I did a search for 'tollicker', which didn't turn up much. The best thing I came up with was a pic on Jimmy Pierce's site of an old one he has for sale. Are there any other photos out there of vintage hatter's tools like this? If I can make them myself I will; but I need to know what I need first. So far I've narrowed it down to blocks, flanges, a tollicker, the obvious irons, and an adjustable brim jack (trimmer).
Regards, Andy
Get a copy of the Scientific Hat Making book if you haven't already. Its on OFAS for about 12 bucks. If your making hats by hand you don't need much more than what you have listed outside of a spinner, hat brushes, a good steam source, some puller downs and runner downs maybe in addition, know how to tie a hatters/slip knot, hand sew a lock stitch, and fold and sew on a ribbon. With these basics and the ones you have listed, you are ready to start messing around. Curling shackles for pencil curls are nice to have if you want them. Jim at JW hats can sell you a new set of 3 to cover the sizes for $300. They just make that job easier if you making hats with curled brims though and not used often with most fedora styles. I would say you could get buy without an official tolliker though. The edge of an old fashioned, heavy non-steam electric iron works just as well. Tollikers are going for crazy money on OFAS and are just nice to have but not absolutely necessary as you can get the same function in other ways. Last one I watched went for more than 250 bucks. You can have one made at a foundry for less than that. You can make one out of wood as well for getting a good brim break. You can get a new rounding jack for 175.00 at B&L in Oregon. I picked one up myself a while ago from her though it seems very easy to make one if you wanted to. If you have a wood shop on base I would make it yourself. There is not much to them and they are overpriced for what they are in my book. Very simple design. Marc Kitter made his own and some other guy on here that I cant recall. You could make a traditional one like the one I've got very easily I think. I have been gearing up myself over the last few months for hand made hatmaking. PM me if you want to chat more in depth. There are others here that could be of help as well.
Fletch31
Here are a couple of pics I have handy of some tools and such. The spinner and initialer are some recent acquisitions of mine. I have some with wooden pegs but thought this brass peg one would be nice. The tolliker was that one on ebay that went for too much money and the curling shackles are some of JW's. I can take pics of more of my stuff but will give others an opportunity to do so.
Tolliker
Curling Shackles
Spinner
Something cool I just got. An antique perforated sweatband initialer. Steve Delk has one similar as I had him use it on my AB I bought from him a couple of years ago.
Hat Gauge
Cummins Initial Machine
Antique Hat Measuring Tool
More coming...
... that measuring tool is awesome.
Anj
I snagged a pic of my rounding jack. Pretty simple design. I have seen them with knobs to adjust a metal band lining the curved area to change the radius for dimensional brim cutting. I'm modding this one to do that. I think they could be made rather easily overall. This one just uses exacto blades.
Betty, thank you. That hat gauge is cool, but I'm needing some clarity on it's numbers.
I thought that if you wore a hat that measured 7 3/4 in American size, that meant that the length of your hat oval, or opening, was 7 3/4 inches from front to back.
According to that hat gauge, my hats should measure 8 1/2 inches from front to back and 7 from side to side.
Am I misreading that thing?
Thank you all for posting the images thus far! Fletch, that's some great info to know, thank you. The tollicker in your photo appears to be made of iron or steel. Does that indicate that it should be heated like a vintage iron for use? Also, what exactly to you mean by "puller-downs" and "runner-downs"? I looked closely at that one picture of Jim's workbench that you posted and couldn't figure out what it was that you were talking about. I'll be PM-ing soon to discuss some more. Betty, I have nearly the same question as Spatterdash: is that gauge set up for Regular Oval dimensions? Obviously, there would be some variation as you get into LO, and XLO shapes, just wondering.
Thanks again and keep 'em coming!
Regards, Andy
John Morris of the Rocky Mountain Hat Company used
to be a great resource on this site. On their web site
they have some great photos. Just keep scrolling down...
http://www.rockymountainhatcompany.com/gear.html
Personally, I would never want to be a member of any group where you either have to wear a hat or you can’t wear a hat.
wow.Originally Posted by feltfan
And I'll say it again: wow.
Thanks for sharing this link!
Vintage Betty
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