Club Obi Wan

I thought I post the below pictures as a thought of combining a vacation with some field testing of equipment, mainly the Optimo. Most of you (& myself) have only seen pictures of Optimos in dignified 'city" settings. I took the chance and the results paid off as the pictures testify below.

As a background, I just recently came back from a 4 day vacation that I spent in the local mountains here in Southern California (San Jacinto Mountain - Peak Elevation 10,500 feet). The last 3 days of the vacation, I wore my Optimo Indy Brown to give it a nice thorough "field test". I didn't camp out, but rather, we rented a rustic cabin at about 5500 ft. One day, I really put the Optimo through a challenge where I started at 8500 ft and bagged the peak which was at 10,500. For those of you that backpack or hike, 2,000 feet up and 2,000 feet down can be a challenge. Most of the climb was within tree line with a 500 foot scramble up boulders above the tree line.

The Optimo performed quite well. I was nervous to take such an expensive hat through this grind, worrying mostly about pine sap, cob webs, trail dust, an occasional gust of wind, cigar ashes, etc. nevertheless the Optimo performed well as seen by the pictures below. The picture session was done on my last day on the mountain, where I took a lazy hike to a peaklet. The Optimo was carefully dusted off with my hat brush. I did take care of the Optimo during the extensive hikes, in making sure that my sweat off my head was minimized during the hike by frequent wiping of my forehead. In addition, special "felt shims" were place into the inside of the sweat band (to simulate my extremely round oval head, into a "long" oval) that absorbed any extraneous sweat. In addition, I placed a thin swatch of "paper" towel, into the sweatband to create a barrier as well. It worked. I did minimize the "salt" from the sweat appearing on the ribbon.

Bottom Line: Even though I did not run into any rain, the Optimo did perform well on trail.

Also take a look at the brims. No, stiffner what so ever. Every bash, swoop, curl was done naturally with no water, steam, stiffner, etc. I do put my Optimo on top of Western Straw hat (well that's my block), to "TRAIN" the curl and swoop. It works, you need to train it, train it, train it... I'm not done on the brims. I had the same issue with every Indy hat I have owned. It takes a month or two to train the brims so that they have the "memory".


Very happy camper!





Now this is the sheen, I am talking about. Look how it glistens off the light.









My favorite trail smokes, "La Gloria Cubana, Wavell"








Look at the clean lines. No taper!!!







Next: I will be posting more pictures on you fellas that have the special problem I have, "round oval" head.

Solution: "Felt shims" on the front and back to simulate long oval. The foam inserts ( ala Akubra) don't cut it. This was devised as a special creation from Optimo

Hat Specs:
- 5 3/4" crown shell
- 7 1/2 size, increase 1/16" larger to accomodate front/back shims to make Long Oval
- 3 inch front & back
- 2 3/4" sides
- 1 5/8" Black Ribbon
- White Liner
- Burgundy Leather Band


Take Care...

-Sergei

Beautiful lid Sergei, one most fedoras dream to be! Well done!

That fedora is gorgeous! Is that some of the new felt with nutria fur?
You've got that Venice Pier swoop going on too!

Thanks Sergei. This is exactly what we should all be doing! Out of everything I encountered, grease and pine sap are the worst things I have gotten on my hat. I had a few sap stains that I couldn't get out and they just continued to pick up dust and dirt in those spots. Actually, after sending the hat to Fedora - it came back clean, so that problem is gone He is a miracle man.

I recently hiked Mt. Cardigan (short hike-extrememly windy) in New Hampshire. Once above the treeline anybody that had a hat would have to hold on to it (or staple it to their head ) I had to lose mine once to realize it . It is not the first time I chased my hat around a mountain, and it will not be my last.

My favorite trip this year was the 7.8 mile hike (round trip) to Mt. Chocorua. I believe the elevation is only 3,480 feet - but it is the elevation gained that is important to me, not the total elevation. Anyways, the top is unprotected by trees and we were within a 10th of a mile from the summit when the biggest thunderstorm we had all season hit. Of course the last of the hike is the hardest (meaning most fun ) and we got nailed with wind, crosswinds, rain and trying to scramble up wet rocks. It was tough, but added character to all of my gear.

The hat got soaked, but was dry by the time we hit bottom. It just made it fit better. I love this method of distressing.

"Peaklet?"

Great lid Sergei, thanks for the detailed photos!

How does the “Indy Brown” color of your Optimo compare to the “Pecan” color of mine? Did you get I.J. holed into the band?

Thanks
Bill Walton

Hey Sergei,

I can't help but ask. From the distance between you and the camera, I am assuming that these are self-shot "arms-length" pictures

How often to you hike? I have had a friend of mine invite me to "Cloud's Rest" in Yosemite. He lives in Stockton - is that far from you? I may be on your coast witin a few months to take him up on it...you are welcome to join us if you wish...

Wow. That is a thing of beauty. It's apparent to me that the the Optimo is a step above even the hats supplied by Herbert Johnson for the movies. That is one fine looking hat! Wow.

Two words: Scha-weet!

Man, what can I sell to try and get one of those?! Anyone need a kidney?


Congrats on one fine hat, Sergei.

Mike

WOW,
Has to be the best looking fedora that I have ever seen!! I love everything about it. Maybe the perfect IJ fedora right in front of us!
Greetings,

Hatman

Thanks for the pics Sergei! I was beginning to think that you were the "Idol" from your Avatar!

What a lid! Geez! I agree that the Optimo Indy Brown looks like the closest I've seen ... WOW! And the color on this shot ...


Your dimensions scale to your head and face perfectly. I guess you know what sizes make a good look on you. I'm pretty close to figuring that one out for me. 3" brims might be a tad too much for my face and 2 1/2" to 2 5/8" on the sides looks scaled for me.

One word ......... AWESOME!!!


Eric

IndySkip wrote:Thanks for the pics Sergei! I was beginning to think that you were the "Idol" from your Avatar!
.....

Your dimensions scale to your head and face perfectly. I guess you know what sizes make a good look on you. I'm pretty close to figuring that one out for me. 3" brims might be a tad too much for my face and 2 1/2" to 2 5/8" on the sides looks scaled for me.

One word ......... AWESOME!!!


Eric

Yep Eric, that is the entire point on posting my specs for the hat. It took me years to "dial in" the right specs for my head. It took 5 lids to figure out that 2 /3/4" brims were not working for me.

It wasn't until Schwammy posted his lid pictures of his new PBBM last year with the 3 inch brims, did the wheels start to turn in my head. Suddenly my first 3 inch brim, which was a PBBM, finally looked proportional on me. After all these years, I thought if I ordered the exact specs per the original order submitted to HJ (of course changing the size), everything would be all right. So there are so many things to consider on the proportions of your head, your body height, body weight, etc.

Good topic for this post IndyChris and thanks for asking?

Rick5150 wrote: I can't help but ask. From the distance between you and the camera, I am assuming that these are self-shot "arms-length" pictures

How often do you hike? I have had a friend of mine invite me to "Cloud's Rest" in Yosemite. He lives in Stockton - is that far from you? I may be on your coast witin a few months to take him up on it...you are welcome to join us if you wish...

Yeah, I had to do the one arm "self shot" technique. The ground squirrels just couldn't take the training to get the shot right (they couldn't keep the hat in frame). ) The "arms length" shot technique does work since you want to keep the entire hat in the frame. Most people take pictures from too far away. Close is good.

And Stockton is about 500 miles from me. Hey it's a big state. But if you give me enough "heads up" I might be able to make the trek. BTW, how much do I hike? Well in the 90's, almost every weekend I either hiked, backpacked in the mountains or deserts depending on the season. After I started doing the "startup" think, my personal life "tanked". ( I really need to make a life choice. Being a bagger at a grocery store is looking good for me now ("paper or plastic?").

Indiana Texas-girl wrote: That fedora is gorgeous! Is that some of the new felt with nutria fur?
You've got that Venice Pier swoop going on too!

Yep, ITG, this is the new nutria fur with beaver blend. It's 49% nutria, 49% beaver and 2% wabbit. )

Whipcrack wrote:Great lid Sergei, thanks for the detailed photos!

How does the ?Indy Brown? color of your Optimo compare to the ?Pecan? color of mine? Did you get I.J. holed into the band?

Thanks
Bill Walton

Yeah I posted pictures showing the Indy Brown with Rundquist's Pecan. Here it is:


The Pecan does look lighter of course. But the Pecan is a great looker.

-Sergei

I just got my Pecan back from Optimo. I had their new dark brown ribbon put on it and I must say that it makes a huge difference. I realize now that the black ribbon stunk the color out of my hat. It looks great now. But the new Indy brown is still a better Indy color. Cheers

Sergei wrote:It wasn't until schwammy posted his lid pictures of his new PBBM last year with the 3 inch brims, did the wheels start to turn in my head. Suddenly my first 3 inch brim, which was a PBBM, finally looked proportional on me.

Well I'm glad to know that something good came of that post. At the time it didn't seem like anybody was very impressed or interested. I love a good three-inch brim. Somehow it works for me, and for you too, Sergei. Of course, we're only talking about a difference of 1/4 inch, but as somebody once said, an eighth of an inch is a huge difference in the world of hats. Anybody who's ever had a hat that was 1/8" too tight will attest to that.

Come to think of it, it was _ who gave me the 3-inch brim idea. Big ideas come from people with big heads, I suppose.

It does indeed have to d with head size and shape. I had to go in the OTHER direction, and I go with 2.5 inch sides and 2 .75 inch front and back, but then I have a long oval head....a 3 inch brim looks like a sombrero on me. Regards. Michaelson

Schwammy's pictures reposted here:
http://www.indygear.com/forum/viewtopic ... 9997#49997

-Sergei

Sergei: Out of all the pics I've seen of you in various fedoras, this one really works for you. Whether it is the shims or just the hat itself, it suits your face and it looks just great!

P.s. No sign of Bears eh?

Rob Kilgour
aka Kilgour Trout

Rob Kilgour wrote:Sergei: Out of all the pics I've seen of you in various fedoras, this one really works for you. Whether it is the shims or just the hat itself, it suits your face and it looks just great!

P.s. No sign of Bears eh?

Rob Kilgour
aka Kilgour Trout

It's strange you mention that Rob. This mountain was my last experience with a black bear. It completely did not enter my mind, until you brought it up. I am sure, if I camped out I would have remembered the encounter, but since I was renting a cabin, in a village the memory vanished.

What Rob is making a reference to, is the practicalities of bringing a whip to the backcountry. My experience that I shared with Rob, is that I saw a black bear in the distance a few years back that I happened to scare off by cracking a bullwhip. The bear just took off. I was surprised, but it worked. BTW, I think this works for black bears. For Grizzlies, I think you are ...... SOL. There I go again. )

Sergei!

That's a beautiful hat! Please explain what shims are, never heard of them, I'd love to know more. I used a rolled up paper towel in my sweat band after streatching it by hand, but I'd like to know if there are in proven solutions to getting the oval look.

Great pics, thanks for sharing!

What a beautiful fedora!!! It still amazes me how you must adjust the brim to fit the face. An excellent example of how one size doesn't fit all. For Sergei and others here, the off the shelf hats will always come up short. Not enough brim. I really like what I perceive the Indy brown to be. regards, Fedora

Sergei wrote:BTW, I think this works for black bears. For Grizzlies, I think you are ...... SOL.

It could actually do the opposite. I read in article in Outdoor Life several years ago about hunting on Kodiak Island. It seems that the Kodiak Bears have figured out that the sound of rifles means that some silly human had killed an elk or moose and that they could get an easy meal by stealing the kill rather then killing one of their own. So the sound of a whip crack (easily confused with a gunshot) could attract bears! I think the name of the article was something like "Dinner Bell Bears".
PBG