Indiana Jones hat dimensions

[TheManInTheHat]

I will show them off, for sure! Thanks for the interest. However.....
I may have overdone the dicking around and I'm starting to detect a slight and most unwelcome Temple of Doom taper on the HJ. I don't think I'm imagining it. Does anyone know a good way to reverse this and straighten up all those lines? I suspect it will involve steam and considerable force.

 

[Wesslyn]

I will show them off, for sure! Thanks for the interest. However.....
I may have overdone the dicking around and I'm starting to detect a slight and most unwelcome Temple of Doom taper on the HJ. I don't think I'm imagining it. Does anyone know a good way to reverse this and straighten up all those lines? I suspect it will involve steam and considerable force.

Well reblocking it is one way to help it. Another thing I've found I'd tightening the ribbon and/or sweatband. But if it's just a hint and not full blown taper mess, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Thank you! So I decided to reblock it. Fortunately, last year I happened to find the perfect vintage wooden block of my exact head size. But until today, I'd only used it to encourage the occasional sweatband....
I practised on my beloved, slightly moth-eaten old Knox Fedora, which had a pronounced taper. I put the kettle on and went to work. Immediately discovered how fast you have to move! After 20 seconds of pulling, the hat stiffens up and you have to give it more steam. There's an interim stage where I got a perfect Bowler, then yanked it off and bashed and creased it. To my delighted surprise, the sides had become straight and suddenly I had a brand-new, boxy, Indi style (stingy) Fedora.
Next stop, Christys. Finally, it'll be the HJ. I will upload pics shortly.

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Here's a self-explanatory sequence. Note the taper has vanished! So pleased...

 

[Frunobulax]

Looks like you did a pretty good job. Next time, try misting the felt with some water and let it saturate a bit. You won't have to work as fast. You can leave it on the block to let it dry. When I re-block/resize an older "dead" felt, I'll often leave it on the block for a day or even more, so the felt's "memory" is set to the new block.

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Thanks, that's great advice, which I will definitely follow when I work on the Christys' and HJ hats. I'm actually still blown away by how well it worked on my old Knox. I shall start wearing it again, once the HK weather turns.

 

[Benzadmiral]

. . . I also love the iconic Raiders fedora. . . . . Indiana Jones is not vain or fastidious, doesn't consider himself to be an icon, and only values his old Fedora as a talisman, given to him when he was 15 years old by Garth, the disreputable adventurer ("You lost today kid. But you that doesn't mean you have to like it"). Even if he ever lost his hat, I have a problem with the idea of Dr Jones going to a bespoke hatter and choosing such a fancy upgrade. Wouldn't he just wander into Sears, when he had enough cash in his pocket for a replacement? . . .

I envision him stopping off at Abercrombie and Fitch when he's in New York (did they carry dress fedoras in 1938?), or any respectable men's store in London or Paris or Madrid.

"Need a new fedora, sir?"

"Yeah. Wide brim. Size 7 3/8, and brown. Something like that model in your display window. Yeah, that's it. Perfect fit."

"Will you wear it, sir, or should I have it wrapped?"

"Oh, I'll wear it. Got to start breaking it in. By the way, do you have the same model in gray?"

 

[Benzadmiral]

Here's a self-explanatory sequence. Note the taper has vanished! So pleased...

Very nicely done. It looks like a totally different hat.

 

[RJR]

Very nicely done. It looks like a totally different hat.

+1

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Very nicely done. It looks like a totally different hat.

Yes! And I was intrigued by the way it suddenly became a Bowler en route

 

[TheManInTheHat]

But I guess I already have enough Bowlers.

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Ok I took a shot at reblocking my badly tapered Christys' Adventurer. This hat is too low in the crown anyway so it's never going to look Indi-accurate but I definitely prefer it with a boxier crown. Here are the 'before' pictures...

 

[TheManInTheHat]

And after...

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Herbert Johnson Poet: before reblocking, with creeping taper

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Herbert Johnson Poet: after reblocking, no more taper

 

[TheManInTheHat]

Better shot of the improved crown...

 

[TheManInTheHat]

As we know, many Indi hats have issues with taper and shrinkage...

 

[TheManInTheHat]

I steamed it but it just got worse

 

[TheManInTheHat]

I found this 1985 article during archive research into UK hat history.

 

[TheManInTheHat]

This is from 1967! Before any of us had heard of Indiana Jones...