How to make your very own hat block...

Posted by Fedora from 24.116.27.226 on August 24, 2001 at 21:17:42:

In Reply to: Or a heavy soaking of hair spray! posted by Michaelson on August 24, 2001 at 15:03:20:

: Then you'd NEVER need a retainer, would you? (grins) Regards. Michaelson

:
: : : You're talking about a hat block. These are the wooden blocks that hats makers use to put the shape into your hat, then apply steam to the felt when the felt is over a particular block to semi-permanently put the shape into the felt. I remember the drill hats that Stetson sold had the plastic block in the box, but I'm not aware of anyone else ever doing that. Neat idea, but no two fedoras are the same in this crew. We'd never be able to find a "universal block" to buy! (grins) Regards. Michaelson

: : : : Wouldn't it be nice to have a hat "form", if you will, that we could use when our hat just gets completely beaten up we could just set it in the "form", it dries, and...presto! All back to normal! Complete with bash, band, and brim restored!

: : : : What actually made me think of this was a friend of mine who was a Drill Sgt. in the Army. He had such a contraption for his "brown-round" DI Hat. Every night he would come home and simply place the hat into this thing, spray it with some kind of conditioner, close the "lid", and that was it till the next day.

: : : : Anyway, enough dreaming. I can't even afford a real fur felt hat yet! Just some of my endless musings. :-)

: : : : Regards,
: : : : Indiana Pete

This comes from my friend, a local western hatter. All that you need is an old fedora, sandpaper, hat stiffener, and the fiber glass compound available at auto parts stores. First style the old hat the way you want your new ones to look, then apply loads of hat stiffener to make the hat firm. Next, cut off the brim completely. After removing the liner and sweat band, coat the inside of the old hat with numerous coats of the fiber glass compound. Once this stuff dries, you now have a perfect "hat block". Of course this old hat needs to be 1/8 size smaller than the hat you are blocking. I have seen several of these home made blocks, as well as the hats that they were used to block, and the results are remarkable. Regards, Fedora

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Well, you know where to find that old Fedora! 22:05:51 8/24/2001 (0)

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: : Then you'd NEVER need a retainer, would you? (grins) Regards. Michaelson

: : 
: : : : You're talking about a hat block. These are the wooden blocks that hats makers use to put the shape into your hat, then apply steam to the felt when the felt is over a particular block to semi-permanently put the shape into the felt. I remember the drill hats that Stetson sold had the plastic block in the box, but I'm not aware of anyone else ever doing that. Neat idea, but no two fedoras are the same in this crew. We'd never be able to find a "universal block" to buy! (grins) Regards. Michaelson

: : : : : Wouldn't it be nice to have a hat "form", if you will, that we could use when our hat just gets completely beaten up we could just set it in the "form", it dries, and...presto!  All back to normal!  Complete with bash, band, and brim restored!

: : : : : What actually made me think of this was a friend of mine who was a Drill Sgt. in the Army.  He had such a contraption for his "brown-round" DI Hat.  Every night he would come home and simply place the hat into this thing, spray it with some kind of conditioner, close the "lid", and that was it till the next day.

: : : : : Anyway, enough dreaming.  I can't even afford a real fur felt hat yet!  Just some of my endless musings. :-)

: : : : : Regards,
: : : : : Indiana Pete

: 
:     This comes from my friend, a local western hatter. All that you need is an old fedora, sandpaper, hat stiffener, and the fiber glass compound available at auto parts stores. First style the old hat the way you want your new ones to look, then apply loads of hat stiffener to make the hat firm. Next, cut off the brim completely. After removing the liner and sweat band, coat the inside of the old hat with numerous coats of the fiber glass compound. Once this stuff dries, you now have a perfect "hat block". Of course this old hat needs to be 1/8 size smaller than the hat you are blocking. I have seen several of these home made blocks, as well as the hats that they were used to block, and the results are remarkable. Regards, Fedora

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