Club Obi Wan

I like the idea of my fedora having a little character but I'm afraid my brand new Garrison 'LC' (yes he makes a Last Crusade style hat you just have to specify that's what you want)got a little more than its share last rainy night. Long story short, I realize now that I should've opened the crown and allow it to dry that way, but no that's not what I did. It dried shaped and now one of the dents has what I call a large Crack in it where it sort of drooped over from the soaking it received. Anybody know a way to get it back to normal? Steam? Dry heat? The best suggestion I've heard so far from my non-Indy hat loving friends is that I should Crack the other sides dent so they'll match.

Pic?

Get it wet again. Not soaked to the core but wet enough.

And once you get it back into shape, get thyself some good waterproofing spray. I like Scotchguard with silicone on my Todd's Coyle's. But I'm sure there is fancier stuff out there too.

No. Waterproofing spray will ruin the color of a quality fedora.
I sprayed my AB beaver fedora with a weather guard which said it was made for fur hats including beaver. The ribbon and fur color have changed much since with exposure to the sun.

My Penman ABL has seen more FL sunshine than my AB and the color is SA.

So beware.

Fear not. Your hat is far from ruined.

I'd say don't worry about water proofing.
Next, just take advantage of the next time it gets a bit wet (or use distilled water in a spray bottle) and adjust the shape, or open the crown out and smooth it over while wet. As a rule, I never consider a new hat bash to be finished until it's been rained on a couple of times and I can tweak it.

Then, remember for the future; no need to open the crown after getting wet (but you can if you want), but make sure the hat isn't "out of shape" when you leave it to dry. Make adjustments if needed, then put it on a hat stand (if really soaked, stick a stretcher in it to prevent shrinking), and let it air dry.

A little patience goes a long way.

Penman and all the other guys building hats recommend waterproofing. If it's good enough for them, then it's good enough for me. YMMV.

John Penman, Steve Delk and probably David Garrison and the others whose names are kicked around here all waterproof their hats before they send them out. And I know Penman used to sell the stuff he used to do it, but doesn't anymore.

I have been wearing decent quality fedoras since the early 70s and have never waterproofed one myself. Beaver felt is naturally somewhat water repellant anyway, and as long as you don't completely soak a good fur or rabbit hat to its core it will usually dry okay.

I've had a few that tapered on me pretty severely. A Herbert Johnson from about 10-12 years ago being the worst that comes to mind, and I know people say Steve Delk sprays his with Scotchgard, but I've never felt it necessary to redo one and I'd be leery of trying it myself.

One of the things you need a hat to do is breathe so the perspiration from your head can escape and not saturate the liner and/or felt from the inside.

Yeah. All I know is spraying my beaver hat altered the color of ribbon and felt a bit. Made it fade much more rapidly. I did not do this with my ABL and it has faired much better even having more sun exposure than my beaver AB. The AB still looks good though.

I agree with ridgerunner.

It's also possible you get a little more sun in Florida than we do in Northeast Ohio!

No. Read carefully. Both hats were exposed to the FL sun. One more than the other. The one that faded and the ribbon turned faded brown was the one I had applied the water repellant (scout felt hat protector) to. The other one I wear far more often.

Pics can be seen of the faded ribbon (which does look cool) somewhere in this section.
I had asked John Penman his thoughts and he said it probably was either the protector I applied, recommended to me by Steve Delk himself, or it could have been that Steve is using a different ribbon. My money is on the former as my penman ABL is a glorious rich brown still with more sun exposure.

Unfortunately, the nature of all chemical products means there's a degree gambling when you use them. But, as stated by Ridgerunner, custom hats usually have some waterproofing already done. So, to my mind, why chance it?

Agree. It's why I will never use anything on my ABL.

Thanks for all your advice guys. I really appreciate it. I've managed to smooth out the wrinkle by spraying the dent which was damaged with some spring water than giving it a gentle massage. Looks good as new again!