Club Obi Wan

I'm trying to decide on my next indy lid and needed some opinions. I'm wanting a penman 100% beaver read and heard lot of good things about them for has durability and not losing shape. My problem is should i get crusade or crystal skull. I have a crusade in a everyman and i like the crystal skull fedora because its a mixture of raiders and crusade which is both my favorite indy movies. Need help deciding and pictures of both hats for comparison will be great. Thanks ahead for info

Also keep in mind that Penman has the blocks that Steve used to make the CS hats. So, tbh, I think you have every reason to pick CS over Crusade. Unless you're feeling an itch for another Crusade hat, I say go for the CS.

And I can testify to the penman beaver handling a lot and still going strong. I don’t worry when it’s loaded with snow or rained on. I just keep it on my head till dry. Has not tapered yet and I have worn it sometimes daily for weeks at a time. One thing though. It’s floppy. At least raiders one so it may be different for the CS or LC. Not so floppy it won’t hold brim shape, but I have grown to enjoy how floppy mine is.

I have an LC Penman, which has seen rain and snow. No issues. And it's not floppy at all. Of course, with a custom hat, that's something you can discuss with the hatter.
The Crystal Skull hat is nice, and it sounds like your dream hat. Before CS existed, I had somebody make me a hat that was a deliberate cross between a Raiders and an LC. It ended up pretty close to the Crystal Skull design, and love it.

And why repeat the LC if your happy with it?

For what it’s worth I vote for CS as well.

Enjoy!

Crusade and CS are pretty close in many ways. I always thought CS was the most appealing combo of Indy hat design factors. Here's my beaver/rabbit CS Harrison from Advintage (which I love) --

Chewbacca Jones wrote:I have an LC Penman, which has seen rain and snow. No issues. And it's not floppy at all. Of course, with a custom hat, that's something you can discuss with the hatter.
The Crystal Skull hat is nice, and it sounds like your dream hat. Before CS existed, I had somebody make me a hat that was a deliberate cross between a Raiders and an LC. It ended up pretty close to the Crystal Skull design, and love it.

And why repeat the LC if your happy with it?

Good to know. Yeah must be he does the floppy with the raiders only even in beaver. At the time I requested not as floppy as the legacy but now glad I got it the way it is. It’s aged really well.

I like both as they are my favorites from the movies. I also have both in beaver from other makers. I would go with CS if I had to pick between the 2 of them.

I really love my CS. Had it for 6 years. Highly recommend.

How about seeing some pictures of these CS hats

What size are you? I have a CS from Steve for sale.


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Thanks for information going to get cs. I have another question my brother loves raiders and wants a SA hat and i know the legacy collection raiders that john has is top notch but he will be wearing this hat alot like hunting and everyday use so do i get the raiders in beaver or can the high quality light weight felt that john use in the legacy collection raiders hold up. Any suggestions

I've got an ABL on order with John, so I too would be interested in hearing people's assessments of the felt.

I have a few penman hats. Love them. I also have an ABL raiders. I am very disappointed how my brim won’t hold shape. It was like this from the beginning. Very floppy too which did not help. I know that’s SA but the hero hat probably had more of a vintage quality rabbit fur and handled it. I think I may have gotten a bad hat body though. I have made mention of it before here. Brian recently reblocked it, but front of brim still sags when I wear it and I have tried hairspray to no avail and he did put a little stiffener under the brim for me but even with steam it’s not enough to hold shape. I love the color though.

Anyway, I know others here have not had issues so I am chalking it up to a bad hat body. Other than that it’s a great hat. And even with a droopy brim I can still wear it.

Even John would advise on a Beaver felt body if you are doing everyday use though. My penman raiders in Beaver has been used and abused and it’s floppy too but holds shape like it has military grade stiffener in it.

How smooth and soft is the beaver felt raiders

Mine is very soft and smooth.
I have had it a year now and wear it daily.

https://imgur.com/a/rrssG

I bashed myself which is why ribbon is closer to pinch. That pic was after a few rain drops.

Hat has seen lots of rain and snow. Just gets better and better.

This is the penman beaver felt that I refer to in this post. The one previous was rabbit.

Don’t have an ABL so I’m not sure, but I used a clothing iron to stiffen felt so it might work for you. You could also get a hat stiffener but I don’t have any experience with that.

Crazyc2314 wrote:How smooth and soft is the beaver felt raiders

I have several more than a few Penmans. Most are beaver felt. My oldest is around 9 years old. Worn heavily and reblocked twice. It was butter soft out of the box and has only improved with age.