A fedora will taper over time. How does one make a block to restore it to its original shape?
How does one ‘bash’ it?
Bashing’s a lot easier than blocking - it means you just shape the hat by hand in any of several ways that suits you. But if it needs blocking, it needs it first. It’s a tough thing to have done, these days, and can even be fairly tricky to make your own block.
Tapering can be slowed (not stopped, of course) by keeping hats in a cool place instead of the typical steam-heated closet shelf.
I would definitely look in on the Hats area at The Fedora Lounge for some pointers.
I work a few blocks from Byrnie Utz, so general blocking shouldn’t be too hard. But I’m getting a custom fedora that has very little taper compared to the typical shape of today’s fedoras. (It’s more of a pre-WWI style.) I don’t know if they could handle something like that; and if not, then I’ll need a custom block.
I have three fedoras and a Panama hat, and the Panama needs blocking. The fedoras don’t really need any special attention but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I thought blocking was becoming a lost art. And I never heard of bashing.
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