ScottF
Call Me a Cab
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- 2,763
I figured something out the other day, and thought I'd share. If anyone has other ideas on how to accomplish the same thing, I'd love to hear them.
I have a Brock linerless fedora that had a misshapen crown - it was just plain crooked on one side. This caused severe headaches when attempting to bash, so I figured out how to fix it using a full-size antique stretcher (if it had a liner, I would have removed it first):
1. Got the crown good and wet by running cold water over it, down to the ribbon. I didn't pour any water into the hat - just ran it over the outside.
2. Shook off the excess water and stretched it over the stretcher.
3. cranked it tight, working the felt to make sure it was tight.
4. Worked the felt until 'the problem' was resolved.
5. Let it dry overnight.
I was very surprised at how well it worked out - pretty much perfect. I highly recommend these full-size antique stretchers - they look great as display pieces, with or without a hat on them, they're great for photographing hats, and you can also use them in conjunction with a small stretcher to finish stretching a hat: stretch hat on the small stretcher, then apply some water to the felt and move to the full-size one to keep the felt stretch more consistent with the sweatband area.
I have a Brock linerless fedora that had a misshapen crown - it was just plain crooked on one side. This caused severe headaches when attempting to bash, so I figured out how to fix it using a full-size antique stretcher (if it had a liner, I would have removed it first):
1. Got the crown good and wet by running cold water over it, down to the ribbon. I didn't pour any water into the hat - just ran it over the outside.
2. Shook off the excess water and stretched it over the stretcher.
3. cranked it tight, working the felt to make sure it was tight.
4. Worked the felt until 'the problem' was resolved.
5. Let it dry overnight.
I was very surprised at how well it worked out - pretty much perfect. I highly recommend these full-size antique stretchers - they look great as display pieces, with or without a hat on them, they're great for photographing hats, and you can also use them in conjunction with a small stretcher to finish stretching a hat: stretch hat on the small stretcher, then apply some water to the felt and move to the full-size one to keep the felt stretch more consistent with the sweatband area.
