Trimming a brim

Shaul-Ike Cohen · Jul 25, 2007

I received my Akubra Federation the other day. Fits well, but - as I had thought - the brim is a bit too large for my personal taste. So I took it to a local hat shop and asked if the can shorten it by about 3/8 in. In spite of the fact that they're a well-established hat shop since at least the thirties, and that they're even hat-makers (of ladies' hats), and sell nothing but hats and caps, the lady looked at it, and said "Mmh, well, yes, we could try. But it won't look like that afterwards," pointing to the edge. "Ah, you'd do that by hand?" - "Yes, and I think that'd come out uneven." "You don't have a special tool for that?" - "No, if you want it like that, you have to go to a hat fabric."

Next big, well-established hat shop - roughly the same.

Hat stores are really just hat selling stores, I'm afraid, and bad ones at that, if I remember how I tried on some straw hats once (in the second of those above), and the assistent would invariably say yes to whatever I said or asked.

OK, back to the topic - on my way back, I passed by an alterations tailor's (cum key smith and shoemaker) and asked inside. The tailoress said she'd rather not take a chance.

I'll give a hatmaker some miles away a ring tomorrow, but if they won't do it, it'll really have to be I myself.

Now I'm certainly not a better cutter than a trained tailoress, so is there a foolproof method?

jake_fink · Jul 25, 2007

It's not that hard to do it yourself, and will save you shoe leather if nothing else.

I fold a little bit of cardboard over to the length I want to trim and use it as a guide to pencil mark a line around the brim. I cut it with a knife instead of scissors because I find I get a straighter edge and fewer burrs that way. Then you sand the edge to make it look pretty. If you end up with a bit of wobble or barely discernable nick here and there just call it character and be done.

scotrace · Jul 25, 2007

Somewhere on COW there is a link to a step-by-step on doing this, with pictures. I'll see if i can scare it up.

My Federation is going to undergo the same operation soon, so you'll have someone to commiserate with if the whole thing goes badly.
I want to make it do this:

Rick Blaine · Jul 25, 2007

This is called a "Boston Brim Cutter" it'll shave off either 1/8" or 1/2" depending... it clamps onto the brim ( I am told) and you then take it around the radius of the brim. Sounds like just the thing to trim the (already) dimensionally cut brim of a Federation. The manufacturer told me I would have to buy it from a hat retailer. They run about $40 - $50.

Shaul-Ike Cohen · Jul 26, 2007

Rick Blaine said:
This is called a "Boston Brim Cutter" it'll shave off either 1/8" or 1/2" depending... it clamps onto the brim ( I am told) and you then take it around the radius of the brim. Sounds like just the thing to trim the (already) dimensionally cut brim of a Federation. The manufacturer told me I would have to buy it from a hat retailer. They run about $40 - $50.

Hm, that's quite some money, but I might as well be charged as much or more if I take it to a pro - certainly so if I include transport costs to the place. Ill give 'em a ring tomorrow and ask if they can do it and if so, what they charge. Would be faster, of course. (But getting lost in a real hat shop might turn out more expensive after all, hehe. And when my licence-carrying wife takes me there by car, the new ladies's hats won't clear the saved transport costs.)

Marc Chevalier · Jul 26, 2007

BARON HATTERS in Burbank, California (within Los Angeles) trims brims for $20 a pop.

.

akaBruno · Jul 26, 2007

Sell it and buy one with your brim size.

Bruno

Shaul-Ike Cohen · Jul 26, 2007

[huh] No such thing handy.

Uncle Vern · Jul 26, 2007

It's really very easy to trim a hat brim. Place the hat on a table. I use a beat-up wood table top because it gives the knife something to dig into. Buy a simple metal protractor, easily found in any drugstore, sharpen the pencil, and drag the metal point slowly along the the edge of the brim as a guide while the pencil draws the circle. Sometimes I stick a chunk of wood or a wad of cardboard the width of the area to be cut between the metal point and the pencil, and wrap a rubber band around the whole protractor to keep it from slipping. If it's a dark hat, use a light colored pencil or a pastel pencil.
You want a very sharp, easy-to-handle knife so you don't have to press so hard that you jump out of the area to be trimmed. I use a clamshell, or horticulturist's knife with a razor-sharp blade. I would imagine that an Exacto knife with a fresh, very sharp blade would work well. Go slow and steady as you press into the felt. If it doesn't cut all the way through easily, go around again. To get a feel for the cutting, you can even make trial cuts along the outer portion of the brim, or practice on a beater. If you're left handed, cut to the left. Righties cut to the right. Once you have made the cut and liberated the hat, take some fine sandpaper to the brim, and you should be all set. I've trimmed 15 or 20 hats without a problem. The only drawback is that if you want to remove a very narrow band of felt, say an 1/8 of an inch, you're probably gonna need that fancy brim cutter unless you possess a surgeon's feel for cutting.

cooncatbob · Jul 26, 2007

I used a compass set to the amount I wanted to cut off and scribed a line all the way around the brim. Then I used a regular pair of household scissors. I cut in a counter clockwise direction and it was very easy to split the line. I then took the sandpaper and rounded the edge.
Really it was quite easy to do.
Bob.

Bebop · Jul 26, 2007

I have trimmed several brims using tailors chalk and sharp scissors. Measure carefully, chalk it out and then go at it with good, sharp, tailor scissors. You can finish it off with sandpaper. I was scared when I first did it and once finished, I was surprised at how nice it looked.

Matt Deckard · Jul 26, 2007

well sanding or a a cutup job sith your own hands... take it to a hatter and don't let them go too far.

Shaul-Ike Cohen · Jul 26, 2007

Thanks for all your great information!

OK, I'm an urban kind of person: where do you buy beat-up wood tables?

I'll keep ya posted about any news development.

peach · Jul 27, 2007

trimming brim

i recently purchased an akubra federation and desired a shorter brim, i did not want to go to my usual hatter (optimo) so instead went where the mexican cowboys in chicago go for their hat needs,Alcala;s. Enrique did a superb job (now 2 1/8") also shaped the hat quite nicely, $5.00 total.

fatwoul · Jul 27, 2007

Since I have a hat for experimenting on, I tried marking it with a tailor's chalk, and then cutting it with a normal pair of scissors. It's pretty straightforward. There weren't any really nicks to speak of, but those that were there went as soon as I sanded the edge a little.

As for the tailor's chalk, I just held it firmly, and kept it 1/8 inch from the edge all the way around using my index finger as a stopper.

The hat looks a little more fedora now, and a little less australian cattle hat.

Shaul-Ike Cohen · Jul 27, 2007

I went to a third hat store, and whaddaknow - they seem to know what a hat is what you do with it. I first didn't really think of the store, because they seemed to carry only ladies' hats. Anyway: The lady was the first to look inside out of curiosity about the brand, she knew Akubra, asked me if I knew there was a direct importer or official distributer or something nearby etc. (I was aware of the latter, but even with shipping it's still considerably cheaper to order from down under.)

Yes, she'd certainly be able to shorten the brim. I asked if she does that with a special brim cutter, and while she knew them, she said the trick was to use a sewing machine! She doesn't put a thread in, obviously, and actually puts in an exact perforation, along which she then tears it and does the cleaning and fine tuning with scissors and, I suppose, sandpaper. At least for a hatter, that's the easiest and most exact way, she says, and that's how she learned it 50 years ago as an apprentice.

They're closed some days for a mini-vacation, unfortunately, but next Thursday, the hat should be ready. Before I could even ask, she suggested I could bash the hat right then if I like, and use her advice and their steamer if necessary.

BlackBrim · Aug 19, 2010

Matt Deckard said:
take it to a hatter and don't let them go too far.

I have a hat with a 2 3/8 brim that I want to have trimmed.There is a place I can go to have this done.Not too far away there's a hatter that makes custom hats and also does renovations.I would like to get my hat trimmed down to a 1 3/4 brim.But I've never had a brim cut before so I'm wondering about what to expect.My main concern is ending up with a damaged or ruined hat.Does cutting alot off the brim cause the hat to end up looking sloppy?Does trimming a hat down to a stingy brim cause it to look like you can tell it's been cut?Does the more brim you get cut off the worse it turns out?

Instead of getting it cut down to the size that I want(a 1 3/4 brim)would I be more apt to end up with a nice looking job if I had less taken off?If I only go down to say a 2 1/8 would that greatly increase my chances of it turning out ok?

Elgin1924 · Aug 20, 2010

I just trimmed the brim on an cheap wool cattleman I had lying around from 3 1/2 inches to 2 3/4 / 3 inches just before.

In my case I had a hat I wanted the brim to replicate, so I popped one on top of the other and traces around the one to be copied in chalk.

I used meat scissors to cut, beginning on a diagonal to make it a bit easier.

Some sandpaper later, et voila! A nicer "country" almost-fedora.

I'm thinking that it could look good with a puggaree, or a tea/coffee coloured band.

Tommy

Edward · Aug 20, 2010

Shaul-Ike Cohen said:
I went to a third hat store, and whaddaknow - they seem to know what a hat is what you do with it. I first didn't really think of the store, because they seemed to carry only ladies' hats. Anyway: The lady was the first to look inside out of curiosity about the brand, she knew Akubra, asked me if I knew there was a direct importer or official distributer or something nearby etc. (I was aware of the latter, but even with shipping it's still considerably cheaper to order from down under.)

Yes, she'd certainly be able to shorten the brim. I asked if she does that with a special brim cutter, and while she knew them, she said the trick was to use a sewing machine! She doesn't put a thread in, obviously, and actually puts in an exact perforation, along which she then tears it and does the cleaning and fine tuning with scissors and, I suppose, sandpaper. At least for a hatter, that's the easiest and most exact way, she says, and that's how she learned it 50 years ago as an apprentice.

They're closed some days for a mini-vacation, unfortunately, but next Thursday, the hat should be ready. Before I could even ask, she suggested I could bash the hat right then if I like, and use her advice and their steamer if necessary.

Whereabouts is this place? Sounds like somewhere I might find useful. One of my Feds has a nasty moth ding in it and I want to see if something can be done....

Neophyte · Aug 20, 2010

I actually trimmed the 3'' brim of my Akubra Squatter down to 2 3/8'', by hand, about a month ago. Keep in mind this was my third hat, and I only started wearing hats this summer, so I'm about as unexperienced as unexperienced can get, and it turned out just fine. The untrimmed Squatter is depicted in my avatar, and here is the hat after trimming:

I highly recommend taking it to a custom hatter, by the way, but doing it yourself is a viable option.

Trimming a brim

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