Club Obi Wan

Back about 2 years ago, I bought a Penman or two, a Garrison, and a Steele and Jones
ROLA bash.
I love the hats and each has gracefully found their different uses.

Well, I have given it some thought and decided I want an HJ Poet.
For some reason, rattling around in the back of my head-it's pretty much empty up there
so there is a lot of room to rattle-I remember not asking about the HJ.

So does anyone have an opinion on the hats?
I am going to buy one, so I would like to hear which dealer is good to work with etc.


I can't thank you all enough. When I first came here I was as ignorant as a tick in the desert.
I have learned a lot, and hope that can continue.

This place is full of opinions on the HJ Poet. Just do a search.

Generally (although I have heard they have improved of late) the opinions are negative.

They have not been made with the Brazilian felt used in the original movie since the original movie.

The current version (or at least until recently, the "current version") has used very poor quality felt that was prone to tapering just from being looked at sideways.

I have 2. One (which has never been wet because I live in the San Joaquin Valley in California) tapered and shrunk within a year to about 2/3 its original height.

The other is a Magnoli blocked by Steve Delk. It's a nice hat, but still not great, and I would still worry about it if it came near any water. It'd never been wet because I simply don't wear it.

Both, for my money, have brims that are too narrow. Over half an inch difference on the sides compared to a Penman or Adventurebilt.

I know that some people view them as the "be all and end all" of hats, but I'm not one of them.

I understand that Steele & Jones are selling HJs that they have blocked, and which have better felt. They look intriguing, but personally I would still be leery.

http://www.christys-hats.com/products/a ... HAWG3.dpbs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you are leaning toward an HJ, the Christy is basically the same thing, at a much cheaper price. As others like John would attest, there is a reason why the hat in Raiders looked like it did, during and after the Tunisia shots, and I don't really believe that the felt is that much different today in terms of quality than it was back in '80, when the movie was filmed. Also, and I've read Steve's comments on the hat, and he has said before that they basically dry block these felt bodies, and that is one of the reasons why so many of them taper. This and the fact that the unbashed crown is 5 3/4" which is tall to begin with. Once you try to bash one of these hats at roughly 4 1/2" you get taper from trying to bash it the extra 1/4" in order to get the right height. In other words, the dent can only be pushed in so far, before you start to see taper. Ribbon, bow and leather sweatband are lacking in these hats. One thing the Christy/HJ felt has always had going for it is the color of the felt, though, but these are the reasons why Steve would rework them.

From what I've heard the HJ Poet is a factory made rabbit felt hat. You're literally only paying for the name and the myth of Indiana Jones.

For half or less of that price and for much better quality you can buy an Akubra - that is also rabbit felt and factory made but built tough as nails with a good look to it, I've had two Akubra's that have been beat to heck and back and still have never tapered.

Atleast, that's what I've heard about Poets... it's possible the quality is better now....

I originally wanted nothing but a Poet....but from everything I've read over the years, I would never buy a Poet.

Marc Kitter of Adventurebilt has said, somewhere here, that the Henry is made on the original HJ ROTLA block.

He said that he sent his hat blocks to have hats made and the dude there said, and I paraphrase, that there is a set of old HJ blocks here that are darn near exact to what you just sent me.

I forget the story but The Henry would then be the closest thing you could get to Raiders (assuming your head takes a hat the same way as H. Ford).

I had a few HJ's over the years. 5 I think. And they are all gone because they got used - shriveled up or torn from a reblock.

Although I can`t really speak for them, I personally understood that Steele & Jones is NOT using stock Poets....They are using a felt that was created specifically for them, by their design, that RE-CREATES the exact particular type of felt that they feel Herbert Johnson used during the Raiders era hats. And, using that unique design, they block them "correctly" (no dry blocks) so that they will resist tapering as well as any AB, Penman, or any other high quality hat we have available from any of our "personal" hat vendors......
Just saying...

I think the above comments sum up the Poet pretty well.

As Michaelson has said in the past about the HJ label, "You're getting more "sizzle" with your steak, even though it's the same cut and prepared steak you can get down the street for half the price."


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

darthjones wrote:Marc Kitter of Adventurebilt has said, somewhere here, that the Henry is made on the original HJ ROTLA block.

He said that he sent his hat blocks to have hats made and the dude there said, and I paraphrase, that there is a set of old HJ blocks here that are darn near exact to what you just sent me.

I forget the story but The Henry would then be the closest thing you could get to Raiders (assuming your head takes a hat the same way as H. Ford).

I had a few HJ's over the years. 5 I think. And they are all gone because they got used - shriveled up or torn from a reblock.

To clarify, Marc said he could never know for sure, but the factory that makes the Henry said they had an old set of blocks from the ROLA era that closely match the blocks Marc provided to make the Henry.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Dealer to buy an actual HJ: http://www.advintagefedora.de/shop/inde ... anguage=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nice guy to deal with.

A few clarifications:
- Today's HJ Poet fedora and Raiders Era HJ, HAVE NO SIMILARITIES. I have seen both.
- The Raiders Era HJ felt was not a cheap, low quality felt. It was muuuuuch better than those of today, and more similar to old (golden age) fedora's felts.
- As Gorak said (thanks mate ) we don't use any Herbert Johnson component in our "HJ Raiders Era Replica". Is a replica we make, with own materials. After extensive studies, and many tests, we managed to replicate the exact Raiders felt. Which will fade, behave, and age the same way as the original HERO hat.

I can't remember when and who confirmed that the HJ Raiders Era felt came from Brazil...?
Maybe someone can throw some light here. Thanks.-

I would but any modern HJ. It's just not the same. If you have to have the HJ logo I would buy from our friends from our guys from steel & jones.


Please, people lets not speak for other people like Mark, Steve or myself.


I for one don't think the felt used for the Raiders hat wasn't the top of the line felt. It was better then what they were using but it wasn't the greatest either.

From this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42169&hilit=henry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Marc wrote:

I think the factory told Marc that the block used for the Henry was a block once used to make some HJs. And I think Marc then thought perhaps this WAS the Raiders block, or close to it.

Correct Sir!

When I sent in one of our CS Fedoras, so the manufacturer could have a look, he called me up and told me, that after having a closer look at it, the (open) crown shape looked almost IDENTICAL to a block they had had for many many years. That's when I went So I asked, if they had made hats for HJ in the past, which was confirmed. Also that this block was used for HJ's many years ago was confirmed. So... I asked him to make a prototype on the old HJ block and upon receiving the first Henry prototype, I figured that it COULD be IT, however no-one can actually tell for sure if this is really THE block, hence I don't use it for advertising on my website. The Henry prototype took both the CS and the Raiders crease very well and I got an exclusive on that block shape, of which a full set was then made.

Regards,

Marc

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Thanks for posting that. Thats a lot more helpful then speaking for someone. Go straight to the source.


It pulls off a good CS but not 100% accurate.

I kinda understand wanting the HJ logo but the quality just isn't there right now and it wasn't that great for any of the first three films. I myself have given up for the hunt for the HJ logo in my Raiders hat.
If you must have it. I would suggest Steel & Jones.

Yeah, I don't think anyone is 'gossiping' here, John, just repeating what you guys have stated in other threads many times without having to dig through each and every one to find exact quotes. The fact that Steve would take a new HJ and have to 'kill' the felt, reblock it to get a better shape and add new ribbon and sweat band says a lot. I mean, you guys deal in this line of work, so what better source is there?

Without the quote things don't exactly lay out right.

I think the color of the Christy/HJ is the best of any, but that is about where it ends. Used to, you had a choice of Sable, Light Sable or Cork, and all were in the ballpark.

I am really impressed with the knowledge and experience here.
You guys are the bomb.

I have tried to contact adVintage, but I think he must be on vacation.
I know that he said in an email:
"Regarding the Christys: Unfortunately the sizes that are sold out with colors silvergrey, black, steelgrey and bessemer won't come in anymore. The demand for colors other than "sable" was not very high, so I decided to sell only "sable" in the future. I am very sorry, hope you understand. All sizes in sable will be available again when the new delivery arrives in hopefully about 2-3 weeks."-8-26-13

Since then I haven't been able to get a response from him. I think he might be on vacation.

I do have a Steele and Jones but not one of their recent ones, so Diego I will be in touch.

Thanks again, to all of you. They have the Adventurer and Poet on sale on Ebay. But they want
$200. Not bad, but the heads up helps tremendously. thanks again.

One other thing. I am kind of a big man, and I wear a 7 5/8" with a 3" brim. Other wise it is a tea kettle on a mountain.

...and whatever you do, don't forget the hat pin. It's not a real Indy fedora unless it says, "Indiana Jones" right across the bow. Johnny makes all his fedoras the official 'hat pin' and I don't think he would mind me repeating it.

Indiana Jeff wrote:From this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42169&hilit=henry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Marc wrote:

I think the factory told Marc that the block used for the Henry was a block once used to make some HJs. And I think Marc then thought perhaps this WAS the Raiders block, or close to it.

Correct Sir!

When I sent in one of our CS Fedoras, so the manufacturer could have a look, he called me up and told me, that after having a closer look at it, the (open) crown shape looked almost IDENTICAL to a block they had had for many many years. That's when I went So I asked, if they had made hats for HJ in the past, which was confirmed. Also that this block was used for HJ's many years ago was confirmed. So... I asked him to make a prototype on the old HJ block and upon receiving the first Henry prototype, I figured that it COULD be IT, however no-one can actually tell for sure if this is really THE block, hence I don't use it for advertising on my website. The Henry prototype took both the CS and the Raiders crease very well and I got an exclusive on that block shape, of which a full set was then made.

Regards,

Marc

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Awesome. I could not find the thread. But for the HJ block there in storage to be almost exact to what Marc reverse-engineered?!!! And then just looking at the Henry when properly creased?!

You can always look for a vintage HJ. They're really hard to find, but search on ebay every day, and sooner or later something might turn up. I snagged one a few years ago. Granted, it wasn't a Poet, but a trilby model from the 50s or 60s. The quality is quite nice.