Club Obi Wan

Hey folks -- I've lurked here for years, but this is my first time posting.

So, I want to get some input from you guys. I've owned the hat pictured below for roughly 18 years. It's a Dorfman-Pacific (manufactured in Stockton, California, according to the sweatband), and I'm pretty sure it's just a cheap wool hat, as it was purchased in a mall department store. As you can see, it's got no lining on the inside, it's got a teardrop bash, and it's pretty beat up and worn in. I know my best option for a good fedora would be to simply buy a better quality hat -- which I will eventually, but that's beside the point. My question is: Do you think I should bother trying to retool this old thing to look a bit more Indy-ish? I was thinking of rebashing it as described here and possibly replacing the ribbon per Dalexs' ribbon replacement tutorial (though I am a bit nervous about destroying the hat or not being able to replace the ribbon properly). I'd like to hear your thoughts, as I am rather attached to my old "Indy" hat -- crummy or not, it's been with me for a long time.




EDIT: Not sure the IMG tag is working; just to be safe, here is a link to the aforementioned photos.

Nothing can revive those old DP wool hats. I'd just buy a new hat and make it something that will last. Keep the DP if it has some sort of sentimental value, but reworking it will be frustrating and, more than likely, be unsuccessful.

Dave

i agree. you can only do so much with the block shape that DP uses (even if the hat is fresh off this block and has yet to succumb to any tapering/shrinkage....and it is nowhere near anything that looks like the movie hats.

i would save your time and resources for buying a better hat, if you want a more indyish hat. outside of the indygear world......that's a good hat with a lot of character. why not keep it that way?

Indiana G wrote: why not keep it that way?

Exactly, and if you like it that way it's fine, because it's sad that everyone that it's not an Indy Fan thinks that all the hat's have the same style and "look the same"

If you want a good and affordable Indy hat get an Akubra Fed IV. It is true that actually you can modify a hat in incredible ways (I've seen it with my local hat maker) but you should leave that hat with that unique personality. ;-)

Regards,
-Alfonso

You might want to drop JPDesign a PM and ask him what he'd charge to rebock your hat. I've seen him do sheer magic with these DP wool fedoras before in a reblock when everyone else had given up on them.

Regards! Michaelson

rcs wrote: I'd like to hear your thoughts, as I am rather attached to my old "Indy" hat -- crummy or not, it's been with me for a long time.

Because of your statement here I second Michaelson's advice. The very best hats in my eyes are the ones that have been worn and treasured for a long time and are, in that sense, truly priceless.

DCMJ

She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. -h. solo

That is actually a nice looking hat. I dont think you need to change it at all. However I agree get a new hat that lasts I have had a DP that shrunk two sizes too small and completely warped the brim and that was the only good bit. Now it fits my brother but looks like it has character kinda like yours but smaller. But still it looks good for an adventurers hat.

Being the one who rebashed my DP that you linked to, my advice is this....leave that DP alone and just get a new one. You can get a Akubra Fed IV pretty cheap anyway. Having spent all that time rebashing my DP and replacing the ribbon, it hardly seemed worth it once I bought my Fed IV.

My DP fell off its perch when I was sleeping and I rolled over on it. Six hours later when I'm getting ready to go to work I'm looking for the thing and I find it... Flat as a pancake! Wish I had a picture of it but I'll be danged if I'm going to re-enact it, I just got it looking okay.

I got a fifty adventures look in six hours.

Point is: It's not coming back. It has hella-character now but it is never going to have the same bash. I am still wearing it. I pinch the sides (whaaat? yeah, you heard me) and I get a pretty nice stovepipe. This is, of course, at the expense of the rear taper. The whole kit and kaboodle is looking like a funnel. I'm ready to get a Fed or a Henry.

Here is a short look at the remnants of my first fedora. I'll keep him around. But, man o man, I need to get one the above hats.

Is that a sweat stain on the ribbon?

Dave

It looks almost yellow..(the stain that is)

GARRRR!!! It is.

I sweated through the ribbon and then it turned GREEN!!! Green?!! I posted a what-do-I-do after I got this delightful green smear and i got some good suggestions that unfortunately did not work. I was going to replace the ribbon when I became very aware of just how sub-par the hat is. I love the hat, though I'm ready to move on.

Just for kicks, a short version of how I got the stain.

I draw caricatures at public events and I was contracted to work a baseball stadium. First sit out on the sidewalk for an hour then move in to the stadium. So I faced the setting sun on Salem, Oregon's only 105 degree day last summer. My partner in cartooning was limp like lettuce. I was still trying to charm people into spending money and being a little gregarious. So my pal, in a tired whisper, says: "Kid... Kid you're crazy... you'll wear your *dry throated gulp* yourself out..." and he died right there (he did not.)

Captain Micahtoons wrote:and he died right there

I know wht you could consider those hats, they are comic book accurate!

Still to this day I don't understand why they put the Indiana Jones pin on the hat.

Brody, My pal Charlie did not, of course die. He wanted to. He hates the heat. He's a fedora man too! Tends to like the 50's mini brims though.

Comic book accurate! Sleuth! That is lovely! Made my night.

I enjoy wearing my hat even though it's had the kick crapped out of it. This year I will hang it up. This year I want a Henry.

Ill give DP one thing they sure can take a beating though they never win the battle. I had seen one last night looked like a combo of both hats posted here. The color of the first and the taper of the second. It surprised me more when I discovered that it was the same type as my second DP, which is like the Indy hard hat of DPs. But it was soft which goes to show you that if you work a hat long enough, it could fall apart in your hands. Anyways they were going to get another one when they hit Hollywood Studios. I told them about Federations though so that may be one less DP wearer. Also the reason they put the pin on the hat is the same reason disney puts a picture of captain hook on the captain hook costume: advertisement.

My first hat was a DP. After I got a few more hats and nicer ones too, that old DP sort of faded off into the sunset. I really have no clue where it's at now. Maybe buried in some closet somewhere????