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[deadlyhandsome]

I used to be able to get it from just such people and places but your no longer allowed to collect fallen or felled trees around where I am and the arborist's who do fell tree's for a living ask for money for wood from the tree's they fell or they chip it all. In City areas here local by-laws don't allow you to pick up or cut fallen trees due to insurance risks and liabilities.

Heck they are crazy here, they even build the roads around a tree if it's significant (over 1 metre around) and that's in the metro area of a capital city. Funnest thing I've seen is when your in a industrial area full of factories and the tree in the middle of the road is still left there and road just goes around both side of the tree lol.

Scrounging while often doesn't always get you the better quality timber, you never know what it's like to you get into processing it. I still think it's best though, to buy processed figured or exotic timber is crazy expensive and finding a winning bit of beautiful timber it's the most rewarding. I love finding out how wonderful the grain can look. I've got a little bit of root from a 600 year old grey ghost gum and it's stunning. I love the surprise of it I guess.

edit: Heck you have to get permission to even cut your own tree's down.

Are you sure you don’t live in California? I’m drowning in rules and laws and government interference here, and every day I look forward to my pending escape.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

Are you sure you don’t live in California? I’m drowning in rules and laws and government interference here, and every day I look forward to my pending escape.

Thing is I thought I had escaped, where I live was all horse's n cattle with a few farms scattered about. Stay still long enough and now metropolis is approaching and housing developments with tiny blocks of land and massive houses are popping up everywhere.

I was country, then rural and now I'm metro in the suburbs???? I didn't move,but feel like I have. If we win the lottery ever I'm buying Tasmania 'n kicking everyone else out lol.

edit: man my blood's hot now...made me think damn it....We even have bin (as in rubbish bin/trash can etc) police though we have a different name for them less endearing. They go through your rubbish can and if somethings not meant to be in there they fine you and leave a nasty sticker on your trash cans

 

[belfastboy]

Thing is I thought I had escaped, where I live was all horse's n cattle with a few farms scattered about. Stay still long enough and now metropolis is approaching and housing developments with tiny blocks of land and massive houses are popping up everywhere.

I was country, then rural and now I'm metro in the suburbs???? I didn't move,but feel like I have. If we win the lottery ever I'm buying Tasmania 'n kicking everyone else out lol.

edit: man my blood's hot now...made me think damn it....We even have bin (as in rubbish bin/trash can etc) police though we have a different name for them less endearing. They go through your rubbish can and if somethings not meant to be in there they fine you and leave a nasty sticker on your trash cans

Aus sounds similar to here in Canada. We need a permit to cut a tree on our own property. We get fined if we throw out things that should be recycled and fined again if we put recyclables in the wrong bins. We cannot put our glass bottles/jars etc in the recycling we have to drive it 4 miles to a special recycling bin.

 

[The Shoe]

Sure have, many times in the past. Akubra's are renowned for a little bit of shrink over long periods of not being worn, but sounds like you don't need much stretching so it should be fine. A hat jack will serve you well, or a hat stool. Just make sure the leather sweatband is nourished and flexible etc before stretching.

I keep a block of wood shaped to my head in each of my hats so they can never shrink smaller like these.

A simple hat jack cost prolly less than $30 and does the same thing but is adjustable. Anyways, go easy it'll prolly only take one to 2 nights and it'll stretch out. If it needs a full size or more be careful, you may need to cut the reed also. See how you go and how much resistance there is. Don't use a small stretcher for large changes as they can leave a full step/blocking at our around ribbon height. Full size stretchers or blocks avoid this issue.

Thanks for that. I was aware of Akubra’s reputation for shrinkage, but a 60 is usually just a little big on me (59 is occasionally a good fit and often a bit small) and as I mentioned, my ‘60s Stylemaster is a good fit, so I thought I’d be alright.
The Snowy River actually feels a bit tight, but comfortable at first, but gradually begins to feel uncomfortably tight and leaves a big red mark on my forehead.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

Edit: red marks, ya way too tight. They can shrink down as much as 2 'n a bit in sizes, be careful if it's too tight stretching it out. I'm not a fan of doing big stretches as it requires more work and equipment ideally.

If you have a chunk of thick wood say 2inches/50mm or so you can easily make your own keeper/stretcher to your own head size. Use a hat that is a perfect fit on your head, get a bit of paper and trace or mark the paper to the shape of the sweatband and then cut out that shape.

Use the paper cut-out of your head - shape/size on the block of wood, trace round with a pencil and then cut away excess and sand down to size. When getting close to the final size use the hat that fits well itself till you get the wood shaped to match and fit the hat perfectly.

Round off the top edge of the wood block a bit as your forehead isn't a flat wall normally and will have a curve and it'll also make it a bit easier for snugging on a slightly smaller hat to bring it up to your head size/shape. Glue short block or whatever under so it's off the ground by a couple inches and you have a cheap but custom fit hat keeper.

Most hats with a leather band will shrink over time if they are not worn and the leather not kept nourished and in shape.

 

[The Shoe]

If you have a chunk of thick wood say 2inches/50mm or so you can easily make your own keeper/stretcher to your own head size. Use a hat that is a perfect fit on your head, get a bit of paper and trace or mark the paper to the shape of the sweatband and then cut out that shape.

Use the paper cut-out of your head - shape/size on the block of wood, trace round with a pencil and then cut away excess and sand down to size. When getting close to the final size use the hat that fits well itself till you get the wood shaped to match and fit the hat perfectly.

Round off the top edge of the wood block a bit as your forehead isn't a flat wall normally and will have a curve and it'll also make it a bit easier for snugging on a slightly smaller hat to bring it up to your head size/shape. Glue short block or whatever under so it's off the ground by a couple inches and you have a cheap but custom fit hat keeper.

Most hats with a leather band will shrink over time if they are not worn and the leather not kept nourished and in shape.

Thanks, but I have neither the wood, nor the tools, nor the woodworking skills to manage this. I’m pretty adept at chopping up the peach wood I can get for free around here for smoking meat, but that’s about it!

 

[Silver-Wolf]

Thanks, but I have neither the wood, nor the tools, nor the woodworking skills to manage this. I’m pretty adept at chopping up the peach wood I can get for free around here for smoking meat, but that’s about it!

Not alot of skill needed really but some tools and a chunk of timber is obviously needed, well a hat jack is cheaper than buying wood and tools and can be left in a hat as a keeper also if not worn often. If your close enough in sizes it may work for your other half's hats also. They normally adjust/cover 3 or more sizes roughly.

 

[The Shoe]

Not alot of skill needed really but some tools and a chunk of timber is obviously needed, well a hat jack is cheaper than buying wood and tools and can be left in a hat as a keeper also if not worn often. If your close enough in sizes it may work for your other half's hats also. They normally adjust/cover 3 or more sizes roughly.

Wondering if anyone has seen this brand before. It’s significantly cheaper than anything else available in Japan.

 

[belfastboy]

Wondering if anyone has seen this brand before. It’s significantly cheaper than anything else available in Japan. View attachment 275808

No, but they are simple devices and this looks like it will work. Certainly will work as a simple band block to maintain the shape and size of your hat. Be cautious when using any hat stretcher as hats are limited in the amount of stretch before they distort.

 

[belfastboy]

No, but they are simple devices and this looks like it will work. Certainly will work as a simple band block to maintain the shape and size of your hat. Be cautious when using any hat stretcher as hats are limited in the amount of stretch before they distort.

I have paid as little as $20 and as much as $40 and they all do the same thing.

 

[daizawaguy]

Wondering if anyone has seen this brand before. It’s significantly cheaper than anything else available in Japan. View attachment 275808

Thats a good deal - the issue is felt and leather has memory and can and most probably will shrink with moisture, so having a tool to bring it back into shape is vital for the hat wearer.

These hat stretchers are great for the long oval head, but if you are aiming for 1cm or more, they tend to stretch the sides more than the front, and can damage the leather and distort the natural shape of the hat. The fuller the stretcher, the better it is at evenly stretching, which is ideally what you want.

Some hats stay put, some don't - all to do with the combination of felt, leather, and head shape and place it sits on the head. But as mentioned before its not an overnight process - in fact, I have made minor adjustments to hats using these stretchers, but inevitably they fall back to their original size, but it does help. Failing that, Metamorphosia in Saitama does excellent cleaning repair and size work and is used by Toraya in Ginza, and if postage overseas is high, they provide a very good service in Japan.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Thanks for that. I was aware of Akubra’s reputation for shrinkage, but a 60 is usually just a little big on me (59 is occasionally a good fit and often a bit small) and as I mentioned, my ‘60s Stylemaster is a good fit, so I thought I’d be alright.
The Snowy River actually feels a bit tight, but comfortable at first, but gradually begins to feel uncomfortably tight and leaves a big red mark on my forehead.

You can order a band block in your size. It’s tapered to make insertion easier and it will maintain or restore the inside circumference and the shape of your head. They come in long oval too.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

You can order a band block in your size. It’s tapered to make insertion easier and it will maintain or restore the inside circumference and the shape of your head. They come in long oval too.

View attachment 275839

Much better IMO than those hat jacks for maintaining a hat/sweatbands size. I hate how they twist 'n flop turn when fitting them, handy for adjusting a hat but with my bad hands takes me 3 minutes fiddling with the dang thing when I just want to set a hat and it stay. prolly not a real world issue for others but frustrates me all the same.

Edit: Just a word of caution again about those hat jacks, very handy for slight resizing, well more adjusting but do be careful about making large changes with them. As belfastboy mentioned above too much and your brim etc changes and you get a stepping or fat step often right about the height of top ribbon edge (thickness of hat jack/sweatband).

 

[Matt_SFL]

Hey I’m back with another hat question lol...I found 2 hats that might resemble this they are the Saxon and Dobbs Dayton but I was wondering if there was any more hats that resemble this does anyone know of any names of hats that look like this ?

 

[jlee562]

Here is the Stetson Catalog:
http://www.hat-co.com/perch//resources/f20-stetson-city-no-prices-1.pdf

Here is the Dobbs Catalog:
http://www.hat-co.com/perch//resources/dobbsf20-no-prices-1.pdf

Otherwise, what you've been told before still holds. There are any number of hats that look like this on eBay right now, but they usually do not have a specific model name associated with them because that is the nature of second hand hat selling.

 

[Gobi]

What would be the length and width of a 62cm long oval block?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

What would be the length and width of a 62cm long oval block?
View attachment 276913

I don’t know if this helps, but the nominal inside length of a standard oval size 62 is approximately 8 1/2 inches and the width is 7 inches. This is the finished hat dimensions and it isn’t necessarily the block dimensions. A long oval will be slightly longer and slightly less wide. As far as I know, there are no agreed upon standards to define these “ovals.” If you need to account for the thickness of the sweatband then the block dimensions will need to be bigger than the finished hat dimensions.

 

[FedoraRedHat]

I am in the market for cardboard hat boxes with crown inserts, such as the ones shipped by Delmonico and JJ Hat Center. However, the only supplier offers overpriced boxes ($25):

https://ultrafino.com/products/ultrafino-hat-box

$25 is overpriced for me because I require 7 of them. Also, Delmonico charges $10 for an extra hat box.

I found this Stetson-branded hat box on the French hatter bon-clic-bon-genre.us:

The price is right, at ~$10 plus shipping. However, one thing puzzles me. The picture clearly shows space for a crown support insert, but it does not include one. I am hesitant to buy this hat box based on the picture.

I would prefer not to use plastic hat cans, since my current hat storage system would become difficult to manage. If anyone has experience buying from bon-clic-bon-genre, please let me know. Or, if anyone could suggest an alternative hat box brand that I could use, that would be great as well. Thanks.

 

[new2hats]

FWIW, I bought a bunch of plain cardboard boxes, 12 x 12 x 6 and have put my hats in, upside down/crown down. I cushioned the bottom with the many bubble wraps that I have saved (the nice ones!), enclosed the crown in a small clear plastic bag, leaving the inside open to air. Then covered lightly with tissue paper. Labelled each box with generic white label stickers. My method is affordable, compact, and appears to protect the hats enough.

 

[jlee562]

Tim @Purebeaver hat supply is using the white boxes pictured on top. It might be worth shooting him a DM on instagram to see if he would sell you some.