Club Obi Wan

UPDATE (see at the bottom of the post)


Be forewarned: this is not short. I've wanted to write a review on my Adventurebilt ever since I received it over a year ago. But since durability is one of the major factors in considering the purchase of an AB, I decided to wait until now to let you know how it's held up through a lot of use and even abuse.

Growing up on a small family farm and ranch in Nebraska, I've worn hats all my life. Only one of our tractors had a cab, so it was just common sense to wear a wide-brimmed hat for plowing and discing, or windrowing or baling, or riding horses in a cattle drive. I've usually kept work hats and dress hats separate because the work hats wouldn't clean up nice enough for going into town or church, and the dress hats wouldn't be durable enough for farm and ranch work.

Although I wore a lot of cowboy hats growing up, I always wanted Indiana Jones' hat. Although I had great fun riding horses and working cattle, I've always been rather bookish, and Indy's hat was both a work hat and a professor's dress hat. To my undiscerning eye, that great rough hat Indy wore in the streets of Cairo shopping with Marion was the same stylish hat Professor Jones wore when meeting Dr. Schneider on the Venice pier.

Like many of you, I didn't have much luck finding this allusive hat for quite a long time. In high school, I tried a brown leather fedora from Cabelas. In college, I got a black wool felt fedora from Dorfman Pacific online. While working on my M.A. in Connecticut, I picked up a nice brown rabbit felt Stetson Sovereign from Del Monico Hatters in New Haven. But nothing quite fit the bill, and these tapered hats just didn't look all that good on me.

Two years ago, I found the Fedora Lounge while searching online for briefcases I could use as a new adjunct professor. From there, I quickly found out about both COW and a hatter in Mississippi by the name of Steve Delk who specialized in recreating the elusive hat from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I read every review and looked at every photo I could of these Adventurebilt hats as well as other Indy hats mentioned on COW and Fedora Lounge. Finally, I decided to go for an AB and my wife, parents, and mother-in-law all chipped in to get it for me as a birthday gift.

The day I placed the order, I also called the number on Steve's website with the hopes of talking to him about it. Instead of Steve, I got to speak with his lovely mother. She surprised me with a great bit of news--she was so proud that Mr. Steven Spielberg had chosen her son's hat for the new Indiana Jones movie!

Steve was an absolute gentleman whenever I had email correspondence with him. I tried to keep my emails to a minimum, only sending messages when I had some details or modifications that I needed to talk about with him. Occasionally, I needed to send repeat emails, but this was complete understandable for a one-man operation with such a huge deluge of orders. Steve was always eager to help, and I appreciated that. I'm very grateful that Steve managed to get my hat to me just in time for my first archaeological dig.

Although I originally was going to get a Raiders fedora in the style of the Raven Bar, when I saw photos of the Crystal Skull Fedora I'm glad that's what I got. For me, the CS AB seems to have the best blend of the best elements of the Raiders fedora (the block and the rough & tumble aspect of Indy's fedora), the TOD bridge fedora (something about the front of the hat between the ribbon and loose pinch), and the LC Venice pier fedora (the pinch and the classy look) while also being its own hat. Although I would be curious to see how the tight pinch of a Raiders fedora looks on me, the CS just works for my looks. It has that great "adventure" look for out in the field and traveling:


It also has that classy professor look which works when I lecture and go to academic conferences, and it works great for everyday wear, too. As for durability, I have worn this hat every day since receiving it in July 2008. I've worn it in both the desert and in rain and snow. I've worn it on my folks' farm when riding horses, and I've worn it to international conferences. I've worn and scraped it through Hezekiah's water tunnel. And I've worn it for several days on the dig this year in the midst of digging, pickaxing, carrying large stones, etc. Despite 6 weeks of 2 different archaeological digs over the past year,daily wear through all sorts of conditions, and many travels throughout the country and the world, this hat just gets better and better with time.

This is the hat I've been looking for. This is the combination of the work and dress hat this Nebraska cowboy never found growing up. This is the sturdy hat which I can take with me through tunnels and digs, through deserts and snow, and can brush off for on campus, at church, and mingling with other scholars. This is the classy-working-traveling hat I need and trust that with care will last me throughout my career. Thanks, Steve, for making real the hat we've all seen only in a fictional movie.

best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

UPDATE: For anyone who might check out this thread later, my AB received its first re-block from Steve in Spring 2011. I think it looks better than ever!

Nebraska Schulte, great post!

I didn't realise that you were an archaeologist (or perhaps I did and had forgotten).

That's a gorgeous hat, btw.

Canyon wrote:Nebraska Schulte, great post!

I didn't realise that you were an archaeologist (or perhaps I did and had forgotten).

That's a gorgeous hat, btw.

Thanks, Canyon. I'm a Ph.D. candidate (or Ph.D. ABD [All But Dissertation]) in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, mainly focusing my research on Second Temple Judaism (587 B.C. - 70 A.D.). So I study archaeology more from the classics and history perspective than archeology from the anthropology perspective.

"Archaeologist" is one of those tricky categories for me since I'm still early in my career. My actual title on the dig from which I just returned was Assistant Area Supervisor of the Ramat Rachel archaeological excavation. I assisted in supervising about a dozen people in a few squares (ranging from Late Iron Age II to early Muslim periods) along with the main supervisor and one other asst. supervisor, as well as helped enter in the data and write reports from the site:
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=27656&p=603788#p603788
I also utilize archaeological information in my own research on the Hebrew Bible and will use archaeology and epigraphy extensively in my Ph.D. dissertation on Persian Period Judah.

Sorry for the long answer--I just wanted to be clear that I'm not the director of any digs. I'm still starting my career, am getting field experience, and am hoping to further my involvement with archaeology throughout my career. Hope this helps clarify!

best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

Nebraska Schulte wrote:Thanks, Canyon. I'm a Ph.D. candidate (or Ph.D. ABD [All But Dissertation]) in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, mainly focusing my research on Second Temple Judaism (587 B.C. - 70 A.D.). So I study archaeology more from the classics and history perspective than archeology from the anthropology perspective.

Wow! You could say that at a party and impress everyone with that description.

Nice lid, Nebraska.

I did an anthropological archaeology class out in Utah back in college.

I said that to say this: I know it is hard working and living in the field!

Your hat really seems to hold up well, especially in the hot desert climate.

Good luck on your dissertation. IMO, biblical archaeology is pretty cool.

I appreciate the review Nebraska!

Back when I first comtemplated making hats, much of my desire was to TRY to make a hat that would not taper so badly with its first exposure to rain, or heat, like leaving the hat in a hot car. And, I wanted a straighter blockshape, as I percieved the Raiders fedora as being a straight sided hat, at least when compared to the TOD fedora.

At this point in time, I had already spent right at 7500 dollars on hats, different brands, and all came up way short in the ability to resist the taper that comes with fur felt hats. Marc and I drove ourselves nuts trying to find out HOW to make hats that would NOT taper-ever. As time passed we had to admit that this was impossible. ALL felt hats will eventually taper. It is just the nature of the materials used.

But in the process, we found out that if the right fur is used, and the right hatmaking methods, you could make a hat that could outlast other hats, before they had to be reblocked again to the original shape. And of course, we had to settle for that.

With that said, I still get hats back, that I made when I first started that make me very proud. Just last week I got one back that looked like it had been through alot of wear, daily wear, and the hat was not tapered at all! I get these from time to time, mostly to replace sweats, liners and ribbons. But, I must admit that I also get hats back that indeed need a reblock, because of taper issues. I am puzzled by this, as all of these hats were worn, and worn alot in the elements. Most are very dirty hats too.

I think that this happens because some runs of felt from my feltmaker are more stable bodies than other runs. I have no other explanation, and it does make sense. And for some reason, the old hats that I get back that are not tapered, always seem to be the lighter browns, as opposed to the darker browns. Now, THAT makes no sense at all, to me. But then again, perhaps the older hats just faded out, and that is why, not really sure.

I do think Marc and I came up with the first Indy hat that resisted the tapers better than other brands. And I know this is because of the pure beaver felt. Rabbit felt just seems so prone to tapering fast, too fast for me. On most rabbit hats, I can see taper within a couple weeks, even when not exposed to the rain. My last rabbit hat, tapered from just wearing it in the Ms. summer heat.

Also considering that many of Harrison's ABs got really wet during the filming, all but one came through very well, and was re-used again in the film. And that one that did not, was due to Bernie not knocking it out open crown to let it dry. He left the creases in and dried it sitting on the brim. After a phone call from him, and advice from me, the others faired very well, and I did not have to make any more for Harrison. Of course, this proved once again that pure beaver felt is the only way to go, IF your hat sees the elements. Can you imagine how many hats we would have had to made if we used rabbit? Probably 3 or 4 dozen just for Indy!! Instead, we made him 9.

Thanks for this great review! I think this will be most folk's experience with my hats. Not all, but most. The good thing about the CS block, is that even when it does show a bit of taper, the hat will still look fairly straight. We used a very straight block with this hat. After looking closely at the other film hats, to me, only the Raiders hat looks better. But then again, I never liked the TOD or TLC fedora anyways. So that must be considered.

To me, the CS fedora is a combination of the other film hats, leaning more towards the Raider fedora, but not being the Raiders fedora either. It is its own hat, but still very Indyish in appearance. I think Bernie did well in his choice of hatblocks. The block that he chose, from us, allowed him to add his own touch to the Indy fedora, while still looking like an Indy fedora. Since this was an original very old fedora block, he also used something that could have been period accurate(if you assume Indy stayed with the 1930's look). Which of course he did, going by the other hats seen in CS. Everyone else in the film are wearing hats from the late 50's, but not Indy. But then, he would not look right in those short crowned, bound brimmed hats of the 50's would he? Good that he did not change his style!! He is an anchronism. Fedora

Very well written review and I think it just goes to show that, whether it be jacket or hats, these things just look better when they've been worn and become a part of the wearer.

Of course my problem is that I have several hats and jackets so I never wear mine to that point.

Thank you for all the compliments, everyone! It's good to hear that others think it looks good on me, too.

best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

Nebraska Schulte wrote:Thank you for all the compliments, everyone! It's good to hear that others think it looks good on me, too.

best wishes,
Nebraska Schulte

It looks fantastic on you. Wear it well my friend.

Great thread, all. Great stories and great pictures, Nebraska! Keep up the good work. I look forward to more articles from you in the magazines.

Suppose Im going to have to get saving to get me a Beaver hat to replace my rabbit.

Oh well

Nice lid Nebraska good review as well.