Indy Bash for Open Crown Hats

There has been a resurgence in sales of open crown hats and whips, spurred on by the Indiana Jones movies. The actual hats worn by Harrison Ford's character Indiana Jones were custom made hats, with an open crown and a modified fedora bash. If you cannot afford a custom hat, but enjoy the Indy look, you will be pleased with the Akubra Adventurer. The Adventurer is our most popular open crown Akubra hat.

Indy Bash

The Akubras with an open crown, such as the Adventurer, allow you to put your own personal bash or crease in the crown. The traditional bash for the Adventurer is the Indy bash, a modified fedora bash.

A hat maker would use steam to make the shape permanent. The steam softens the stiffeners in the fur felt. The hat will retain the new shape when the steam dries. Care must be taken -- too much steam will shrink the felt and can ruin the leather sweatband.

If you are comfortable using steam, we recommend a tea kettle. Bring water to a boil, then simmer so as to maintain a narrow stream of steam through the tea kettle spout. Hold the area of the hat to be shaped over the steam for a few seconds at a time before shaping. Never apply steam to the leather sweatband or hat band.

The better way for those who are not hat makers and not comfortable using steam is to use the cowboy method. Put in a preliminary shape, then when the hat is damp from the rain (or a shower!) adjust it to the desired final shape and let it dry. This not only avoids shrinkage problems, but also lets you try out the preliminary shape and change it if needed.

Please view our video for a demonstration of how to shape your open crown Adventurer to an Indy bash:

 

Follow these steps to shape your hat with an Indy Bash: 

Step 1. Start with the open crown Adventurer.

Step 2. Create the center dent front to back, keeping the front slightly higher than the back.

Step 3. Add two side dents pinched closely together in front and tapering down to the ribbon.

Step 4. Add a slight curl to the sides.

The finished Indy Bash on the Adventurer.

Please download our Hat Manual (pdf) for more step by step instructions on how to bash or crease your open crown Akubra.