Photos of hatters tools

humanshoes · Oct 23, 2019

DOGMAN said:
If I remember,I made mine so the center would touch.

That's the ticket Dog.

humanshoes · Oct 23, 2019

The new Sombrero Cordobés block is ready to earn it's keep. In honor of Max, I'm calling it the Doc Block. The old boy on the right is a size 7 3/4 that I considered cutting down to the required 7 3/8, but I just didn't have the heart to mess with it.

milandro · Oct 23, 2019

Very nice.

Mine is cylindric one and has a circumference smaller than I need for myself of 56cm ( 7) . I don’t know if I am ever going to use it the same way you want to. I have used it to reblock a hat into something which doesn’t have a flat top but a domed one but I think I could have made it flat. The hat was already an oval and after the cylindric block I have put it on my stretcher. Now looks like this.

humanshoes · Oct 23, 2019

milandro said:
Now looks like this.

It looks great milandro. I'm not much of a hat block maker, but these oval flat tops are relatively simple. I may regret using select pine instead of poplar, but I don't expect these blocks to get a lot of heavy use.

mayserwegener · Oct 23, 2019

Tonio said:
I recently acquired a beautiful antique device that was used for measuring hat ribbons. There are centimeter and meter measurements on the dials.

Anyone ever come across anything similar, or can ID the name of the maker? Based on the “Brevete SGDG” I assume it’s of French origin. Thanks in advance.

View attachment 190629 View attachment 190627

Tonio, Sorry for the late reply. Fantastic find! You have many! I will have to look through my Museo dell’Arte del Cappello di Ghiffa photos because they had a section dedicated to ribbons / bows but I don't recall seeing such an apparatus before.

milandro · Oct 23, 2019

humanshoes said:
It looks great milandro. I'm not much of a hat block maker, but these oval flat tops are relatively simple. I may regret using select pine instead of poplar, but I don't expect these blocks to get a lot of heavy use.

Thanks! I was toying with the idea ( since the top of my cylindrical block is removable) to have someone making another plate with a groove. I think this is really easy with anyone having a good command of a router. So I will have a proper telescope block, with a flat dome.

humanshoes · Oct 23, 2019

milandro said:
Thanks! I was toying with the idea ( since the top of my cylindrical block is removable) to have someone making another plate with a groove. I think this is really easy with anyone having a good command of a router. So I will have a proper telescope block, with a flat dome.

Sounds doable milandro. Let us know how you make out.

milandro · Oct 23, 2019

I will, I have a friend who has just started sharing a workshop with other people doing woodwork. They have all the necessary equipment to make this and many other things that may come handy. We’ll see.

rsteinjr · Nov 28, 2019

Hello fellow hat lovers check out this beautiful modern Conformateur. Its 3D printed and uses material made from plants WOW the future is here.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/726554...f=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1&frs=1

ItsJacob · Nov 28, 2019

I’ve always been curious and I’ve never asked the question, but what is the next step after purchasing a conformateur and getting the exact measurements? How do you transfer those to a hat?

jlee562 · Nov 28, 2019

ItsJacob said:
I’ve always been curious and I’ve never asked the question, but what is the next step after purchasing a conformateur and getting the exact measurements? How do you transfer those to a hat?

The formillion is the inverse of the conformateur and has pins that push outward to duplicate one's headshape. After the sweat has been installed the hat can be conformed with the formillion. Skip to about the 15 min mark...

rsteinjr · Nov 28, 2019

ItsJacob said:
I’ve always been curious and I’ve never asked the question, but what is the next step after purchasing a conformateur and getting the exact measurements? How do you transfer those to a hat?

Check this new Conformateur out!

deadlyhandsome · Nov 28, 2019

rsteinjr said:
Check this new Conformateur out!

He’s wearing rings over rubber gloves...had to stop watching.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

rsteinjr · Nov 28, 2019

deadlyhandsome said:
He’s wearing rings over rubber gloves...had to stop watching.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Haha too funny, But seriously this is a really cool tool

deadlyhandsome · Nov 28, 2019

rsteinjr said:
Haha too funny, But seriously this is a really cool tool

It’s not cheap! It might well be worth the cost to a hatter, but since I already have a band block made from my head shape via a conformateur (free, or at least included in the price of a hat), I don’t see the appeal for a “customer.” If it’s just for yourself, you’d only use it once and that makes the price prohibitive.

There are also much cheaper versions that work perfectly, but I applaud anyone who designs and makes hat making tools.

milandro · Dec 1, 2019

Conformers or conformateurs have to be the ultimate status accessory for hatters ( mad or otherwise

), the only question is whether conformers are really THE über-comfort creators or not. Yes, you can then and there conform a hat to someone’s head but would it stay conformed and how long?

I wonder.

I mean if a hat conforms to my head after some time from wearing due to moisture and heat but then returns to the original shape once it is not warn for a while this tells me that felt (like most materials) do have some form elasticity but also "form memory “. In other words, most hats will be conformed but then also conform back to what they were before they were conformed.

Lock & co. says they don’t use for all hats but they use them mostly for hard hats

Regardless, I would love to have one for the looks of it but I am not sure that I could ever shed the necessary cash for it.

steur · Dec 1, 2019

milandro said:
Conformers or conformateurs have to be the ultimate status accessory for hatters ( mad or otherwise ), the only question is whether conformers are really THE über-comfort creators or not. Yes, you can then and there conform a hat to someone’s head but would it stay conformed and how long?

I wonder.

I mean if a hat conforms to my head after some time from wearing due to moisture and heat but then returns to the original shape once it is not warn for a while this tells me that felt (like most materials) do have some form elasticity but also "form memory “. In other words, most hats will be conformed but then also conform back to what they were before they were conformed.

Lock & co. says they don’t use for all hats but they use them mostly for hard hats

Regardless, I would love to have one for the looks of it but I am not sure that I could ever shed the necessary cash for it.

I think Lock&Co have the right approach to the use of the device. Makes perfect sense to use it for a hard hat and those would keep the conformed shape as well. For soft felt hats it's another matter. It could be useful if the conformateur was used as a template for creating a hat block to shape the hat from scratch. Taking the round oval, regular oval or long oval block a step further as it were. The original ones just look so cool I've been looking for an affordable one for ages. Came close a few times, but not there yet.

milandro · Dec 1, 2019

Precisely, I can envisage how one could make a 3D model of a head so the ideal conformateur for someone’s hat would be a molded block upon which one would have the shape of your own hat built-in the hat. Even more so if one could actually “ spray” the hair fibre on the mold with a 3D printer ( which would be the perfect anachronism , using a 21st century device to make an item, a hat, with the materials used in a far past!).

By the same maker

Hat and Rehat · Dec 2, 2019

milandro said:
Very nice.

Mine is cylindric one and has a circumference smaller than I need for myself of 56cm ( 7) . I don’t know if I am ever going to use it the same way you want to. I have used it to reblock a hat into something which doesn’t have a flat top but a domed one but I think I could have made it flat. The hat was already an oval and after the cylindric block I have put it on my stretcher. Now looks like this.

You can "grow" a block one size pretty easily. Stretch an old felt over it, then cut off the brim. It was a common practice years ago.

milandro · Dec 2, 2019

yes, this is indeed what I thought and on an oval you can also turn the hat from side to side and make it larger

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