Dashboard Confessional -- What Home Remedy Have You Used to Re-Shape A Hat?

[Doc Miskatonic]

Good morning fellow Loungers and lurkers. This is my first post so I thought I would start things off with a little confession, which they say is good for the soul – I have not been very nice to my first real fur fedora. If there were an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Fedoras (ASPCF), I would have been hauled off and had the book thrown at me. Now I know Akubras are built to take some pretty tough punishment from owners and the elements but my Sydney recently had come to less resemble Bogart and more Gilligan. Like the teenager handed a hotrod for a graduation gift I did not appreciate what I had and did not take proper care of it. So faced with the choice of replacing it or trying to re-bash and fix the problems I chose home-remedy fedora resuscitation. I used some pretty McGuiver-esque techniques to save my hat and this got me thinking about what other unconventional methods people of the lounge have employed, rather than put a hat out to pasture or shell out the bucks to have a professional do it. Below is how I reshaped my Akubra Sydney, at least to a serviceable casual fedora.

The first thing I did was re-bash the crown from a pinched telescope to more a fedora bash for a new look and feel. This was relatively easy and I just had to brush the hat a couple times to get rid of the noticeable crease in the felt from the previous bash. Next was the real problem – the floppy and wavy brim. I used the steam of an iron and gently pressed the brim by placing a moist towel over it. This solved the waviness and the brim looked clean and flat but the front brim was still floppy and had no break to it or shape (what I believe is called the flange). I left the hat alone for a day while I pondered this, really disliking the straightness of the brim and feeling like I really ruined the look and feel of the hat. Eventually I started to observe the shape of other objects around me and wondered about whether I could use them in re-shaping the brim. The bathtub – not enough curve. Basketball – too much curve. Side of the toilet – good curve, but eww. The dashboard of my Honda Fit – Ahh, now that had possibilities. The dashboard had a gradual sloping curve in the up-down direction as well as being slightly concaved to give the brim edge a uniform shape. I had to wait for an evening when the kids were asleep and my wife was home before proceeding but at last was able to experiment using the dashboard method (see what I did here with the title of this post? Clever, eh?). I wet the brim in the shower and headed out to my car… and got caught in a sudden torrential downpour. Typical. Well, safe to say the Sydney was well saturated at this point. I pressed the brim firmly against the shape of the dashboard for a couple minutes and then left the hat in the car to dry overnight.

I checked on the hat the next day and found the brim had a nice shape to it -- Excellente!I still had a bit more shaping to do, as it still did not quite look right, nor did it have the flange on the front of the brim. Part of the problem was to my eye the back had entirely too much curl to my eye so I needed to straighten it out a bit. I wet it a little, set it down and then placed stacks of 11g poker chips (from my Leonardo Da Vinci poker chip set) to hold the curl at where I wanted it to be, let it dry a bit.

I then added a bit of flange by steaming the brim and pressing it along the curved edge of a serving tray and a small rolling pin.

I then steamed the brim all around, which stiffened it a bit and I was able to shape it a bit more to my satisfaction:

And there you have it. So what crazy things have others done to re-shape an old hat?

 

[gtdean48]

Welcome & good job! Use whatever you have at hand. I've used mixing bowls & serving spoons to re-crease crowns & re-shape brims.

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

Welcome & good job! Use whatever you have at hand. I've used mixing bowls & serving spoons to re-crease crowns & re-shape brims.

I have seen one or two comments from people that they use serving spoons. Must admit I have trouble visualizing how that is performed.

 

[gtdean48]

I have seen one or two comments from people that they use serving spoons. Must admit I have trouble visualizing how that is performed.

From inside the crown, used to smooth out existing creases to get back to open crown shape.

 

[ideaguy]

Now that's using your noggin; a great adhoc solution-a little imagination, a good pair of eyes, and some nerve-can get most anything done
that's usually going to cost you plenty. Then again, you do run the risk of having it really cost you plenty-but there's not much adventure in
going to the Post Office...again, good work!

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

Thanks, mate. Although I don't know how much risk was involved when my mindset was, "Well the hat is probably ruined, so, why not?

 

[RobFedoraField]

I'll have to try the serving spoon, I usually take a heavy glass and roll 'em smooth

 

[m0nk]

I've only used innovation when trying a new crease on the crown, and haven't tried anything on the brim yet (though I might give the serving spoon a try).

What I've done is opened the crown, stuffed it full of some sort of cloth until it was packed full, spritzed with water, smoothed out the bumps, and presto; a poor-mans reblock. I haven't gone to the extent of getting a block for myself, or sending one of mine out yet, since this trick has done just fine for my needs.

Your innovation seems to have paid off well, too!

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

I was definitely happy it worked moderately well. Part of my thing (I hesitate to use the word "problem") is that although I am not technically inclined, I tinker. I always feel compelled to fix things on my own and refuse to let it go. I have fixed damaged iPods, my Wii when my son jammed a quarter in the disc slot, and various things over the years by looking up how-tos online because I can't stand paying someone else to do it. The only exception is stuff with my car because I am just no mechanic. But I can handle a hat. I have of late been slowly replacing the hat bands that came with my Akubras with nicer kangaroo leather ones. I have not sewn them in place yet as I am all thumbs with a needle and thread but will eventually develop that skill if the need arises.

 

[MrAcheson]

From inside the crown, used to smooth out existing creases to get back to open crown shape.

Small round mixing bowls can work for this too.

 

[suitedcboy]

I bought a hat that had been significantly stretched from the marked size. It is a 100x Resistol.
I pulled the liner out and then I found a 2 inch wide nylon strap that had D rings on it and I cinched that on the hat and gave it a good pull to squeeze the hat right at the crown-brim break. Now I steamed the inside of the hat to get the crown really steam dampened and also steamed the sweatband pretty good and folded it back in. I let it sit 24 hours and it had done the trick. It fit great and I I had to do was a little spot steam and working to get some dents out where the D ring part of my hat contracting strap sat. The sweatband seems to be fine with no adverse reaction to being steamed, something that is not always the case if it is an older hat.
The contracting strap was holding an engine onto a shipping stand on a pallet. I did wash it so I knew it had no oil on it.

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

Mixing bowls definitely seem to be a popular choice. I did not use any of ours because although rounded on the sides they were either one size too big, one size too small or the bottom was very flat and grooved. As for modifying crowns, when I first did the bash on my Sydney I created the telescope using a tall cyllindrical tea tin to push up the center of the crown.

 

[seabass]

mixing bowls are great ,especially the stainless ones they work good with the steam directed to the outside of the crown while om pushing the bowl around the inside.

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

I bought a hat that had been significantly stretched from the marked size. It is a 100x Resistol.
I pulled the liner out and then I found a 2 inch wide nylon strap that had D rings on it and I cinched that on the hat and gave it a good pull to squeeze the hat right at the crown-brim break. Now I steamed the inside of the hat to get the crown really steam dampened and also steamed the sweatband pretty good and folded it back in. I let it sit 24 hours and it had done the trick. It fit great and I I had to do was a little spot steam and working to get some dents out where the D ring part of my hat contracting strap sat. The sweatband seems to be fine with no adverse reaction to being steamed, something that is not always the case if it is an older hat.
The contracting strap was holding an engine onto a shipping stand on a pallet. I did wash it so I knew it had no oil on it.

LOL Now that there's the mans way of rebashing a hat -- now if you had just used the steam from your car radiator.

 

[scottyrocks]

When a crown is beyond repair, I wet it and put it on my block.

To reshape brims, I have gotten the best results by wetting them and then sliding my hands up and down the sides, and curling the front and back using the same method. As I slide up and down the sides, I push in. This seems to give the sides a natural curve that smoothly flows into the back and front.

 

[Doc Miskatonic]

I would love to see a video demonstrating that. Not that I am weird or anything. I'm not expecting you to reinact a scene from the movie Ghost only with your hat. Just wonder about how you move your hands up and down.

I am so shutting up now. :eusa_doh:

Who'd like a fedora massage? Fedora massage muh-chine!