Club Obi Wan

Hi gang,

I received my hat jack from John Penman last week and this is among the absolute must haves for anyone who wants to keep or restore the perfect fit of his hat.

Here's two pictures of a prototype - I'll take pictures of my own, when my wife comes back with the camera.





John improved the hat jack by adding the same amount of taper to the outer edge as you'd usually have on the sweatband and I'm happy that mine has that feature too.

So, why and what? - All leather sweatbands will shrink from sweat and body heat if worn heavily. It depends on the leather how fast or slow this process will take, but it will happen. I've found sheepskin to be the leather that shrinks the fastest, followed by calf, then goat and finally even roo hide will shrink if only given enough sweat and heat. Now, you can get one of these standard stretchers on which you easily overstretch the sweatband by cranking it up and above the original size, thereby creating a front to back taper or you can wet down the leather and wear the hat until it's dry, to make it a little bigger again once it's shrunk. With the first method, you have to be extremely careful not to overstretch the sweatband (especially on very soft hats) and secondly you have to find something to place the stretcher on, while it's inside the hat. If you put the hat on the crown, the weight of the strechter will flatten the crown out. The second method includes some rather unpleasant wear for at least some hours.

With THIS hat jack here however, that's a COMPLETELY different story. You adjust it to your size with the help of a measuring tape, pull the lever so you can easily put it into the crown, then you push the lever back and thereby set the hat jack to your excact size. Thanks to the four "legs" you can now just put it on the table to stand there over night and the next morning, your hat will fit as it did when new!

Never any red mark on your head any more, never any un-comfortable wearing of too tight sweatbands and no need to send in the hat for a sweatband replacement.

I just for the life of me can't figure out why such a tool wasn't invented before, but thanks to John it now is and I cannot recommend getting one enough!

Regards,

Marc

It is awesome! I'm scraping the ol' nickels together to get me one.

Travis

As promised, here's mine:



Ain't it just sooooo cool?

Thanks again John.

Regards,

Marc

Stunning. Makes my current hat jack look like a door prop! Absolute highest marks...And I'm a fabricator as well, so that carries extra weight! Now...About the price.....

Wow,that is beautiful!

I got one as well, and it took me a few minutes to understand the genius involved. With the lever, but also with the legs that will keep the hat off the brim. What a great idea. And why did I not think of this first?

All serious hat wearers should own a hat jack. And it doesn't have to be this one, although I can't see how a better one could be found. Nothing worse than a too tight hat, and that is why back in the day, most men owned some sort of hat jack. Along with shoe horns. Don't see them much anmore either. Fedora

I just thought of this... is it made of cedar?

Man, it's great looking without the hat!!! What's the cost of one of those bad boys?

Ok, I looked it up and although not cheap, I'm sure it worth what he is asking.

I'm revamping to logo on the my hat jacks. It will be the bike and name only.

Tundrarider wrote:

Imahomer wrote:Man, it's great looking without the hat!!! What's the cost of one of those bad boys?

I just checked John's site and prices are listed there. Not sure about the rules on posting prices and such here. It's worth going to John's site again anyway, as he has updated it with more photos and more products!

Chewbacca Jones wrote:I just thought of this... is it made of cedar?

My first thought upon seeing it, was the AB woodcut inscription looks outstanding! If I get a Hat Jack, it will be for my AB Henry, so can I get one with the AB logo like this?

My second thought upon seeing this, was: "Wow...It's made from real cedar!!"

Awesome work, John!!!

Michael

The perfect hat jack is a Penman Hat co. product only. There are only 3 AB hat jacks. i sent one to each Steve and Marc as gifts. 1 I kept for myself.

Ok...a couple of things.

1. Will you please stop making REALLLLY COOL things? I'm not made of money you know, and I still need a whip.

2. You need to slap a patent on that little item you know.

Johnny

Johnny Fedora wrote:Ok...a couple of things.

1. Will you please stop making REALLLLY COOL things? I'm not made of money you know, and I still need a whip.

2. You need to slap a patent on that little item you know.

Johnny

Don't worry that's already taken care of.

BendingOak wrote:

Johnny Fedora wrote:Ok...a couple of things.

1. Will you please stop making REALLLLY COOL things? I'm not made of money you know, and I still need a whip.

2. You need to slap a patent on that little item you know.

Johnny

Don't worry that's already taken care of.

You're done making REALLLLY COOL things?

jnicktem wrote:

BendingOak wrote:

Johnny Fedora wrote:Ok...a couple of things.

1. Will you please stop making REALLLLY COOL things? I'm not made of money you know, and I still need a whip.

2. You need to slap a patent on that little item you know.

Johnny

Don't worry that's already taken care of.

You're done making REALLLLY COOL things?

Never, I was talking about protecting the hatjack

Of course, I was just joking. I cannot wait to see what other kinds of wonderful creations you can come up with next.

I just checked John's site and prices are listed there.

Ah, yes...there it is! Well worth it for this fine quality item.....Well done!

WOW! What a beautiful piece of equipment. John, you're a legend.

I'll eventually need about 9 or 10 of these...

PLUS, I'll only ever order future hat stands from Johgn (as NO other Hat Stand seems to compare to those Penman Hat Stands...)

Y'know, I'm starting to feel like I should be "Registered" with Penman Hats (like a newlywed - or "soon to be" wed) except on my Birthday, Wedding Anniversary, Father's Day, etc I could just tell family members "Oh, well I'm registered with Penman Hats... I think there's still a few Hat Jacks up for grabs... you can order me one through the website..."

Hmmm...
Ain't a half bad idea...

I knew we shouldn't have done our wedding registry at Macys!

Dave

Mitch LaRue wrote:I'll eventually need about 9 or 10 of these...

PLUS, I'll only ever order future hat stands from Johgn (as NO other Hat Stand seems to compare to those Penman Hat Stands...)

Y'know, I'm starting to feel like I should be "Registered" with Penman Hats (like a newlywed - or "soon to be" wed) except on my Birthday, Wedding Anniversary, Father's Day, etc I could just tell family members "Oh, well I'm registered with Penman Hats... I think there's still a few Hat Jacks up for grabs... you can order me one through the website..."

Hmmm...
Ain't a half bad idea...

Mitch....A Penman Wish list Icon..........what a great idea.........I think you are on to something!..Now if he only had a steam mop.......................????????????????///

Mitch LaRue wrote:I'll eventually need about 9 or 10 of these...

PLUS, I'll only ever order future hat stands from Johgn (as NO other Hat Stand seems to compare to those Penman Hat Stands...)

Y'know, I'm starting to feel like I should be "Registered" with Penman Hats (like a newlywed - or "soon to be" wed) except on my Birthday, Wedding Anniversary, Father's Day, etc I could just tell family members "Oh, well I'm registered with Penman Hats... I think there's still a few Hat Jacks up for grabs... you can order me one through the website..."

Hmmm...
Ain't a half bad idea...

oh, we can arrange that for you Fox.