Photos of hatters tools

hatsRme said:

I wasn't sure about where to post this little piece of hat history, so please bear with me and re-post if needed.
In a second-hand shop in Rhode Island I spied a hat high up on the wall. The proprietor couldn't wait to fetch it from its perch, so she could demonstrate her (NOT for sale) retail hat "Grabber." (My term, not hers). Ever see one of these?!?
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belfastboy said:

No, closest I have come to something like that is a branch trimmer for trees.

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hatsRme said:

Ever see one of these?!?

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humanshoes said:

A brief pause in the hat making action to build a suitable table for the newest member of the PHC family, the ASM 1107-1 sweatband sewing machine. An old Singer cast iron treadle base paired with some weathered mahogany boards I had lying around the shop added up to the antique looking table I was shooting for. Now it's time for this pricey ba***rd to either earn it's keep or get the hell out.
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humanshoes said:

First sweatband sewn in with the new ASM 1107-1 machine. I had to make adjustments to the factory set up and I will definitely need more practice, but the actual installation, after the sweatband was prepped, took less than a minute. Goodbye hand stitching...forever.
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humanshoes said:

Life just got a whole lot easier in my little corner of the world.
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deadlyhandsome said:

My Chinese hat measuring device arrived yesterday. It seems to be well-made and solid. It’s simple, which I like, and I can’t see it wearing out. The all metal construction gives it a substantial feel.

It isn’t perfect. The spring steel conforming piece extends when you close the scissors type handles. The problem is that the steel extends in a near perfect circle. With some force you can get it to conform closer to the oval of your hat, but it’s not able to perfectly match the contours of the sweatband. The more oval (I’m a long oval) your hats are the less accurate the tool is. I’m also leery about using too much force to get it to conform.

Most of my 7 5/8 hats measure 7 1/2 or less on this device. Still, as long as you mentally compensate you can get close. You can also visually see how close the spring steel is conforming to the sweatband and get some idea of how accurate the measurement will be.

The first hat I measured is this 3X that I bought on ebay. The seller listed it as a 7 3/4:

This hat measured 6 7/8 and I doubt that it’s actually any larger than a size 7. When will people learn that the length of the head opening is not the hat size.


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deadlyhandsome said:

My Chinese hat measuring device arrived yesterday. It seems to be well-made and solid. It’s simple, which I like, and I can’t see it wearing out. The all metal construction gives it a substantial feel.

It isn’t perfect. The spring steel conforming piece extends when you close the scissors type handles. The problem is that the steel extends in a near perfect circle. With some force you can get it to conform closer to the oval of your hat, but it’s not able to perfectly match the contours of the sweatband. The more oval (I’m a long oval) your hats are the less accurate the tool is. I’m also leery about using too much force to get it to conform.

Most of my 7 5/8 hats measure 7 1/2 or less on this device. Still, as long as you mentally compensate you can get close. You can also visually see how close the spring steel is conforming to the sweatband and get some idea of how accurate the measurement will be.

The first hat I measured is this 3X that I bought on ebay. The seller listed it as a 7 3/4:

This hat measured 6 7/8 and I doubt that it’s actually any larger than a size 7. When will people learn that the length of the head opening is not the hat size.


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humanshoes said:

I never thought I'd actually see one of these in person, much less have one in my humble little shop, but here she is. I have hats to make so I can't dive into the restoration right now, but I hope to restore this conformateur to it's original glory. A big thanks to our very own Dr. Max for rescuing this old beauty from the "box of oblivion" and for thinking of me as her new caretaker.
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Zephyr Union said:

Just got my asm , most definitely a hard mistress to tame! Spent the money trying to save my hands... now I’m back to hand stitching because I can’t quite figure it out, to my liking...

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deadlyhandsome said:

I had to buy this new as a 7 7/8 long oval 3 1/2” brim flange was tough to find on the vintage market. Strange. Luckily the Hatters Supply House of Colorado was able to make me one without any problem.

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humanshoes said:

That's a beauty Brent! I especially like that shallower flange profile.

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deadlyhandsome said:

I had to buy this new as a 7 7/8 long oval 3 1/2” brim flange was tough to find on the vintage market. Strange. Luckily the Hatters Supply House of Colorado was able to make me one without any problem.

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Zephyr Union said:

How much did that run ya?
I’m going to make a post on here soon, I have over 100 flanges I want to get rid off

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Zephyr Union said:

How much did that run ya?
I’m going to make a post on here soon, I have over 100 flanges I want to get rid off

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