Club Obi Wan

I have a humidifier, which lets out cold steam...would this have any effect for bashing a fedora?

I would assume it would have the same effect as the cold water / spray bottle method. A method I favor when shaping some hats, as steam's capability to shrink felt has always scared me away from using it. I'd just be sure not to over-saturate the hat, and I would try it first with a test hat (if you have one) just to make sure, but I would think the results would be almost exactly the same as a spray (or "mister") bottle. Good luck!

-GCR

As soon as I read the title one word jumped into my head...

Mold

If you're going to do it with a humidifier, be sure to give it a good washing and then use the cleanest water you can get. When you use steam... the water boils and leave the rest of the junk behind. Using a humidifier you're using everything IN the water, too.

Renderking Fisk wrote:As soon as I read the title one word jumped into my head...

Mold

If you're going to do it with a humidifier, be sure to give it a good washing and then use the cleanest water you can get. When you use steam... the water boils and leave the rest of the junk behind. Using a humidifier you're using everything IN the water, too.

I never thought of that. Good tip, Ren.

Heh. Never thought about that. Thanks for the heads up. I am thinking of Akubra Federation for my first fur fedora (i've been wearing the disneyland wool lid for a few months and its starting to die out on me).

Ray

Ghos7a55assin wrote:Heh. Never thought about that. Thanks for the heads up. I am thinking of Akubra Federation for my first fur fedora (i've been wearing the disneyland wool lid for a few months and its starting to die out on me).

Ray

I have been wearing mine (Fed Deluxe) non-stop for about a week now - Great looking lid so far and it takes a Raiders bash very easily. The sweat has conformed to my head quite quickly compared to other fedoras I have had. Just don't plan on a "screen-accurate" bow configuration. But quick reworking with the existing bow materials are fairly painless.

Overall, I am a satisfied customer.

Ghos7a55assin wrote:I am thinking of Akubra Federation for my first fur fedora .

Ray

Good choice. I just ordered a new Fed regular. It seems I need a new travel hat about every 18 months.


Cheers,
Pyro

Here's another option for ya:

I just finished bashing my Akubra Federation Deluxe last night using the steam from my iron. It worked great! I found it a bit easier than steaming with the tea kettle, which I also used the night before.

I also used the iron to flatten and re-shape the brim on a regular Federation...it worked perfectly and did not harm the hat one bit.

Another good tip that I need to share with the group.

NEVER EVER EVER make a habit out of using an Iron on your fur-felt fedora, and NEVER (not even ONCE) use a wool fedora. If you have to use your iron on your fur-felt, use a light setting and put some towel or other material between the brim and the iron. Don’t do it over and over again… Once or twice a week will be fine if you’re thinking about getting a new fedora soon (yea… that’s the ticket, keep our vendors in business.)

Extreme heat is a good way to ruin a fedora… and there’s nothing in a can that will fix that.

Perhaps I should clarify...I used the hot water STEAM from the iron, not the iron itself. However, I did tap the iron once on one wavy spot on the brim to flatten it with no problems. The felt held up like a champ.

Just ordered my Akubra Federation reg by airmail. Does anyone know how long airmail takes to get to NY? Now I gotta go out and buy my tools (my sis busted up our good fabric scissors on a project ugh.....). I'm basically going to follow John's tutorial. Any idea on wear to get Felt Hat stiffener?? Johannes?

If you ordered it today I'd say you'd have a fair shot at getting it by the end of the week. Failing that you'll get it next monday. Also, you might not need to buy extra stiffener... My fed deluxe had enough to shape it without it.

Mine arrived quicker than I thought it would by air mail, and I live in the Midwest. And I agree with IndianaGuybrush, you won't need the extra stiffener.

On a side note, my new Fed just took a good tumble when a good gust of wind blew it off my head. Now THAT'S distressing!!!!

In more ways than one! Regards. Michaelson

Hand Held Garment steamer with a drop of humidifier cleaner in it. Works like a charm.

Niice..godspeed to my little hat that is still some place in Australia.

Renderking Fisk wrote:Another good tip that I need to share with the group.

NEVER EVER EVER make a habit out of using an Iron on your fur-felt fedora, and NEVER (not even ONCE) use a wool fedora. If you have to use your iron on your fur-felt, use a light setting and put some towel or other material between the brim and the iron. Don’t do it over and over again… Once or twice a week will be fine if you’re thinking about getting a new fedora soon (yea… that’s the ticket, keep our vendors in business.)

Extreme heat is a good way to ruin a fedora… and there’s nothing in a can that will fix that.

I'm curious... how do you think you'd flatten out your brim after doing a total wash/reblock on it???

When I've done the complete overhaul on a few hats, I've had no problem using a steam iron on the brim.
Like you stated, use a LIGHT steam setting. And to be extra sure, don't just use a dry cloth over it. Whenever I'm doing work on stuff like that, be it fur felt fedora or rayon/cotton ribbon, use a WET cloth!

The results will be very good as long s you are careful.

Dalexs

Heh, heck, you can start with a dry cloth and a steam iron...all that steam will get it wet in the bat of an eye.

Hey Jersey Jones,
its funny what you don't know about your house till you decide to buy a fur-felt fedora. i discovered that although i lack a tea kettle, i do however own a garment steamer. It's pretty new and used everyday for the laundry, so it probably isn't moldy yet. Should I just treat this as I would with the tea kettle....atleast eight inches away?
Right now i'm practicing steaming by using the dorfman pacific disneyland hat over a humidifier. It shouldnt do that much damage to the hat right? I mean, its just getting it wet?

MaxPlague wrote:Heh, heck, you can start with a dry cloth and a steam iron...all that steam will get it wet in the bat of an eye.

Actually... it won't! The heat from the iron will dries the cloth before the steam even gets a chance to dampen it. Trust me on this one!

Dalexs

I am with Dalexs. Whenever I reblock a hat, many times, the brim has to be ironed out. I just use the steam setting, and set the temperature on 5(on my iron) which is the Wool setting. Wool and felt, very similiar. I have never, ever had any problems with good felt. I don't use a cloth anymore, just make sure there is no residue from spray starch on your iron. I have also down sized several hats to my size, and the steam iron is essential in getting the numerous crinkles out of the brim that occurs whenever you down size. The hats shrinks over the block, but the brim is still that of the original size. Distortion occurs. To do this, you have to iron the brim repeatedly, allowing the brim to cool, then repeating. You have to really press down hard, really hard at times to get the crinkles out. Of course the steam and heat and pressure is shrinking the brim as you get the crinkles out. I have literally ironed a brim for close to an hour before I got the brim to shrink and the crinkles out. But, they came out. Perserverance. I routinely take some of the curl out on snap brims using the steam iron. The crown tends to shrink more than the brim, and this is where you must be careful with the heat and steam. Afterall, that nice square crown used to be a cone, and the felt never forgets where it came from. Whenever I reblock a hat, I seldom use steam to style it, unless it is a stiff hat like some of the PBs and Kepplers. And then, I am more than likely to just wet the hat with cold water and place the bashes in and let it dry in a cool room. This has always worked for me, and I don't have to worry about overdoing the steam, especially if I know nothing of the felt and its tendencies. regards Fedora

Dalexs wrote:
I'm curious... how do you think you'd flatten out your brim after doing a total wash/reblock on it???

Sorry, you're right. I really should clearify.

Don't make a habit out of using an Iron on your fur-felt fedora,

Don’t do it over and over again… DIRECT Extreme heat is a good way to ruin a fedora… and there’s nothing in a can that will fix that.

Renderking Fisk wrote:
Sorry, you're right. I really should clearify.

Don't make a habit out of using an Iron on your fur-felt fedora,

Don’t do it over and over again… DIRECT Extreme heat is a good way to ruin a fedora… and there’s nothing in a can that will fix that.

Hmmmm... this is starting to sound like the voice of an experience.

Renderking Fisk wrote:Extreme heat is a good way to ruin a fedora… and there’s nothing in a can that will fix that.

Dalexs wrote: I'm curious... how do you think you'd flatten out your brim after doing a total wash/reblock on it???

I use an iron on the hat but it's never plugged in. After a wash and I put it on the block, I use the cold iron to flatten the brim and get all the wrinkles out. I then let it dry for 24 hours.

When it's dry, it's ready for a sweatband.

Simple as that. No heat necessary.

I got some practice cutting tonight by chopping up my Disneyland fedora. I gave it a dimensional cut so the front and back are 2 1/4 inches and the sides are 2 inches. Yeah, it sounds really short, but I'm only 14, so I think that it is more proportionate to my shoulders and ears then how I got it full-sized w/o dimensional cut. Obviously the federation is gonna be a lot easier because it has a dimensional cut already! I think I'm only gonna cut off 1/8" as suggested in the tutorial

That's a good start, Ghos7. I think it's a good idea to make a dimentional cut that works for you and the hat you're trimming. I recently trimmed down a hat that had a very wide brim and a crown to match, so when I cut the brim, I left it a little larger than the tutorial so it would look, right on the hat. You can see pics of it here:

http://public.fotki.com/binkmeisterRick ... entyb.html
http://public.fotki.com/binkmeisterRick ... ybeav.html

And to keep it somewhat on topic, I used clean steam from a kettle to reshape the hat.

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