My neighbor seemed to really like the hat. He said he's been trying hats on when he sees them, but he hadn't found anything.
I just tried to buy a Resistol Touch of mink hat, but I got outbid. It was a beautiful $2000 hat, it was just too big in size and brim for me to keep bidding.
I found it on eBay, the same seller had one a little smaller and oxidized for about $60. The one I got is marked "22", I assume that's 22 inches. I think the other one they had was "21.5". I think my head is just under 23", so I don't have to worry about stretching my hats out with it. I've been wanting to post some more hats, but my knee has been bothering me from the wreck.
I think the difference in a block and a mold is that blocks are wooden and molds tend to be metal. I think one of the biggest considerations on chosing a size is the sweatband. They say you should use a size larger block to leave room for the sweatband, if you are making a hat. Typically the sweatband is not going to fit over the size block that fits the hat. You have to either make do with a small enough block to fit through the sweatband or take the sweatband out.
Before I found the mold that I have, I bought plastic head to shape against. It's way undersized though, so you can only work on a section at the time.
I was looking around and the real molds are pretty pricey... I might try and eventually make my own mold. I see alot listed online as "X" number of pieces. It doesn't look like it would be to hard with a chop saw and belt sander to make a usable mold. My biggest problem is that the top esp looses shape and it looks like a bulge sitting on the top of my hat... Trying to keep the shape shown below.
@ASH can you give me a quote on a hat like Neil Young wore in his epic Hey Hey My My song on his tour in 1985? I’d like a 1” purple band , the union brass pin , and grey hat felt I’ll measure my head in a few days
It depends on what you are working with. Those factory teardrop crowns are done with a mold in a press, making them permanent. Whatever the factory shape is, if it's pressed in, it's going to want to go back to that shape. Some hats are easier to hand shape than others. I've heard that a lot of the modern Stetsons don't take steam well and end up with warped brims. That's why I'm more particular about keeping my vintage hats nice. Is your head pushing the top out? I've found that some crowns are too small for a teardrop. If you can get it hand shaped like you want it, you can lock that shape in with steam. If the felt is too floppy to hold a shape, you may need to stiffen it. It's kind of controversial, but you can use hairspray. You can also buy hat stiffener, I plan to test out some aerosol (real) shellac. I don't know if it's still used, but shellac was traditionally used in hat making.
Neil's hat looks like a clone of a Open Road body with a wider band and raw edge instead of bound. I think his hat is taupe colored, more than likely. The stage lights make the band look purple. This is an Akubra camp draft, open road clone.
Neil's hat is similar to my work hat, except for color, band and pins. I think his hat has a larger crown, like the vintage open road or the modern 1865 model. I think my work hat may be in-between in crown size.
I was looking around https://magillhats.com/ they have some really nice hats, but no gray. Check out ktg hats too, Kevin Todd Gerber, he has custom runs done at magill for his new line of hats.
Bushy, 2 other hats that I suggest you give a look are the Akubra Stylemaster or their Federation IV.
I bought a used custom hat from Jaxonbilt on eBay. It says that it's been delivered. It's another light colored open road style hat. It's funny to me that I like those hats so well, considering I don't like cattleman's creases. I only have one hat with a cattleman's crease but it's a proper cowboy hat and I probably wouldn't wear it that way.
I can, it's just aggravating that they did that. It wasn't like that on eBay, they stuffed it in too small of a box.
