The Open Road Guild

[carter]

I need to visit here more often

Kiltie, That OR is OUTSTANDING! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

nickn5, Nice OR. Looking forward to seeing it on your noggin. I

Portolan and Michaelshane, Nice OR's, gentlemen. Looking forward to seeing what you do with them.

 

[carouselvic]

My best guess is 1960's...the 7 1/4 is the newest of the two.




This is my OR 25...I believe it is from the 50's. The sweatband is a full 2" wide. The liner lacks that gold piping around the plastic. Also the faux adjustable sweatband is omitted.

 

[gtdean48]

My best guess is 1960's...the 7 1/4 is the newest of the two...

:arated:

 

[nickn5]

At last...

a photo of my 50s OR on the stretcher and me wearing it after some minor resizing and some major reshaping... :

Aiming for a diamond crease:

On me noggin...

N.

 

[gtdean48]

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Atticus Finch]

My new Campdraft arrived from Hats Direct after only seven days' wait. Last night I set about bashing it. Please understand that I've never bashed a hat (on purpose) in my life, so this was quite an experience.

Step one was to "block" the hat to fit my long-oval melon. My Campdraft is size 7 5/8, so I used a smaller, medium-sized hat stretcher and a lot of steam to lengthen the opening. Then I let it "set" for an hour.

Step two was to snap down the brim. This was pretty easy. Didn't need much steam or effort to do this.

Step three was to form the crown. Frankly, this took a fair amount of work. I was trying to copy RBH's Stratoliner---which is about the sharpest looking lid I've ever seen. Please believe me, I made a lot of trips from the teapot on my kitchen stove to my computer screen in my effort to get the lines of the crown exactly right. Sadly, I didn't even come close. I never could quite duplicate those classic lines.

Step four was to put the pinch in the front. Again, this took a fair amount of steam and effort to get the symmetry the way I thought it should be.

Anyhow, here's my Campdraft---Atticus blocked and bashed. I have to say, I like it...and my cat, Maggie...well she thinks its the cat's meow!

AF

 

[univibe88]

That looks fantastic Atticus!

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thanks, Karl. I was so happy with how my hat turned out that I just ordered another Campdraft---this time in silverbelly, and this time from EA. The service from HD was first rate---but, for me, the marginal utility of yet another Open Road styled hat has gotten low enough that I had to go with EA's more reasonable price. The wait will be three months, but I have plenty of hats to wear until then.

AF

 

[rgraham]

Nicely done. I can see that after elongating the hat into a long oval, you ended up with the same little reverse flip in the brim as I did. It's kind of subtle, but it's there.

I too ordered another Campdraft after my first, but ordered it in a long oval. You may want to include that in your new order so you won't have to stretch it out yourself. I'm hoping this will make for a nice smooth curve in the front from crown to tip of front brim.

 

[Feraud]

The Borsalino version.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Nicely done. I can see that after elongating the hat into a long oval, you ended up with the same little reverse flip in the brim as I did. It's kind of subtle, but it's there.

I too ordered another Campdraft after my first, but ordered it in a long oval. You may want to include that in your new order so you won't have to stretch it out yourself. I'm hoping this will make for a nice smooth curve in the front from crown to tip of front brim.

Thank you. That was a good suggestion. I just e-mailed EA and asked if I could amend my order to specify a long oval size 61.

AF

 

[gtdean48]

Thank you. That was a good suggestion. I just e-mailed EA and asked if I could amend my order to specify a long oval size 61.

AF

Does EA do the blocking to Long Oval then ship? I'd assume Akubra just makes them to the size & doesn't have this step at the factory but could be wrong...

 

[Atticus Finch]

Does EA do the blocking to Long Oval then ship? I'd assume Akubra just makes them to the size & doesn't have this step at the factory but could be wrong...

Not yet sure. As soon as EA returns my e-mail I'll post their answer. If long oval is really available from vendors such as HD and EA, it will be yet another reason for me to just buy Akubra hats from now on.

AF

 

[gtdean48]

I've also read on here that Campdrafts tend to seem larger than other styles, possibly due to the Open Crown, but they come back to your head after wearing a good while. I have a Kiandra in 61 that fits real nice.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Hi All,

I received an e-mail from Everything Australian this morning. Of course, it was in response to yesterday's request for a long oval Campdraft.

Hi Geoffrey, Thank you for your email.No problem at all, your Campdraft will be made long oval.
Kind Regards Sam Menche
www.everythingaustralian.com.au

Tough to beat that kind of service, don't y'all think?

AF

 

[gtdean48]

My second hat won't be here until April, so I asked Sam at EA if they did long oval blocking or did it need to be ordered from Akubra that way. Will post the reply when I get it...

 

[univibe88]

Hi All,

I received an e-mail from Everything Australian this morning. Of course, it was in response to yesterday's request for a long oval Campdraft.



Tough to beat that kind of service, don't y'all think?

AF

Fantastic service

 

[Guinness]

Borsalino Version

The Borsalino version.

What model Borsalino is this? It is a beautiful hat.

 

[gtdean48]

What model Borsalino is this? It is a beautiful hat.

Most likely the Alessandria...

 

[gtdean48]

Does EA do the blocking to Long Oval then ship? I'd assume Akubra just makes them to the size & doesn't have this step at the factory but could be wrong...

Here is Sam of EA's reply about Long Ovals =
The hats can be 'long ovaled' in two ways, the best way is to do it when the hat is being made (we are too late for this), the other way is to get akubra to put it on the long oval block and then they can steam it. I will tell akubra to do this to your hats, and there will be no problems with this.
Next time state in the special comments section of your order that you would like them to be long oval.