What Hat Are You Working On Today?

[HatsBySam]

Ive been thinking of doing a friction burnishing for a finish. A light tung oil application then a smooth metal cone on a dremel should work... I just need to find a machinist to turn one for me. Guess I COULD just use one of my bone burnishers for the leather work...... it would just take a long time. Lots of wood bowl turners use friction burnishing with no other finish

I’d worry about a friction finish handling steam. I tend to steam the bodies pretty hard while on the block as I’m trying to get them fully stretched.

 

[RickP]

I’d worry about a friction finish handling steam. I tend to steam the bodies pretty hard while on the block as I’m trying to get them fully stretched.

I've got a burnished coin/ key bowl thats prob 20 yrs old and it's never lost its shine.....think I'll grab some walnut, oak, poplar, and mahogany pieces and do a tung oil and friction burnish... Then I'll steam and iron the heck out of them and see what happens....I HAVE thought of just spraying with a high temp engine paint but I just havent gotton past the idea of a bright orange block lol

 

[RickP]

Humm......jus did some looking and there IS a clear high temp engine paint. I may have to buy a can just to test

 

[RickP]

Hat block update ....Got all the block pieces sanded to size so Ill be starting to glue them up the next few days. I did decide Im going to do 6-1/2" tall blocks and make a 2" removable base extension held in place with dowells or pins. I dont routinely work on taller blocks, but now Ill have the option without having to jury rig something.

Big news is that I DID find a 500 degree ceramic clear spray engine paint and gave it a test on some scrap. Wood was 60 grit sanded so it has a fairly rough surface to bite on. Im guessing dense woods like walnut might work with one coat, but Im thinking things like poplar, pine, or fir like Im working with is going to require multiple coats ( its soaking in pretty fast) Because of the heat and steam exposure in hat work, Im afraid a normal sealer coat underneath the clear might not hold up....At least its going to look purty. Giving it a couple days to dry and then Ill iron and steam and find out if I can destroy it. Any trouble under heat and Ill just buff in some carnuba wax and leave the blocks unfinished. More updates to come

 

[HatsBySam]

Something like that one Im thinking the bestest thing would be to make one big honkin block and then saw off the bottom and add the dowels... that way it would all match

In have a full range of band blocks and have added caps of various profiles to several of them for various hat styles.

 

[RickP]

Ive been thinking of also stretching up some felt block covers to add a bit of size like some old blocks had

 

[wsmontana]

$8 thrift shop find gets a make-over. The 10X beaver felt was very workable and I’ll likely play with the crease a bit — the 5” crown limits the options though. I added a 1” curl to create some structure to the unwieldy 4” brim. The liner was scavenged from another hat. The screw rivet buffalo nickel makes a sturdy fastener on an old leather strap.

 

[RickP]

In have a full range of band blocks and have added caps of various profiles to several of them for various hat styles.

Was doing some reading and found some interesting info on a wood species named Paulowmia. Lightweight ( often used for musical instruments and surfboards) Natural fire resistant to about 400 degrees and has a class a fire rating. There are lumber sources here in the states so I might have to see if I can get a board. For a hat block it could be a good iron and steam resistant material

 

[RickP]

Happy customer this morning.... one of my coffee co horts brought me a nice but really grungy 25 yr old 30x American hat. The sweatband had come out and he had tried to glue back in. He is a professional exotic game mover so this was a real working had... no telling how many species of animal dna was ground in lol

Got all the glue off the leather sweat (Saddle soap dissolved with lighter fluid did a good job) , and picked glue off the felt for about 4 hrs with tweasers. Did about 4 hrs of sloshing and brushing in white gas to clean the felt and get it black again. Took lots of pics since he liked it just the way it was. Reblocked, steamed, flattened the brim, and smoothed some old creases, and then reshaped back to the way it was. Sewed in the sweatband and the back ribbon bow, and long oval tag ( tag wound'nt stick with glue so I stitched it to the sweat. Did NOT stick my fingers even once!). Think he was surprised when I brought it to coffee this morning ( I didnt get it till monday morning) I think two days is a pretty darned good turnaround for a total overhaul. Its all black again and looks good. Pictured is one of the gauze filters I used to drain the gas back into the cans... the first gauze was jet black. the second thats in the pic was still filthy with hat ***k, but not quite as bad. Rather dirty hat

Fun being retired with a useful hobby. Really fun getting to work on a higher end hat

 

[RBH]

Happy customer this morning.... one of my coffee co horts brought me a nice but really grungy 25 yr old 30x American hat. The sweatband had come out and he had tried to glue back in. He is a professional exotic game mover so this was a real working had... no telling how many species of animal dna was ground in lol

Got all the glue off the leather sweat (Saddle soap dissolved with lighter fluid did a good job) , and picked glue off the felt for about 4 hrs with tweasers. Did about 4 hrs of sloshing and brushing in white gas to clean the felt and get it black again. Took lots of pics since he liked it just the way it was. Reblocked, steamed, flattened the brim, and smoothed some old creases, and then reshaped back to the way it was. Sewed in the sweatband and the back ribbon bow, and long oval tag ( tag wound'nt stick with glue so I stitched it to the sweat. Did NOT stick my fingers even once!). Think he was surprised when I brought it to coffee this morning ( I didnt get it till monday morning) I think two days is a pretty darned good turnaround for a total overhaul. Its all black again and looks good. Pictured is one of the gauze filters I used to drain the gas back into the cans... the first gauze was jet black. the second thats in the pic was still filthy with hat ***k, but not quite as bad. Rather dirty hat

Fun being retired with a useful hobby. Really fun getting to work on a higher end hat
View attachment 775136 View attachment 775135 View attachment 775134

Fantastic job!!!!

 

[RickP]

Picked up a new tool/ toy today. Id seen a video of an Australian fellow using one of these brim curl tools. The 1/2" tool works well enough that if the seller has a 3/4" Ill order one of them as well. Anything that works well and doesnt have much of a learning curve has my attention

Tested on a poor little worn out Bradford hat that needed some serious help.. Before.....

and after

if I get news about a 3/4" tool Ill post info details

 

[jeffgarf]

Picked up a new tool/ toy today. Id seen a video of an Australian fellow using one of these brim curl tools. The 1/2" tool works well enough that if the seller has a 3/4" Ill order one of them as well. Anything that works well and doesnt have much of a learning curve has my attention
View attachment 776236 View attachment 776237

Tested on a poor little worn out Bradford hat that needed some serious help.. Before.....
View attachment 776238 View attachment 776239 View attachment 776240

and after

View attachment 776243 View attachment 776242 View attachment 776241

if I get news about a 3/4" tool Ill post info details

Looks like it works quite well from the photos.

 

[RickP]

Looks like it works quite well from the photos.

worked surprisigly well... better than my old wooden tool... this ones all stainless steel and wood. Dampen/ stean felt, heat up the stainless curved handle, and use the wood handle ( has a curved groove that matches the handle part) to work the curl in..... no stretches or dents along the edge

 

[wsmontana]

Picked up a new tool/ toy today. Id seen a video of an Australian fellow using one of these brim curl tools. The 1/2" tool works well enough that if the seller has a 3/4" Ill order one of them as well. Anything that works well and doesnt have much of a learning curve has my attention
View attachment 776236 View attachment 776237

Tested on a poor little worn out Bradford hat that needed some serious help.. Before.....
View attachment 776238 View attachment 776239 View attachment 776240

and after

View attachment 776243 View attachment 776242 View attachment 776241

if I get news about a 3/4" tool Ill post info details

That’s a nice tight curl! Where did you get the tool? I have a couple of 3D printed curl tools that don’t always work as well.

 

[RickP]

That’s a nice tight curl! Where did you get the tool? I have a couple of 3D printed curl tools that don’t always work as well.

I got it on e bay but its a Guy Morse-Brown tool out of England. I was hoping to find one of their 3/4" curl tools, but it appears that anyone here in the US only has the 1/2". It works very well compared to the wooden tool Ive got. Ive got a message sent to them but Im almost afraid to see what getting one shipped over here is gong to cost.... guess Ill find out soon

from what Ive found, the wood (and I assume the 3d printer ones) always seem to snag and put kinks in the edges if Im not careful, requiring a lot of cleanup work. This tool gives a nice really clean curl. The curved back piece is used heated and really smooths things out. ( be sure to wear a glove on that hand lol) A bit slow to get a full curl, (Takes many multiple passes) but I think its one of my favorite tools ( I love curled brims)

As a side note... Ive had really good luck using a section of heavy wall silicone tubing as a backing inside the curl to iron against during cleanup

 

[RickP]

We have a little local Blues Festival coming up here soon, ( Crockett, Texas was the home of Lightin Hopkins) and some friends let me put some hats up for sale in their Antique sign shop. Trying to whip a few of the lesser hats into shape for the Cool Kids that come to town for the festival. Last couple years Ive actually sold 10-12 hats to out of towners. I usually haul the steamer, Iron and a couple brim boards down and hang out there. Someone buys a hat Ill throw in some steaming and shaping if they need it. This one was a little wool Mallory by Stetson hat that had WAYYYY too much stiffener in the hat ( almost hardhat level). If Id known it was a wool hat I probably would of passed on it, but I bought it and it is what it is, so it needs to find a new home. Gave it a bath in denatured alcohol and got a lot of stiffener out. Almost feels like a proper hat again. The fake leather sweatband didnt survive the alcohol process, so Ill sew a new leather sweat in and add a nice ribbon. May not be nice enough for me to keep, but I might as well get it to the point that someones glad to take it home. This one is only a 4-1/2" crown so I had to fight it a bit, but I finally got enough dent in the top and it settles in nicely up top

 

[RickP]

Managed to reuse a blemished, recycled, but really soft lambskin sweatband to replace the cracking original Stetson/ Mallory fake leather band. All sewn in and did some final smoothing and shaping. Also found an old leather hatband and buckle that wasnt getting used in the scrap box. Shot a little steam on the leather and have it pressed flatter on a block to dry. It is what it is but it looks better and rides the noggin well. May be a lot of work on a cheap wool hat, but if it helps someone take it home and off my hands its worth it. Just need to put a couple darts in the hatband to fasten it in place.

 

[RickP]

Have had a block stand issue for a while..... all my 3d printed blocks have a larger center shaft hole than my older wood blocks have. Decided today to get busy and fabricate some new block stands that fit the larger holes. Got some bases glued up today... just need to make them pretty now.. Soon there will be no more wobbly blocks in my house!

 

[RickP]

The Block stands are starting to look like something. From flat boards to something identifiable in 4 days. All glued up, edges routed, stain applied and a first coat of polyurethane. Couple more coats and the surface should be filled in and smooth. Plan is for a satin final topcoat. Backup plan is if they dont look purty enough, I can always spray them grey or black. In a perfect world they would have been walnut or mahogany, but I had 60 yr old pine in the shed. Did have JUST enough leftovers from an old router mat laying around, so Ill glue a good non slip rubber base on each once the finish work is done. More to follow...

 

[HatsBySam]

I love finding old beat up hats. This is my first Adam Premier and I figured it’d be a complete refurb. But, a little leather honey on the band, some brushing, steaming, a little blocking and I think I kinda like it looking a little rough around the edges. Looked tan in the pictures, more of a fawn color IRL.