In addition to gtdean48's comments the commercial stretchers usually have a scale on them so you have a better idea what size you are really stretching the hat to. And a greatly increased ability to really crank on the hat if it's thick felt or if it needs a lot of stretching.
If you are on thefedorastore.com website looking at the beaver brands click on the little ? mark button next to the bow styles. it will show you the available bow styles.
Both my black hats are custom but if I was looking to buy one off the shelf I'd take a look at the silk or velour Beaver Brand hats
here's a link straight to the velour page
semi-custom Beaver Brand Velour
all jokes aside, I like beaver Brand hats because they let you pick almost all of...
The other pieces of wood in that pic are a spinner for the crown block and an insert to go into the slot in the band block. I specified "furniture grade" when I ordered that block so I got the extra bells and whistles. Only the band block is actually required. My second band block doesn't have...
The band block is theoretically a cross section of your head. Just put the band block in the hat and let it sit there. It will stretch and form the hat the same way your head does but it doesn't hurt your head as much :) and you can leave the block in the hat as long as necessary.
The challenge...
I just got one of the green herringbone caps. It's warm but a good wind goes right through it. I'm about to order one their black heather caps, which they say is the heaviest wool they have, but I still think a felt hat will be warmer
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