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Magnoli HJ (arrived...FLATTENED!) - Fed IV comparison

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:50 am
by imagine671
Hey there, everyone,

So, my Magnoli HJ just came back from Steve yesterday. Before I explain the shock I was in upon receiving the hat, let me just say that Steve did an EXCELLENT job re-hauling my Mag HJ. The crown had been noticeably short and I was seeing much more taper in my hat than in the other Mag HJs posted on this site. Through Steve's efforts, the hat is now spot on. No complaints AT ALL!!! The felt is sooo soft, and I love the floppiness of the hat. There's considerably less stiffener in the Mag HJ than in the Fed IV (that may have been a huge understatement). This does not detract from my opinion of either hat, though, as I think they both benefit from their respective qualities. The Fed IV might be able to take a bit more of a beating than the Mag HJ as it seems a bit more robust, if that makes sense. HOWEVER!! I may be in need of retracting that last statement (not in terms of the quality of the Fed), because, as the pictures below illuminate, my Mag HJ took one heck of a beating on its way across the pond and bounced back from its injured state quite well (especially coming from the form of a pancake)! Testament to Steve Delk's skill, I say!

Without any further ado, here are some photos. The first two show you the condition the hat (and box) were in upon receiving the Magnoli HJ (AFTER I popped out the hat - it was completely flattened!) My friends figure it's Royal Mail's fault as opposed to the US Postal Service, as this has happened to them on a number of occasions. I would hate to place the blame on either one, but lets just say the Royal Mail woman was literally pealing out in her van when I opened the door no more than fifteen seconds after the knock! She just pointed at the box at my feet and never looked back! The third photo is of my hand re-shaping of the HJ (I had to steam it - and put it back into its open-crown form) After letting it set open crown, I very quickly steamed it in as close as I could get to a Raiders look before popping it on my head and running out the door for work/university. Might have to do a bit of tweaking. Finally, you'll see the Mag HJ pitted against the Fed IV in an epic set of comparison pictures!! (not really - ha). It's quite funny that these hats arrived one day after the other. I LOVE THESE HATS!! (**The Fed IV has a bit of Fuller's Earth applied, but the reddish tone is its own)

Cheers, everyone!!
-Steve H

Image Image Image

Image Image Image

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:54 am
by binkmeisterRick
:shock: WOW! That's one smooshed hat box!!!! I'm glad it popped back out for you, though if I had a drop and run delivery like that, I would've reported it, just out of poor business practice. Still, the hat rebounded nicely and they both look great!

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:25 am
by WeeMadHamish
I like how the box is quite obviously stamped "FRAGILE." I guess they thought they'd test it.

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:01 am
by morganswift
Well recovered! Both hats look great!

Cheers
Alex

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:02 am
by Fedora
That's the worst one I have seen to date. I think we need to use titanium as a packing crate.

I noticed the crushed hat gave you the telescope crown marks! :D Fedora

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:33 am
by imagine671
Haha. Excellent. I was thinking that actually...the hat got smashed to smithereens, and that's exactly what they did to the Raiders hat (though maybe not to QUITE the same degree. :-P Again, thanks for the hat, Steve...very pleased with it.

-Steve H

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:38 am
by Tron7960
Let's see some before and after pics of you wearing the Magnoli HJ.

hat

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:45 am
by BendingOak
Who knew that the postal service was a indygear fan. They helped with the distressing. :D Hats looks great, thanks for posting.

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:37 am
by Chewbacca Jones
That's why I never mark anything "fragile." :shock:

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:42 am
by imagine671
Per Tron's request, I have provided two photos, profile shots of the Magnoli HJ before and after Steve's re-working (assuming it's the same hat body, which I'm GUESSING it is, but Steve would know for sure). Let me know what you think. I can definitely see a difference, especially in the front and back - and of course in the height (I can now have a deeper center crease than before - I had to compensate for the lower crown height by having a shallow crease before the hat was fixed). Excellent work, Steve!

Image Image
BEFORE & AFTER

Cheers, all!
-Steve H

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:58 pm
by DR Ulloa
A large improvement indeed! Congrats.

Dave

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:16 pm
by Tron7960
Fantastic. Plus the new HJ has more SA hair!

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:49 pm
by IndianaChris711
Tron7960 wrote:Fantastic. Plus the new HJ has more SA hair!
:lol: A good comment there Tron, looking good for the premiere imagine. Glad your hat made it in one piece, my goodness, I guess my box looked opposite to yours, perfect box. The Magnoli HJ, looks great imagine. Glad those postal workers had the guts to distress your hat. :wink: Look good, hat recovered nicely. Maybe I should do that, sit on my hat and then recrease. Got some character there in that hat now. Nice looking hat. :tup:

IndianaChris

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:59 pm
by imagine671
Hey there.

Thanks for all the great comments, guys. Really appreciate it. Ha..."SA hair". That was particularly good. Yeah...I cut it cuz it was getting to be a hassle, plus my girlfriend dropped the not-so-subtle hint that she liked my short hair she'd seen in pictures of me when I was younger. Plus with the premier...Why not?? =)

-Steve H

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:03 pm
by Piker
I'll have to take pics of my Akubra Hat shipping box. Then we can let the members vote on which one is worse!!

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:24 pm
by Tron7960
imagine671 wrote:Hey there.

Thanks for all the great comments, guys. Really appreciate it. Ha..."SA hair". That was particularly good. Yeah...I cut it cuz it was getting to be a hassle, plus my girlfriend dropped the not-so-subtle hint that she liked my short hair she'd seen in pictures of me when I was younger. Plus with the premier...Why not?? =)

-Steve H
Did the same thing myself a couple of weeks back! (well I paid a professional to do it :wink: )

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:32 pm
by theinterchange
I remember your post from when you received the hat initially, and do say that this is an improvement. Not that the other was essentially "bad". Bravo to Fedora for the changes.. and poo on whichever mail service crushed the box. I've never seen one quite that bad. And I send and receive all the time.

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:51 am
by DanielJones
Yoinks!! Well at least it turned out well in the end. Good looking lids!

Cheers!

Dan

New thread?

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 4:46 pm
by mtechthang
Piker wrote:I'll have to take pics of my Akubra Hat shipping box. Then we can let the members vote on which one is worse!!
Yes. I suspect we have all had one (though I admit gladly- I've never had one quite that bad!!). :shock:

I wouldn't go quite so far as to say they "helped" distress the hat but I think it is a testament to 1) Steve's talent at re-working the felt, :D 2) the bashing ability of the hat owner!! 8)

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:23 pm
by imagine671
Cheers for that, mtechthang!! =)