Remember that weird English hat block?
Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:58 am
Some may recall me talking about the English made very old hat block I once talked about. To refresh, I bought this block from London, a few years ago, stored it up and pulled it back out when LLS came to visit a couple years ago. It is untypical of American hat blocks, as all of the American hat blocks I have seen are symetrical, or at least those old blockmakers TRIED to make them so.
This block below is a side shot of that old English block. I can tell, this one was not machine made, but is old enough to have been handmade, which is an art form by the way. As anyone who has made blocks by hand will tell ya. Now, something that is also unusual about the hat block below is that it does not fall into what American blockmakers traditionally used to define a round oval, a regular oval, etc. This block here falls in between a round oval and a regular oval, and I have to wonder if the Brits used different differentials when making their traditional blocks. I just don't know for sure. But with that said, this hat, that is in my size, fits fine, probably because the softer felt makes the hat conform to my head shape. Here is that old English wood block.
Like me, you may have been curious as to what sort of fedora this old block would lend. Well, here ya go! But do notice how this new hat, non distressed bulges out above the ribbon, while new. This is purely a function of this strange English blockshape.
Actually not that bad for a Raiders fedora, which tells me once again, various blockshapes will lend this look, fairly close, which explains how we see various blockshapes that seem to work out pretty close. IMO. I would not have thought that years ago when I first started my quest in replicating the Raiders fedora. Time and experience has showed me, why it is so hard to nail it 100 per cent, due to various and even weird looking blocks pulling off the look decently. Of course blocks that will do so, do share commonalities in certain areas, that seem to be very important. Like the sides being fairly straight, relatively speaking. It you move too far away from the straightness, it eventually will show up in the creased hat. I think that is a given.
With this hat above, you are taking a step back in time, and can see IF the hat made from this block, was creased Raiders style, back then, it would look decent. Plus, I doubt anyone has ever seen this very old blockshape on any hats to date. I think if I were young, and just starting out in hatting, this is the block I would use to create and sell my own AB adventure hat line, as well as the Indy hats. The charm to me, is that this is a very old English block, original. And has to be one of the rarest blockshapes out in the hat world today.
And because of this, when I do finally get the time to make myself my camel hat, this is the block I will use to do so. Since this block is a 7 1/4 English size, and I wear a 22 7/8 hat, I can use it for my own hats. And wear it with the knowledge that I am wearing an ancient blockshape, and English to boot. And also, I will be only one of two folks that own one! (this one isn't mine)
Regards, Fedora
This block below is a side shot of that old English block. I can tell, this one was not machine made, but is old enough to have been handmade, which is an art form by the way. As anyone who has made blocks by hand will tell ya. Now, something that is also unusual about the hat block below is that it does not fall into what American blockmakers traditionally used to define a round oval, a regular oval, etc. This block here falls in between a round oval and a regular oval, and I have to wonder if the Brits used different differentials when making their traditional blocks. I just don't know for sure. But with that said, this hat, that is in my size, fits fine, probably because the softer felt makes the hat conform to my head shape. Here is that old English wood block.
Like me, you may have been curious as to what sort of fedora this old block would lend. Well, here ya go! But do notice how this new hat, non distressed bulges out above the ribbon, while new. This is purely a function of this strange English blockshape.
Actually not that bad for a Raiders fedora, which tells me once again, various blockshapes will lend this look, fairly close, which explains how we see various blockshapes that seem to work out pretty close. IMO. I would not have thought that years ago when I first started my quest in replicating the Raiders fedora. Time and experience has showed me, why it is so hard to nail it 100 per cent, due to various and even weird looking blocks pulling off the look decently. Of course blocks that will do so, do share commonalities in certain areas, that seem to be very important. Like the sides being fairly straight, relatively speaking. It you move too far away from the straightness, it eventually will show up in the creased hat. I think that is a given.
With this hat above, you are taking a step back in time, and can see IF the hat made from this block, was creased Raiders style, back then, it would look decent. Plus, I doubt anyone has ever seen this very old blockshape on any hats to date. I think if I were young, and just starting out in hatting, this is the block I would use to create and sell my own AB adventure hat line, as well as the Indy hats. The charm to me, is that this is a very old English block, original. And has to be one of the rarest blockshapes out in the hat world today.
And because of this, when I do finally get the time to make myself my camel hat, this is the block I will use to do so. Since this block is a 7 1/4 English size, and I wear a 22 7/8 hat, I can use it for my own hats. And wear it with the knowledge that I am wearing an ancient blockshape, and English to boot. And also, I will be only one of two folks that own one! (this one isn't mine)
Regards, Fedora
It'd be one heck of a computer science project!
Fedora
