HOMEMADE HAT MAKING TOOLS

 

Here are some of my Hand Made

Hat Making Tools

I'm particularly proud of some of these hand made
tools.  Hat making is kind of rare in today's society, so when

you need tools, you either have to pay through the nose for

commercially available items OR make them yourself!

The uppermost tool is known as a "Puller Downer" and it's used to pull the felt

down over the hat block, which is a very tight fit.

The tool in the middle is called a "Pusher Downer" and it's used to push the

rope down over the crown to form the brim break.

I bought the hat block in this picture, but I made the head plate and the brim

flattening plate myself.  The head plate has my particular head shape cut

into it so my hats will fit MY head perfectly.

I made this "Head Conformateur" after seeing a similar one on the

Fedora Lounge's website.  This tool takes the exact head SHAPE

of whomever it's measuring...for that perfect custom fit.

You still need a tape measure to obtain the size, but the conformateur

is what makes a custom hat truly CUSTOM.

This was my first hand made brim trimmer.  It worked okay, but it wasn't adjustable.

Plus, the construction was a little rough.

This is my totally refined and adjustable brim trimmer (or Rounding

Jack as it's known in the hat world).  I made it out of scrap white oak

that I already had and it works perfectly.  Commercial versions of

rounding jacks usually sell for $300 to $600 dollars and mine only cost

me some workshop time.

My homemade hat steamer came together kind of fortuitously.  I had the 

big stock pot that I've used to brew beer and make tamales in, but I also

wanted to use it to steam hats.  Luckily, while browsing at my local thrift

shop, I came across this wire fruit bowl and what do you know?  It fit inside

the pot perfectly!  I can now lay my hat bodies in the pot without them falling into 

the water and it works like it was made for the job.