Club Obi Wan

My Fed IV Deluxe (in dark brown) came this past Tuesday, but nobody was home so it went back to the post office where I picked it up Wednesday.

(If it weren't for that fact, it would have been exactly 3 days from order time to delivery.. ok, not exactly 3 days, subtract a few hours to about 2 and 6/8ths of a day. Still incredible from down under to the Northeast U.S)

At first I was apprehensive about bashing it - first because of the stiffness, second because I never ever bashed a hat before - then when I got around to lightly misting the hat with water, the process (thanks to the guide at http://adventure-realm.com/raidersbash.html) became more natural, and now I feel as if I could bash any hat.

I find that the cardboard thing that goes inside the hat when packaged for shipping makes a decent (and cheap) hat stand.

pics [thumbnails, click for full photo at your own risk]:















I followed that website above for a Raiders style bash, but don't know how raiders-ish it came out, what do you think? If not raiders, what movie style does this best follow in your opinion(s)?

Looks great!

great color and bash congratulations

I have a fed IV too. they're great. I'dd say make the front crease a bit higher and all the creases a lot tighter for that Raiders look.
this is how mine came out, but everyone has their own take on what makes a Raiders bash.

That bash is looking pretty good.

Its pretty amazing how tight of a front pinch you can get on a Fed IV, the pinch i have on mine is razor sharp tight, and i did it mostly dry, i had to wet my fingers to get the top part really tight, but everything else naturally did it.

These are great hats, all around solid, and for the price they can't be beat. Well at least in my book...i own three now.

I think the pinch height is perfect, just tighten
the pinch a little further down.
but really the bash looks astounding as is, just
not a perfect Raiders bash.

and work with that brim.

very very nice buddy!

thecoolmiester wrote:I think the pinch height is perfect, just tighten
the pinch a little further down.
but really the bash looks astounding as is, just
not a perfect Raiders bash.

and work with that brim.

For some reason I am having trouble getting the pinch to hold further down from where it is, so I'll leave it be (lest I want to put a hole in it prematurely) for now.

For my first bash, I'm pretty happy, especially since only minor tewaks are needed at this point to bring it to a (or at least as close as I Can get it to) a raiders bash.

EDIT: Fixed up the pinch a little (still a little damp):



(old on left, new on right)




Now how can I better work the brim?

The best way to work the brim is with your hands! If you're trying to curl it, take a spray bottle of water and dampen the brim. Then play with the brim in your hands until it's shaped how you want it and let it dry. If you're like me, though, I always curl and play with the brim of my hats, so after a while they just stay tat way anyhow.

binkmeisterRick wrote:The best way to work the brim is with your hands! If you're trying to curl it, take a spray bottle of water and dampen the brim. Then play with the brim in your hands until it's shaped how you want it and let it dry. If you're like me, though, I always curl and play with the brim of my hats, so after a while they just stay tat way anyhow.

That's what I'm doing, curling the brim but dry, don't want to risk over-wetting the brim even though I am using a spray bottle and have some degree of control (I hope).

Don't worry about over wetting the brim. Heck, rainstorms are the best time to work on shaping your hat! Seriously, it's okay to get the brim damp. I find it's the easiest part of the hat to bash.

BEFORE on top, AFTER on bottom, for pinch and brim changes.






Closer to a proper Raiders bash?

Looking sharp indeed.
Did you "turn" it at all?

Also, you should throw this up over at the Fed IV Display thread (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28726&start=1100). You'll have lots of cheerleaders!

B

Bartram wrote:Looking sharp indeed.
Did you "turn" it at all?

Also, you should throw this up over at the Fed IV Display thread (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28726&start=1100). You'll have lots of cheerleaders!

B

Already did, the thread hasn't been responded to in days, so that's why I posted it here.

I originally tried to do the turn, didn't get the hang of it - I think, but I could be wrong, since the pinch looks off center when looking at the hat from the direct front, unturned. (That is, if I got the idea of "the turn" right at all to begin with).

Nice.
I followed this guy's tutorial when I turned my Fed (http://www.vessillologia.it/Raidersbash ... torial.htm). It was helpful indeed.

Sorry about leaving you hanging at the Fed display thread. Glad you got our attention here.

Best,
B

Bartram wrote:Nice.
I followed this guy's tutorial when I turned my Fed (http://www.vessillologia.it/Raidersbash ... torial.htm). It was helpful indeed.

Sorry about leaving you hanging at the Fed display thread. Glad you got our attention here.

Best,
B

IIRC, pretty much the same tutorial that I used (different link - reposted somewhere I guess), I used a spray bottle of water instead of steam though for the whole thing.

Right on!
You got good results.

Best,
B

I shaped mine without water or steam. When I was happy with it I steamed it as it was to fix the shape.

enigmata_wood wrote:I shaped mine without water or steam. When I was happy with it I steamed it as it was to fix the shape.

That's an interesting idea, my original idea was to dry-bash the whole thing, but I had trouble getting started without the whole thing coming out wrong - mostly due to me never bashing a hat before - then the issue of whether or not it'd stay bugged me into using water... then my fear of completely messing it up made me take a step back and... well, the results came out pretty good luckily.