Club Obi Wan

While not wearing.
See, i used to hang my AB beaver on a penman hat stand. I could never do that with my AB legacy due to it always pushing the center dent out due to the floppiness.
Now, after my reblock my AB beaver is behaving the same way. I tried adding a little steam to kick in the stiffner a bit, but no luck. So I guess I have to find a new way to store my hat when not in use. Any tips?
EDIT
I may have solved it a little. I used the other way of putting the round piece that holds the hat on the stand. So it now is angled. Works but i will have to get used to it.

That said, with re-blocks. Do they tend to make a hat more pliable and floppy?
I can definitely tell a big difference and I sort of liked the stiffer quality of it before.

So forget the stand, I am just trying to figure out why my hat is floppier after the reblock. Is it normal? I had read stiffner is next to impossible to get out so I expected the hat to return at least the same as far as stiffness goes.

They get floppier and softer as they get more wear, and yes, they "mellow" with a couple of reblocks.

As for storing - don't worry too much about it. Felt also has something of a memory for shape, so after a while temporary displacements don't mean anything. I carry mine in motorcycle saddlebags all the time, and when I get where I'm going they take on their real shape as soon as I put them on.

I have heard tell that reblocks often result in re-activating stiffener, not getting in out. So, that's a head scratcher for me. I'd love to see possible explanations, too.

Ridgerunner58 wrote:They get floppier and softer as they get more wear, and yes, they "mellow" with a couple of reblocks.

As for storing - don't worry too much about it. Felt also has something of a memory for shape, so after a while temporary displacements don't mean anything. I carry mine in motorcycle saddlebags all the time, and when I get where I'm going they take on their real shape as soon as I put them on.

Thanks. I will try not to worry so much then. I just had the bash where I loved it and don't want to muck it up.

Chewy,
Know any tricks to reactivity stiffner apart from some steam?

I'm partial to these hat stands for all my hats. The weight of the hat sits on the sweatband the way it would on your head so that seems to me to be the most natural way for the hat to be stored.





Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Good stuff Jeff. Thanks

I'll be getting a S&J ToD bridge scene hat in soon and I was wondering this same question about where to put it when not in use. Then I remembered back in high school when I took a crafts class and we made paper mache heads. So I took a balloon and blew it up as the same measurement as my head and started to layer it with newspaper. So hopefully by the time it's done I'll have my own made mannequin head. And I remember a recent post where Michaelson suggested to put a black nylon over the head which I think will make it look even better.

not worried about the glue leaching out onto the hat?

j_m_t wrote:not worried about the glue leaching out onto the hat?

Good question, that actually didn't cross my mind. The glue is just water, flour and salt and actually dries quite hard. That picture is just the first stage. Ill be adding a few more layers with a nose and maybe some ears. When that is all done and dried ill be putting a black nylon stocking over it. I don't expect anything to be leached though.

Jeremiah wrote:While not wearing.
See, i used to hang my AB beaver on a penman hat stand. I could never do that with my AB legacy due to it always pushing the center dent out due to the floppiness.
Now, after my reblock my AB beaver is behaving the same way. I tried adding a little steam to kick in the stiffner a bit, but no luck. So I guess I have to find a new way to store my hat when not in use. Any tips?
EDIT
I may have solved it a little. I used the other way of putting the round piece that holds the hat on the stand. So it now is angled. Works but i will have to get used to it.

That said, with re-blocks. Do they tend to make a hat more pliable and floppy?
I can definitely tell a big difference and I sort of liked the stiffer quality of it before.

So forget the stand, I am just trying to figure out why my hat is floppier after the reblock. Is it normal? I had read stiffner is next to impossible to get out so I expected the hat to return at least the same as far as stiffness goes.

You know your stand can go in two position ? Set it so it's on a slant, that should help. For most it's hard to knock the stiffener out but it's me brotha. I have my ways! I'm not your ordinary hatter.

Nitz146 wrote:

j_m_t wrote:not worried about the glue leaching out onto the hat?

Good question, that actually didn't cross my mind. The glue is just water, flour and salt and actually dries quite hard. That picture is just the first stage. Ill be adding a few more layers with a nose and maybe some ears. When that is all done and dried ill be putting a black nylon stocking over it. I don't expect anything to be leached though.

Flour and water... might be an issue with insects. Once it is bone dry maybe paint it with varnish or PVA to seal?

BendingOak wrote:

Jeremiah wrote:While not wearing.
See, i used to hang my AB beaver on a penman hat stand. I could never do that with my AB legacy due to it always pushing the center dent out due to the floppiness.
Now, after my reblock my AB beaver is behaving the same way. I tried adding a little steam to kick in the stiffner a bit, but no luck. So I guess I have to find a new way to store my hat when not in use. Any tips?
EDIT
I may have solved it a little. I used the other way of putting the round piece that holds the hat on the stand. So it now is angled. Works but i will have to get used to it.

That said, with re-blocks. Do they tend to make a hat more pliable and floppy?
I can definitely tell a big difference and I sort of liked the stiffer quality of it before.

So forget the stand, I am just trying to figure out why my hat is floppier after the reblock. Is it normal? I had read stiffner is next to impossible to get out so I expected the hat to return at least the same as far as stiffness goes.

You know your stand can go in two position ? Set it so it's on a slant, that should help. For most it's hard to knock the stiffener out but it's me brotha. I have my ways! I'm not your ordinary hatter.

Yeah thanks. I did this way back when I first started this thread and it's been fine since. I forgot to come back here and report that.
Thanks John.