Club Obi Wan

I have ONE hat that I really would like to add some snap to, and I CAN'T do it with my hands alone.

I realyl don't want to shell out a bunch of cash for a fancy brim flange that I'll only use once. Are there any homemade remedies?

Some folks just hand curl the brim. But, I find it very frustrating and hard to do. When a hat is flanged, the outermost edge of the brim shrinks. This shrinkage is what actually hold the curl in, not stiffener. And that is why, hand curling a brim generally won't hold unless you load it up with stiffener. Fedora

Honestly, having a brim flange is so worth the $$.
Look around the evil bay and you cna probalby find one.

I use to hand curl my brims. Once I found a flange that was the correct size, I will never do that again.

Dalexs

My dad and I have a woodworking shop and made our own out of some 2.5 in thick cherry. Routed a string line in it and use it to pull or push the felt down onto the bock and also to snap up the brim. We used his Burr King knife grinder to make the profile.

MH

Call me crazy, but if you have another more snappier brimmed hat around, you can use it as a sort of makeshift flange. I hated the flanging or lack there of on the Fed 4, so what I did was pick out one of my vintage hats and use various clips to hold the brim uniformly to the other one after wetting it down.

I've also heard of someone using some sort of cut tubing as a makeshift flange.

If you put sand in a wide diameter pvc pipe and seal the ends off with tape you can apply a heat gun. The pipe will become pliable, just bend it into shape. It still might be a little more circular than what you're looking for though. I made a rush one out of styrofoam that I carved out. It worked all right, but not super great. If I weren't so rushed for time it probably would have been better.