Club Obi Wan

I'm not all that proud to say that i am currently sporting a DP fur-felt fedora. I bought this before i found this site. oops. I am saving for an AB but that takes awhile. So for now I wear my "offical" Indy hat everyday.

Sooo... I followed in IndyFalco's footsteps and rebashed my lid to the best Raiders shape i believe it can hold. The hat seemed to be getting really "fuzzy" so last night i gently wiped it counter-clockwise with 600 grit sandpaper. (for 45 minutes) A lot of fuzz balls appeared and fell off.

After all was said and done, that hat came out alot smoother and softer than it was when i bought it. Also it slightly lighted the color giving it that oh so nice "i've been wearing the s*** out of this!" look.

Now if someone could tell me how to get photos up on this site i'll post some. IMO the best DP yet! (Thanks to IndyFalco and this site)

Use one of the hostingservices on the internet - I use http://www.servimg.com because it's free and very userfriendly...

When you have uploaded the picture to your hostingservice just copy the URL which it provides, to your post and viola - pics in your post

www.photobucket.com works great as well.

gently brushing the hat with 600 grit sandpaper in a CCW direction is not effective.....but perhaps i am thinking too much of raw hat bodies. i'm not familiar with DP felt but perhaps all you need is a good hat brush.

when i do my pouncing, i'm typically watching TV or listening to music as i sand the felt as if it were wood....back and forth, back and forth....quickly and with alot of elbow grease. it takes me about 1 hour to do the hat....say 45 minutes on the top and 15 minutes on the bottom brim..............man, i wish i had a machine to do that

as i sand the felt as if it were wood....back and forth, back and forth....quickly and with alot of elbow grease.

The best way is to sand in long strokes, with the grain. Like you were finishing a fine piece of wood. That is, sand with the grain.

On the bodies that I use, the finer grits, really just polish the fur, and not something that I want to do. I prefer a dead finish, but a true dead finish involves smoking the hat, which also gets rid of any mottle. But with that said, we are not used to the odor of smoke, and many would find it undesirable. Back in the old days, everything smelled of smoke anyways, so it was not a bother. Times have changed.

When sanding, or pouncing, you don't want to sand to the core. The core of felt hats is not as dense as the outer layer. This is because the felting machines, "felt" from the outside. So, the outer layer is denser than the inner core. If you sand down to the core, you will have a much more unstable hat, in so far as tapering and shrinkage goes. The core is not felted as well as the outside.

Years ago, I wanted to thin a western body down, and used 150 grit to thin it down. I ruined that hat!! Glad, it was mine and not someone else's. Trial and error is the best teacher. I have had alot of both! These days, I am not intimidated by any of the steps used in making a hat. But that was NOT always the case early on. This hatmaking is loads of fun, and I still love seeing a raw body morh into a hat. But, each run of felt can vary from the last. And, you have to learn how to work each run, as some require different grits to get a good hat. As you get more hats under you belt, you will notice the variation in bodies from the same factory. I always figured it was employee turnover that causes it. Some require little pouncing, but others require much more, with various grits to get the desired outcome. Fedora

Fedora wrote:On the bodies that I use, the finer grits, really just polish the fur, and not something that I want to do. I prefer a dead finish, but a true dead finish involves smoking the hat, which also gets rid of any mottle. But with that said, we are not used to the odor of smoke, and many would find it undesirable. Back in the old days, everything smelled of smoke anyways, so it was not a bother. Times have changed.

How does this "smoking the hat" work? I am curious because some people here reported smelling smoke when they opened the hatbox.

Do you use this method at all?

Regards, Geert

There used to be a link (here somewhere maybe) about an Italian hat maker still doing it the old way, which was smoking the hats as a final process to 'deaden' the felt, which if I understand correctly stops the tapering effect of the felt..........I know I read that here, right fellas?!?!? AND ladies( HI STELLA!!).......

I could be wrong, but I believe by "smoking" the hat, Fedora's referring to the process by which they douse the hat in alcohol of some kind and light it up. The fire burns for something like a split second and then runs out of fuel. When it dies (very quickly I might add), it has consumed some of the loose hairs and leaves a very smooth hat. -M

I thought he was referring to that, but I always heard of that as "lighting the hat", so I wasn't sure if this was the same proces.

Regards, Geert

Sorry i haven't got pics up yet. I've decided to hit it again using "Fedora"'s method. I'll keep ya posted. But seriously how could i go wrong with advice from the best!

Looking forward to seeing the pics

oak, if you're reading this.......how do you do your pouncing?

i wish there was something electronic out there that could help me get a professional finish. i tried a finishing sander (the one with a triangular head) and i find it doesn't do as good of a job as my 10 digits can.

would an orbital sander work?

I would never go back and forth sanding a hat. Just like Steve stated about. You want to keep everything going in the direction of the nap. The same way you would brush a hat, you would pounce a hat. The only thing I would go back and forth with is the edge of the brim.

thanks my friend. i will try that this weekend ;-)