Club Obi Wan

hi all.
like everyone else here, i cant stand taper on my favourite hat.
Me and my girlfriend went to paris in february. we stayd there for a week and when i got back home we sat down to look through the pictures we took while we were there. while looking through pictures i saw something that really hurt my eyes: Taper, my hat has tapered badly though the years and i hadnt even seen it with my own eyes. maybe i'm taper-blind or just didnt want to admit to myself that my hat had started the taper prosess. it was such a beauty when i first got it. there was no taper at all and now this! so i had to do something about it:


my hat in paris:





my hat now:






yup. i blocked the hat myself and now i'm in love with it all over again!
it's almost like it was when i first got it (3 years ago)and that means it will see some more adventures in the future! yeah!


regards


CJ

Chilliana, that is a beautifull Miller! I wish mine was in such great shape, but I managed to wreck it (both of them!) completely. Well done!

Weston

Agreed, that is a primo block job, which I admit, sounds vaguely suggestive, but I stand by it.

Your hat is great Chiliana and so is your own reblock, you animated me to purchase an Miller for myself

thanks guys!:D

high regards


Chiliana

I agree. That is one great hat. I think I told you that many times. Hang on to it. I never thought I would like the YIJ hat but yours looks great.

Yeah - It's interesting how the Indy Miller has inadvertently become the Young Indiana Jones hat of choice and without competition. No one seems to dispute how perfect it is in that regard.

Awesome hat by the way - Makes me toy with the idea of buying one...

okay - call me an idiot - BUT WHAT THE #### IS TAPER?!?

I feel i should know this by now...

On the right you could see something bad TAPER

I'm a strong advocate for everyone owning their own hat-block and maintaining their fedoras and this is exactly the proof I need in convincing everyone else to get on board.

mooniteman - Check the Fedora FAQ at the top of the list - there's all the hat terminology you'll need.
But to answer your question here, a tapered hat is one that the body (or crown) is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top - kind of like this= _/ \_ . The hats most of us Indy nuts prefer is a non tapered hat that has nice straight sides, or even a reverse taper where it actually gets wider or ballons out slightly as it goes up. The TOD hat was notorious for it's taper, especially in the scenes on the plane. Actually, a lot of fedoras have taper naturally, but the the hat everyone prefers here is straight.
Case in point - my 2005 AB had tapered up pretty bad and I sent it to Steve for a reblock. Check the before and after - hard to believe it's the same hat it's so dramatic...
Before - notice from the ribbon to the top of the hat the sides go up at an angle:


After - the sides are nice and straight:

You know, CJ, I have to admit that I think the hat still looks pretty good in your second pic...

i have seen worse, yes, but my hat had gotten some kinda egg-shape taper.

look at this pictures:

Prague 2006


Paris 2008



and now it's back in it's old shape


regards


CJ