Club Obi Wan

Hello all,

As some here have already seen I own a lovely Adventurebilt KOTCS beaver fedora with staff of ra liner. I love my AB. Some pics here http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f ... start=2500" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; page 51.

Now as we know the Adventurebilt certainly is very Raiders inspired, and since my AB has these larger proportions (the tall crown and wide brim), I find it a bit too large looking to wear formally with my suits. Maybe it's just me. A tweed jacket looks good with it but I just always seem to end up wearing my vintage Cavanagh grey fedora instead which has much more modest proportions to wear with a slim suit. It has a 2 3/8 round brim and 5 3/8" open crown, while my AB brim is just shy of 3" in front and back, 2 5/8 on the sides and a 5 1/2 or possibly taller crown.



Bottom line is it would be great to have an Indy hat with a proportions a little closer to my Cavanagh, more like the last crusades hat. Especially the trials scenes at the end where you can really see the shorter brim.

Budget is a factor this time, which has led me to the AdVintage Harrison 100% rabbit, which seems to be calling my name both because of the apparent last Crusade look, rabbit felt, and great price (around $160 US with the current exchange rate). From the few posts I've found with pictures it looks like a well made, great looking choice.

My main question with it is: are the specs on a Harrison closer to LC or Raiders? It would be awesome if anyone who has or does own a Harrison could pipe in with any photos or input. Even if the specs are too close to my AB I'm still be interested in it as it looks like a great hat, and maybe I could have a go at cutting the brim down for the LC look I'm after. I have never done a dimensional cut before though.

I've looked through all the posts of Harrison's on here and there just aren't that many photos. It's really hard to find any shots with a Last Crusade bash anywhere on the web either. Only have found one photo on the Raven and it looked great. http://s995.photobucket.com/user/Glenvi ... 7.jpg.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!
Tom

I'm just throwing this out there to help, but have you perhaps asked David Garrison (Garrison Hatters) if he could cut a smaller brim for you on an Indy hat? It's custom and would only run around $200 or so for rabbit (although he did indicate that his prices will be going up)

Yeah, the Raiders look is wonderful, but it doesn't look wonderful on everyone.

I second the Garrison suggestion. You could very easily send him a few pictures of the Cavanagh, plus some measurements and he'd make you an Indy-Cavanagh hybrid, which seems to be what you're going for.

Agreed. Custom hats are so worth it!

whipwarrior wrote:Agreed. Custom hats are so worth it!

Well of course I agree! But I feel like I already own the holy grail of custom hats with my Adventurebilt that took almost 6 years to arrive! I do wear it often with jeans and more casual attire. However, I just want a second option.

Thank you all for the suggestions to Garrison. I checked out his site and they look very nice indeed.
His closest look that I want on his site is the temple of doom fedora which runs $250. Kind of over budget for me...

It's interesting that his crown's all say "tall 5" crown. When my AB measures at least 5 1/2 and maybe a tad more. That half inch alone could make a big
difference. Also with bashing the front a little lower. Also my AB bim sides are at 2 5/8's and his TOD is 2 1/2. Maybe if I have them shaved down to 2 3/8, 1/16th shorter, I think would really pull off the look I'm after. More like this, but not distressed. Check out the comparison in crown height and brim width between my fedora and Harrison's.



In addition I e-mailed AdVintage to ask the specs on the rabbit Harrison.

I have the AdVintage custom Raiders fedora in pure beaver and the quality is amazing. You'll be happy with anything produced by them, I promise.

The Harrison didn't work well for me as an LC hat. It's too tall plus it was slightly tapered when it arrived so it took on sort of a witches hat appearance when bashed. I'll PM you and give you my email if you'd like me to send you some photos.

That hat looks like a Raiders spec bashed as an LC. It's nice, but yeah... not on the money, and tough to wear with a slim suit.

Regardless of which way you go when you buy, I recommend that you consider what a narrower brim will do to the look of the hat. A screen accurate LC hat gives the illusion of a higher crown than Raiders because of the narrower brim. If you trim that even more, but don't adjust the crown height, it might look weird. I think your best bet would be to go custom if you can, and have a good discussion with your hatter about what you need. Basically, throw SA out the window and find the best proportions for you and what you will wear it with.

Another option is the Akubra Adventurer from David Morgan. They have brim cutting services, I think. I wouldn't trim to less than 2 1/2, though.