Hat Stretchers

[belfastboy]

I have not studied this item but one very important aspect to consider is in what direction do you wish to stretch the hat? To affect a long oval a two stretcher is needed (front and rear are stretched) . If it is a long oval you wish to maintain but enlargen then you need a 4 way. Both available on Etsy or Ebay for under $50. I have several of each and they all work well.

I just read through the thread and it would seem that he stretching to change the shape of the hat rather than attempting to upsize it. Changing the shape....i.e. coaxing it into more of a long oval from a regular oval is much easier than attempting to upsize the entire hat. Sweat bands have a plastic reed inserted into the reed tape attached to the sweat. It sits upon the brim break of the hat. The plastic filament or reed does not easily stretch and has a strong tendency to revert to original size. It is hard to upsize a hat. It is possible to ease it out a touch to alleviate a tight fit but there are hard limitations.

 

[belfastboy]

This looks like it will stretch more of the body that just the area where the sweatband will be sewn own. That seems to be the difference between this and the lower cost ones from eBay and Etsy. I haven't used this particular one (I bought a heated stretcher from Rodney Allison), but this does look more substantial than the standard ones used to stretch just the sweat area into the long oval.

Yes, but in all cases it is the sweat band that is the choke point. The reed in the sweat is the part that resists the stretch and has the memory to return to original. So you could end up with a stretched out felt and a sweat that has reverted to original. So you have accomplished just a distortion of the hat and it fits the same. If the hat is worth it send it out to a hatter for a reblock to the right size and shape......for the same money you will be much happier with the reworked hat over the stretch.

 

[RickP]

Greetings everyone,

I'm guessing I'm not totally alone when I say my head shape doesn't easily fit into the standard oval hat block shape used for most hats.

I have a few of those relatively inexpensive hat stretchers (Hat-jacks) that they sell at just about every good hat store. The first time I used one I was really happy to have found a tool that could help me relieve the front-to-back pressure I get with nearly all hats.

I initially shaped my hat-jacks in a way that I thought was more closely aligned with the actual shape of my head. After using them on multiple hats for more than a year, I was seeing some shortcomings with the design.

I considered buying some of those nice looking antique professional hat stretchers I've seen. They address most of the shortcomings I've experienced with the cheaper versions. But, I had a hard time justifying the price knowing they too would not be exactly the right shape for my oddball head.

Then, reading posts around here I learned about using a woodworkers curve guide for tracing my head shape. Hallelujah! What a great thing to learn about!! I had been wanting a simple way to replicate the shape of my head for quite a while already.

I ordered a set of 2 (24" & 36") and they arrived the next day. Using them to find my head shape was illuminating. Until tracing my own head, I had thought my head was more long oval but turns out to be an egg. The front to back pressure I always experience was not just from length, but from width in the back taking up more volume than I realized as well. The narrower than normal forehead is also causing gaps at the temples that effectively take up volume, causing me to need to typically wear 1 size larger than I would otherwise need.

With my new head-tracing tools and my newfound understanding of my own weird egg-head, I set out to make my own hat stretcher that addresses all of my concerns about the cheap store-bought versions AND is shaped exactly like my head.

Here's my first one...I plan to make myself at least 2 more.

Here it is next to the version I have been using until now..

Here it is doing it's job.

So far I've had time to steam and shape 2 of my hats using my new stretcher and I can't believe what a difference it makes. Getting all of the dimensions right for the first time feels amazing! It was definitely worth the 2 days I spent working out the design and building it. The only other thing I plan to do is add some inlay "pointers" that indicate the center top and bottom (for quickly aligning it in the hat).

Best-
CK

Super job....Got me inspired! May be one of my next projects here!

 

[shopkin]

You do nice work.