Hat Stretcher

I have always loved vintage full brimmed hats. I recently acquired a couple of hats but they were too small and were destined to the closet along with the hat I inherited from my grandfather that was also to small. I thought what a shame I'll never be able to wear these hats. Thats when I thought about stretching them, I found some youtube videos and they all used a hat stretcher that sells online for around $25. Thats not a lot of money but they are quite simple and I was able to make them at a fraction of the cost.

The material list is pretty simple:

1x3 of wood, (I used red oak, in hind sight I would use a much softer wood that is easier to work with)

1/4" x 7 3/4" turn buckle

Wood glue

The tools were also basic:

Jig saw

Dremel with the "565 cutting kit"

Rasp

Assorted sand paper

First thing I did was make a pattern for the stretcher. For this I used a hat that fit my head well and placed a flashlight inside the hat, then laid piece of graph paper over the hole with the center marked by a crease. I traced the inside of the hat on one side then folded the paper in half and cut out the shape. I did this for the front and the back. Then I used a compass to draw the curve for the inside. Next I marked where there will be a notch for the turnbuckle.

I traced the pattern onto the 1x3, each cut out will make up half of one side.

Using a jig saw I cut out each piece. for the tight inside curves I made some relief cuts.

For the notch the the turnbuckle will slide into I used my Dremel tool with a cutting bit, it's all a part of the kit mentioned in the tools needed section. I set the depth of the guide to about half the thickness of the eyelet on the turnbuckle, which was about 1/8". I did this by hand to it's not perfect but it won't be to visible so all that counts is that it works. ;-)

Once I had all of the pieces cut out I glued them together. Don't be shy with the glue. I squeezed on the glue and spread it evenly over the surface with my finger, then I clamped the two pieces together. If you don't have clamps you cant use a screw or two, just make sure to pre-drill your holes so you don't split the wood.

The last picture shows how the turnbuckle fits in the notch.

The last part was to finish shaping the pieces by hand. In hindsight, red oak was a little overkill. Next time I will use a much softer wood, aspen or pine would probably be just fine and make this step a lot easier!

I started with a rasp to clean everything up but it was slow going. One of these days I'll break down and buy a drum sander!

Finally I improvised and used a couple pieces of self adhesive sand paper I had for a sanding block and I stuck them to a hole-saw. This worked pretty well, just watch out for the teeth and over lap the sand paper so you don't catch an edge.

When all was said and don't I finally had a hat stretcher for my hats. Now I can go bald in style!

Before stretching your hats I recommend doing a little research so you know what you are doing. I liked this video.

Good luck!