a little wait. Ron's great to work with and provides great customer service. What did you end up paying after shipping, if you don't mind my asking?

It was 137.40 AUD. They didn't charge my card until the order was finished.

Thaat's a Great looking hat, Russ! .. Nice, original, bash. ......... Here's my older Bushman compared to a Regular Fed, both size 58. The crown starts to taper half way up on the Fed. ... The trade-off is height

That Bushman has the best Raiders block shape of any factory hat to date!! Now, what Ron should do is to get that block used for the Federations. It might need to be 1/4 of an inch taller, than maybe not. I am so impressed by what 3M$ did with that stock Bushman.

My first thought when I saw this video posted above was, darn, maybe there was an Akubra connection with the Raiders fedora!! One thing is for sure. The Bushman has the better block shape for the Raiders look. Fedora

Sort of ironic we're getting back to the Bushman again, isn't it Fedora/_?

These two guys were the pioneers of the Akubra Raiders/Federation hat, and were using Bushman Akubra's to create the hats back on their own in the early 90's.

Regards! Michaelson

Hey Fedora, check your Inbox. I PM'ed you five days ago.

Fedora is right, it could be a bit taller. My Bushman crown is about 5 1/4 inches open crown, and the dome starts somewhere around 4 1/8 inches.

3thoubucks obervations and comparison photos of the Fed and Bushman are valuable; the Fed is taller, but a lot of that height is in the dome while the Bushman is not as tall and is more squared (less dome). What they need is a crown with the Fed's height and the Bushman's shape.

BTW I have the Fed, an AB and a Bushman all in the same size.

Steve pushed me into the direction of this thread earlier today and I can see why he did so!

That's a MIGHTY Raidersque looking crown there 3kB!!! - I'm impressed to say the least.

Very well done,

Marc

My 2 have 5 1/2 inch crowns. Still, I don't think my top bash is deep enough. Maybe it's just my head shape. .... Thanks Marc. I just won this 38 New Bond street HJ at auction, the brim is short, but I guess that might be the Poet crown. The color and the bow look Raiders. I hope it bahes as well or better than the Bushman.

hey $3K, i was looking at that one too i was tempted alot but as you said, the crown was too short for my like'n.

Unless I can get a 4 1/2 inch front pinch as is, Indiana G, I'll be transitioning the crown into brim in front and will gain some brim width there. That's one reason my Bushman looks good I think. The front of the crown gets steeper, less tapered doing this.

The color and the bow look Raiders.

Same to me - at least from this angle. Any chances for a few closeups of the bow?

Regards,

Marc

I haven't got the hat yet. The cinch might have a ribbon edge on the outside, unlike the Raiders cinch. I can't tell for sure.