Club Obi Wan

I think it's common sence that AB/AB Deluxe are the best hats you can get today.
I own an AB Deluxe and and HJ of 2005. For me, there's no doubt which one is the better hat ;-)

But how does the Magnoli/AB-HJ compare to all the other brands, e.g. Akubra?
Is this HJ really bad regarding materials and look, is it second best or something in between?

What do you think?

Cheers
HP

But how does the Magnoli/AB-HJ compare to all the other brands, e.g. Akubra?
Is this HJ really bad regarding materials and look, is it second best or something in between?

Since I work these up, along with my partner Marc, I can give you a good insight. The hats are really unstable as received from HJ. But, by reblocking them on the right Raiders block, we stabilize the felt alot more than as received from HJ. If you want felt that really nails the Raiders felt, the HJ has it now. Very soft and floppy, although not the best quality out there. But on par with most of the other major manufacturers. The craftmanship is increased expoentially over the factory HJ as we actually take time when we remake these hats.

I also treat the HJs with mucho water repellent treatment, and that would make it a better hat to get wet, without it shrinking up badly. Yeah, I think I would go out on a limb and say the HJAB is a superiour hat than you could get from HJ. We are better hatters than the hourly employees they use to make the factory HJs. We actually care about the hat we revamp. Fedora

Thank you very much for the answer, Fedora.

I got two more questions:

1)
How does the ABHJ compare to your regular beaver AB regarding bashing? Is it easier to bash or more difficult? Does it require different bashing technics?
The hats are made of different felt, so I guess you get different results...

2)
What about the color? Do you think the ABHJ matches the movie hat?

Cheers
HP

And very nice they are too!

How does the ABHJ compare to your regular beaver AB regarding bashing? Is it easier to bash or more difficult? Does it require different bashing technics?
The hats are made of different felt, so I guess you get different results...

The ABHJ bashes really well, It is very soft felt as Magnoli get them without stiffener. Some of the SABHJ's come alot stiffer than what we make and sell. So, I would put it in the same boat as the softness of the Raiders HJ. The felt is simliar in that respect. It is also easy to get it to bulge like the original Raiders fedoro. You would want to dry bash these HJs from us to keep the steam from relaxing the rabbit felt, and really with the softness of this felt, steam is not needed. And the HJ felt is more springy than the AB felt.

Most of the ABs bash easily too, but not as easy as the HJ. The AB is a much more substantial felt, and would be the hand downs winner if you were gonna take a hat on an adventure. Sometimes you actually have to use a bit of steam on the AB for the front creases and tight Raiders pinch just make the felt more pliable so you can get those deep Raider bashes in the front. I never use steam on any other part of the hat, as it is not needed. But once you wear the AB for a bit, the felt softens up really nice, and those deep dents will stay in even after the stiffener is de-activated.


I personally like the AB HJ. It is the right brand, and while it suffers in the quality of the felt, it really great looking Indy hat for casual wear if you are not gonna have to run through jungles. I think with a the AB treatment, most folks would be satified with what they get, and it is a vast improvement over the stock HJs. Much better put together as I get them unassembled, in pieces. Once that saw my version, they had no qualms abut letting me make their hats better. Fedora

Does Herbert Johnson still sale Indy style fed's?

depends how far you want to interpret 'indy style'. it will be sable brown, with an incorrect coloured ribbon, TOD/LC block, and dimensional cut brim. the bash is incorrect as there is a tear drop crown and the rear is higher than the front on the crown (or it appears that way).

if you buy this, it is nothing like you see in any of the movies and will not appeal to a fan of IJ. you're better off with marc or steve's HJ as i believe both are cheaper and are better quality hats....and they actually look like what ford wore in the movies

What about shaping the brim? Will the ABHJ respond best to steam, water, what?