tonyb.....hatter and a gentleman

[handlebar bart]

I just picked up a wonderful fedora that Tony has been working on for acouple weeks and I just had to post pictures of it. I am so tickled with it. The style is just so classic.

Beaver body
6" full crown
2 1/4" brim
wonderful bow
:eusa_clap Thank you so much for making me such a wonderful and amazing hat, Tony. I just had to share pictures with everyone.

 

[indycop]

Lookin good Bart, now let's see it on!!:eusa_clap

 

[handlebar bart]

Lookin good Bart, now let's see it on!!:eusa_clap

I will try to get a good one, didn't want my face to ruin the first impressions of the hatlol lol

 

[daizawaguy]

HB, thats a real beaut! How did you manage to order that?

 

[daizawaguy]

Actually, let me guess...I don`t want everyone to know lol ! But is is a real beaut! Do you have any photo`s of the leather band or lining?

 

[Craig Robertson]

Yes, I second that emotion. Tony does a great job on custom hats. I got one from him and am very pleased with it. I wore it at a recent performance and, as soon as I get the video back, I will post a link to it.

 

[Spats McGee]

Heck, I didn't even realize that tonyb was a hatter. Does he have a website where I can take a peek at his work?

 

[Feraud]

Here is a little black number TonyB whipped up for me.

Fresh out the box.

Post rainstorm

2 3/8ths brim.
The construction is well done on this fedora. I've been wearing it since the weather cooled off and this is my main black "go to" hat.

 

[tonyb]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. It looks like it's getting to the point where my membership status here should change to "vendor."

To answer your question, Spats ... No, my skills have not yet risen to a level that would have me calling myself a bona fide hatter. I've just been playing one every now and then. I started by cleaning some old hats of mine and gradually got more ambitious -- taking them apart and reblocking them and putting them back together again. I acquired a few pieces of equipment along the way and ruined a couple of hats. And then I started making all-new hats, which is a generally more pleasant undertaking than refurbishing.

I posted some photos of hats I made for myself. Craig and Feraud sent PMs asking if I might make hats for them. I said "sure." Handlebar Bart is right up the road from me. He said nice things about my work so I offered to make one for him. He swung by yesterday with his kids (very pleasant, happy, well-behaved kids, too, I might add) and picked up his finished lid. He had been by a couple of weeks earlier to try on a few so that I had a better sense of his actual size. His hat is probably my finest effort to date. It's modeled closely on the hat in my current avatar, although the ribbon on HB's hat is more elaborate and the craftsmanship is a little better. I'm quite pleased with how good it looks on him. The fit is close to spot-on and the proportions are just about ideal for his face and build.

What I can make is limited by my equipment (not enough of it yet) and skill (ditto). I try to make a good hat, though, a nice-lookin' lid but not one so precious that a guy would be hesitant to subject it to real-world use. (I'm pleased to see that Feraud wears his in the rain.) Considering the time and effort involved in handcrafting a hat, I don't see the point in using anything but the best materials I can find. Yeah, the good stuff costs more, but not so much more more as to consider using anything less.

 

[Craig Robertson]

RE: Tony B's response.

Humility and a sense of humor are earmarks of a gentleman.

 

[Neil]

Who is Tony?

I still don't understand all the insider talk on this forum. Who is the fellow who made that hat?

 

[Feraud]

I still don't understand all the insider talk on this forum. Who is the fellow who made that hat?

See TonyB's reply, #9 in this thread.

 

[Spats McGee]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. It looks like it's getting to the point where my membership status here should change to "vendor."

To answer your question, Spats ... No, my skills have not yet risen to a level that would have me calling myself a bona fide hatter. I've just been playing one every now and then. . . . .

Humility notwithstanding, tonyb, those look like good work to me. If I saw one of those on the street, it wouldn't occur to me that it wasn't made by a professional.

 

[tonyb]

The hats I was making as recently as a few months ago were considerably less professional than the ones pictured in this thread. As has been observed here (and elsewhere) many times before, the basics of hat-making are simple and straightforward. A person could get the gist of it in, oh, 20 minutes. But he could spend the next 20 years or more learning how to do it better.

Some of my earlier hats have since been taken apart and put back together again. That's one of the beauties of a higher quality (read: all-beaver) hat body: it can be reworked a few times and be little the worse for it. Just last night I took apart a hat I made a few months back. I trimmed its brim down another quarter inch or so, removed its ill-fitting sweatband and reinstalled it, and junked the ribbon and bow. The first bow just wasn't up to snuff. I'll likely craft its replacement tonight and stitch it in place, reinstall the liner and have a better hat for my trouble.

 

[tortswon]

Like 'em

Tony, those are very impressive hats! Nice work!

 

[Feraud]

Does this hat have a navy blue ribbon or is the light playing tricks?

 

[Craig Robertson]

This is the hat Tonyb made for me. It's called "The Pacific Avenue". When the video's done, you can see it "in action".

But since this thread has turned into "show and tell", I couldn't resist...

 

[thunderw21]

Tony, you make wonderful hats.

The black one is a masterpiece and the red one above...very nice.

:eusa_clap

 

[tonyb]

Does this hat have a navy blue ribbon or is the light playing tricks?

It's a black ribbon. The light is playing tricks.

And I think that photo Craig posted is the prototype, which looks an awful lot like this one ...

The primary difference is that the first one is a staple (rabbit fur) body, and the one Craig has (this one) is a beaver blend, not that you can tell the difference in a photo. (The felter doesn't offer this color in all-beaver. The blend makes for a real nice hat, though.) I was quite pleased that this hat found an appreciative home. I just love that color. It's a great look for a "show" hat, something to wear on stage.

 

[Art Fawcett]

The hats I was making as recently as a few months ago were considerably less professional than the ones pictured in this thread. As has been observed here (and elsewhere) many times before, the basics of hat-making are simple and straightforward. A person could get the gist of it in, oh, 20 minutes. But he could spend the next 20 years or more learning how to do it better.

Some of my earlier hats have since been taken apart and put back together again. That's one of the beauties of a higher quality (read: all-beaver) hat body: it can be reworked a few times and be little the worse for it. Just last night I took apart a hat I made a few months back. I trimmed its brim down another quarter inch or so, removed its ill-fitting sweatband and reinstalled it, and junked the ribbon and bow. The first bow just wasn't up to snuff. I'll likely craft its replacement tonight and stitch it in place, reinstall the liner and have a better hat for my trouble.

Good work my friend. Keep going in this vein and skills will develop each day, each job, and especially, each mistake. It never stops lol lol