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HosManHatter · Feb 7, 2010

Yes,Fedora Lounge has been an education for me and the members are fantastic about helping us newbies out.A very positive and friendly atmosphere for learning about men`s headware and style in general.

:eusa_clap

blixa00 · Feb 7, 2010

Borsalino Questions/Advice

I've seen some very nice Borsalinos on this site and I am ready to take the plunge but thought I might ask some advice from the more experienced amongst you...what are the key things to look for in a vintage Borsalino? How does the sizing tend to run on the older hats, tight or just about right? Is the Punti to US sizing conversion fairly accurate or should I always go for the larger size when in doubt? Thanks for any and all thoughts on this!

fluteplayer07 · Feb 8, 2010

I found a great fedora in a size 7, but I'm a 7 1/8. Is it possible for Art Fawcett to resize it? I want to know before I buy it, so I'm not stuck with a hat a size too small.

Thanks for the help,
Alex

jeffconnors · Feb 8, 2010

Iv stretched many a hat using the hallet hat stretcher, Only thing is they always creep back to the original size, I guess I wanna tack on another question to the one above is there anyway to make the stretch stick? When I stretch I wet the sweat and the ribbon with a spray bottle of distilled water the proceed with the stretching and leave the hat on the stretcher for about 24h. I only do a few "turns" at a time then repeat if i need a few more "turns"

Mario · Feb 8, 2010

I think if you want to do it right you'll really have to do a professional reblock. Out with the sweat, the liner, the ribbon and all, onto the block for a thorough treatment of the body and after that everything will need to get sewn back into place. Art should be able to do that.

Bill Greene · Feb 8, 2010

Need recs from an experienced member please.

I have a Biltmore Rossellini that I absolutely love. It would be "perfect" except for one flaw. One side of the hat has what I consider to be the ultimate shape, and the other is slightly curvy. It has this curve when I bought it, so I have nothing to complain about...but still, here is my question:

Is there anything I can do, here at home, to get this curvy brim edge to straighten out. I have no hattery tools, nor exerience with hats. I do have access to steam from one of those little portable ironing steam thingys. I am good with my hands.

Thank you in advance for your time. I am going to try to make the photos run consecutively.

Bill

theinterchange · Feb 8, 2010

When did clothing manufacturers quit putting the "Union Made" labels in their products?

Randy

barrowjh · Feb 9, 2010

Bill Greene

Make for yourself a small sand bag - really small, maybe a partially filled quart plastic bag or smaller. Figure out how to position the hat on a flat surface such that the piece of brim you need to work on will be flat (may have to use various props to achieve this). Get a tea kettle going, producing some steam (but not boiling over) and hold that part of the brim over the steam for a few seconds, saturating it, and then place it on the table and apply the sand bag to hold that 'curvy' section flat. In just a few minutes it will cool down, and you can look at doing that a couple more times to get it just right.

barrowjh · Feb 9, 2010

blixa00

There are several sites that offer a chart to convert various head circumferences to hat sizes, and most include punti. I used to go 7 1/4 because I was afraid of sweatband shrinkage, but the hassle is that you are constantly fighting the darned thing coming down on your ears. Stuffing behind the sweatband to make it tight works somewhat, but the 'stuffing' is always pushing the hat out larger. I finally figured out that I am a 7 1/8 and most have fit me well. Sometimes I need to use a stretcher, and every hat wearer should have one of those in case your hat gets soaked and you need to have a 'form' to keep it from shrinking as it dries out. Sometimes I will buy a size 7 LO and stretch it to fit me; I never bought another 7 1/4 after making the switch to 7 1/8.

I think a hat can generally be made to return to its original size, so if the hat has shrunk a bit as the sweat dried out over the years, then treat the leather and let that dry and then stretch the hat back out, it will hold ok. I prefer hats to fit reasonably tight.

cptjeff · Feb 9, 2010

theinterchange said:
When did clothing manufacturers quit putting the "Union Made" labels in their products?

Randy

When unions stopped making 'em.

theinterchange · Feb 9, 2010

cptjeff said:
When unions stopped making 'em.

Well, that was obvious! :eusa_doh: I MEANT when did unions quit making them, should have been clearer.

Randy

Bill Greene · Feb 9, 2010

barrowjh

Thank you! It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was...and more importantly, I can live with it! I appreciate your help.

QMcK · Feb 9, 2010

Sorry if this has already been answered.

How would a paper hat fare in a light shower? I'm considering getting a paper panama. I don't know of any local shop which has straw panamas. Thanks.

ScottF · Feb 10, 2010

No sure where to post this, so since you guys know me, hopefully someone can help out.

I changed my email address yesterday around noon. Since then, I've been locked out from PM's - doesn't even show on my screen. Apparently, I've reverted back to 'brand new member' status.

Is this an error, or do I just have to post a bunch to get my PM back?

Thanks.

Brad Bowers · Feb 10, 2010

Scott,

It's showing that you have 1,878 posts, and have had One Too Many.lol It doesn't seem to think you're a new member.

Go to your user Control Panel under Options, and make sure the check box is checked that you'd like to receive e-mail from other members. It's possible that it became unchecked with the new address change.

There's also a check box to Enable Private Messaging, so check that.

If that's not the problem, let me know, I'll have someone look into it.

Brad

ScottF · Feb 10, 2010

Brad Bowers said:
Scott,

It's showing that you have 1,878 posts, and have had One Too Many.lol It doesn't seem to think you're a new member.

Go to your user Control Panel under Options, and make sure the check box is checked that you'd like to receive e-mail from other members. It's possible that it became unchecked with the new address change.

There's also a check box to Enable Private Messaging, so check that.

If that's not the problem, let me know, I'll have someone look into it.

Brad

Thanks Brad! All I did was visit the settings (didn't change anything or even save), and when I exited, the 'private messages' option came back. Good to have a friend here to help out!

KILO NOVEMBER · Feb 10, 2010

"Look for the union label, when you are bying a coat ..."

theinterchange said:
When did clothing manufacturers quit putting the "Union Made" labels in their products?

Randy

When clothing manufacturing was moved off-shore to non-union factories. Manufacturers paying U.S. union wages can't compete with factories in Latin America and Asia.

Check this WikiPedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Ladies%27_Garment_Workers%27_Union

Stan · Feb 10, 2010

Heat does the trick

jeffconnors said:
Iv stretched many a hat using the hallet hat stretcher, Only thing is they always creep back to the original size, I guess I wanna tack on another question to the one above is there anyway to make the stretch stick? When I stretch I wet the sweat and the ribbon with a spray bottle of distilled water the proceed with the stretching and leave the hat on the stretcher for about 24h. I only do a few "turns" at a time then repeat if i need a few more "turns"

I ran into this a tad too often, so I watched for a Hot Block at a reasonable price. That solves the problem. I heat the block up to around 140 degrees F, steam the hat around the circumference, then place it on the hot block and switch it off.

It takes an hour or so to gradually cool off, and once it does the hat is stretched and remains so. At least, with up to one size worth of stretching. I've not gone past a full size worth of stretch.

I had good luck with a half-size from one of the vintage wooden stretchers (the kind that go all the way around at their minimum size setting). But, if I went more than that the hats did tend to shrink back after a while such that I needed to stretch them again. And, again.

My main issue is that I'm a 7 1/16 semi-LO so I pretty much have to take a size 7 RO and work it up a half-size with a stretcher or go to 7 1/8 and pad the sweatband. I prefer the hats that ate stretched, so there we are.

I did have a few vintage 7's that were shrunk a half-size when I got them, so they needed to stretch a full size to fit me. I wouldn't wear one of those for a while, and then when I wanted to, I could not until I'd pulled it back out a half size again. So, it was time to try a Hot Block.

Often, they're overly costly, but I kept at it until I found one at the right time ($100)....

Later!

Stan

Scott Wood · Feb 10, 2010

Stan said:
I ran into this a tad too often, so I watched for a Hot Block at a reasonable price. Often, they're overly costly, but I kept at it until I found one at the right time ($100)....

Later!

Stan

Any chance of pics and a few more details on the hot block?

Stan · Feb 10, 2010

Hi,

I'm not into the online photo thing, at least not at this point in time anyway. I had been a couple times, but had issues with the hosting places, and gave up.

This is one of those things with the two half-domes made from aluminum and mounted on a 2-way screw. The back half moves to the rear and the front half to the front when the crank is turned.

Inside each dome is a pretty standard radiant heater element. They are wired in series such that they really each get half their rated voltage. This keeps them from getting too hot too quickly. The heaters the things are meant to go into glow red hot, and we don't need that kind of heat!

There's a power switch and no thermostat, so you get to turn it on and wait for it to heat and then turn it off yourself. I think all of these things worked the same way. Anyway, I heat it up until I can touch it but not hold my hand on it, and that's hot enough.

It's easy to use. I may have made it sound worse than it actually is! lol

I picked this one up because the original cloth covered wires and cord looked horrible. I figured I was in for some making of heating coils as well, but the insides were pristine. So, some new wiring and it was up and running.

later!

Stan

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