Unbashing, rebashing

[tonyb]

The thread Joseph started, the one on his new/old Open Road that he changed from a cattleman's bash to a fedora pinch, has me wanting to learn more about other Loungers' successes and failures in trying similar things.
Sometimes, when I've pushed out old bashes, I've noticed a slight difference in color between the felt in what had been bashes and the felt immediately surrounding it. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me, but it sure can look that way. I've also noticed that the felt where the hat had been bashed protrudes just a bit from the material immediately surrounding it. I theorize that that protrusion is due to a slight stretching of the felt at the old bashes, primarily along the old creases. If that is indeed so, I'm left to wonder if the stretched material can be shrunk, in a very localized way. Or, conversely, if the surrounding felt be stretched without also stretching the old bash.
Also, is there any home remedy for an overly tapered crown?
Short of a professional reblock, what's the best way to go?

 

[DanielJones]

Josephs right, you'll need the proper block to properly stretch the crown back into it's untapered shape and that should also help with the memory wrinkles as well. A professional reblocking shouldn't be too costly. Give Steve Delk over at Adventurebilt a jingle and see what he can offer.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Snrbfshn]

You can do a lot with steam and patience...

I just finished reshaping a Stetson Playboy (just posted it) that was pretty badly creased when I got it. I found that if I was liberal with the steam and patient in kneading or massaging the felt repeatedly, I could work the old bash pattern out.

I have a Whippet (which I haven't posted yet) that had been oddly bashed like a short-crowned porkpie, and it was filthy dirty. I thought I'd never get the creases out, but I cleaned it and kept working at it with the steam and it's very hard to tell now where the old bash was.

It helps immensely that I've found an appliance with which I can (safely) direct a lot of steam exactly where I want it. I bought a Rowenta Steam 'n Press at Target for about $26, and lemme tell you, it's the ticket.

 

[MattC]

Thanks for the press suggestion

I took a pork pie bash out of an Adam "open road" style hat, and I got my fingers a bit singed in the process. On the other hand, there's not much room for appliances in NYC apartments.

 

[Uncle Vern]

I've had the same experience as some of you guys. If you steam and brush the hat enough times, you'll eventually show it who's boss. I've been coaxing the side dents out of an Open Road for several weeks, a bit at a time, and it's working. But I've noticed how felts that seem similar are sometimes not, and that they all respond differently to treatment.
The Open Road I'm working on was waterproofed by someone, a redundant move at best on a hat that is already virtually leak-proof. The brim edge would never relax and conform to its original side profile. It has taken a lot of steaming and brushing to break down the waterproofing, and the hat has now settled into its original block.

 

[tonyb]

Steamer thingy

Alan, do you let that Rowenta gizmo make contact with the felt? And does it throw out steam at a rate comparable to, say, a tea kettle at full boil? It looks like it would also be good for sharpening-up suits and such between dry cleanings, which is, I'm guessing, what the manufacturer had in mind for it.

 

[Snrbfshn]

Rowenta Steam 'n Press...

It's like a small steam iron with the ability to shoot steam when the button on the top is pumped. I can direct the steam right where I want it. It's not continuous like a tea kettle, but it produces more than enough steam to shape a hat, plus I don't get burned. It doesn't actually touch the felt, though the attachment can be removed and the unit used as an iron.