Hat shapers

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 3:06 pm

http://www.hatshapers.com/Product%20Pag ... fedora.htm

Has anybody seen these before? They are made of plastic. I am wondering if filling them with bondo (if necessary) will give a cheap hat block. There do not seem to be individual sizes - just ranges though...

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 4:58 pm

Yup! Rick, I posted this a few months back. http://www.indygear.com/community/forum ... ht=plastic

It's good to bring it up again, though. For the price it seems very reasonable. I have thought about getting one from time to time.

I am curious to see what they look like. I would like to know how to overcome the taper without bondo. Then, you would have a good product to work with.

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Fri May 27, 2005 2:07 pm

I bought and received this block. Hat Shapers is excellent to work with. It is not perfect yet, but it is way better than a drastically tapered hat. My first few hats went on sweatband and ribbon included and came out great.

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Fri May 27, 2005 3:33 pm

Sure. Probably will not be until tomorrow. I will have one that I reblocked and one still on the block that I will be spraying with water repellent. Can't beat the price...

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Fri May 27, 2005 4:08 pm

ClintonHammond wrote:Maybe this is a dumb question, but wouldn't one of those hat shapers be the perfect place to 'store' your hat when you weren't wearing it?

Not dumb at all. I suppose it could work if the hat was the almost exactly the right size. I have only done two hats so far and they had to be stretched a bit to go over the block. That won't happen unless they are wet. Maybe it would be a good idea to dry your hat on one of these after you get caught in the rain. The hat will not dry as fast as a wood (or bondo) block since absolutely none of the moisture can be absorbed by a plastic block. The first hat felt dry until I pulled it off and then you could feel it was still damp underneath.

(The fiberglass stinks like heck, too. ) I am not advocating this method yet as I have no experience. It looks promising and Carol from Hat Shapers.com was fantastic to work with. More to come...

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Sat May 28, 2005 7:33 pm

Okay, here they are. These hats are both thin beaver felts - very similar in feel and appearance. The one on the left, I blocked a week and a half ago. The one on the right has been on the block for 5 days. It feels dry, but what is the hurry?

In hindsight, I should have had a higher spot to place the camera. I have it resting on my barbeque grill and I am kneeling on the deck like an idiot. The reason I say this is that my head is tilted back a bit making the hat look a bit shorter than it really is.

I really like the side view. I think it looks promising.

As you can see the block is slightly tapered and I may adjust this a bit.

When I took this hat from the block, it was still wet as the plastic tends to hold the moisture. That is the real reason I am keeping it on the block so long.

I am contemplating drilling tiny holes all over the shaper to allow faster drying times. I do not know at what temperature this plastic will melt. I would like to gently heat it and see if it can radiate to the hat. Plenty of time to experiment, but that is about all I have for you guys for now.

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Sat May 28, 2005 10:17 pm

Thats looks really good!

Dakota Hurly · Post by **Dakota Hurly** » Sun May 29, 2005 2:17 am

hmm....

Scandinavia Jones · Post by **Scandinavia Jones** » Sun May 29, 2005 6:40 am

I had a project going on with Chuck at Hatshapers last year - also had a couple of prototype blocks sent to me for evaluation. Haven't heard from him in some time, though.

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Sun May 29, 2005 8:27 am

Pagey wrote:Thanks for the pics Rick. It looks pretty good. I was thinking about getting one with the added brim form to help keep the curl in the brim. Just out of interest - what hat size do you wear and which size block did you buy?

I generally wear a 7 1/4, but found that to be only a guideline. I got the large block, but I swear the sizes were different on the website when I ordered. I remember the largest block still being too small, but I was going to bondo it up to get the right size. After speaking to Hat Shapers, I was told they may be able to make one slightly larger so I ordered it right away. It turns out that this block is perfect if I leave the sweatband on, otherwise, it would be a bit small when I sewed it back in.

While I recognize that it is not a perfect block, that is because there is only one person here with the perfect block.