Artisan focus: De Cou Studio custom rounding jack!
As a special treat, i spent my tax return on a custom professional rounding jack from woodworker/artisan De Cou Studios!
Want to see?
Here it is!
What's a rounding jack? It's a tool that hatters use to cut a uniform brim size. Here's an image from Henry Ermatinger's 1915 reference text:
Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating A Complete and Profusely Illustrated Course of Instruction, Enabling the Novice to Acquire the Art of Finishing and Remodeling Hats of All Varieties According to Tested and Approved Methods By Henry L. Ermatinger
(Pretty exciting that Google Books has that text online now, eh?)
Here are a couple of illustrative photographs, which should illuminate what you're looking at in the real-deal photo:
This is my fourth custom hatmaking tool from Mark DeCou--i also have written about his puller-down, runner-down, and tolliker. I can't stress enough how pleased i am with these tools! It's exciting enough just to have the opportunity to purchase new ones--usually, these are the kinds of things you hope to luck into finding at an antique mall. However, above and beyond that, the quality of these is truly excellent. I highly recommend his work!
I'm glad to see that he has an Etsy shop now, as it's a good "one stop" link to a lot of his hatters' tools. You can also just contact him directly about customized stuff, or if you have a particular tool you want replicated that he's not got a version of yet.
Now, to save up for the conformitor/formillon...
ETA 6/25/10: Here's a video by California Custom Hat Maker Tom Gomez from Premier Panama Hats using one of Mark's rounding jacks on a felt body hat.
Want to see?
Here it is!
What's a rounding jack? It's a tool that hatters use to cut a uniform brim size. Here's an image from Henry Ermatinger's 1915 reference text:
Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating A Complete and Profusely Illustrated Course of Instruction, Enabling the Novice to Acquire the Art of Finishing and Remodeling Hats of All Varieties According to Tested and Approved Methods By Henry L. Ermatinger
(Pretty exciting that Google Books has that text online now, eh?)
Here are a couple of illustrative photographs, which should illuminate what you're looking at in the real-deal photo:
This is my fourth custom hatmaking tool from Mark DeCou--i also have written about his puller-down, runner-down, and tolliker. I can't stress enough how pleased i am with these tools! It's exciting enough just to have the opportunity to purchase new ones--usually, these are the kinds of things you hope to luck into finding at an antique mall. However, above and beyond that, the quality of these is truly excellent. I highly recommend his work!
I'm glad to see that he has an Etsy shop now, as it's a good "one stop" link to a lot of his hatters' tools. You can also just contact him directly about customized stuff, or if you have a particular tool you want replicated that he's not got a version of yet.
Now, to save up for the conformitor/formillon...
ETA 6/25/10: Here's a video by California Custom Hat Maker Tom Gomez from Premier Panama Hats using one of Mark's rounding jacks on a felt body hat.
Click to view