Hat Making Tool: Foot Tollikers, Hard Rock Maple & Black Walnut

Well show it on the hat Mark. How do they work?

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

the look like little feet.

I imagine that the feel really nice in the hand. Very interesting – and beautiful

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Karson: I did my best to show how I think these are used. I changed out the photo for one with a hat brim.

That’s funny Debbie. I see it now, but If I had seen the “feet” earlier, I would have carved toes on them for fun, as the customer would have loved that.

I made a “foot” handle once for one of my walking canes and it sold right away. I should have tried it here also.

thanks,
Mark

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

I thought you used them on your head to make it fit the hat. :-)

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

no Charlie, a hammer is used for that. The hat is steamed, and then fit over a wooden form (which are also obsolete) and then brim work is done with the Talicer, at least that is what I am told.

Once these Talicers are given as a present to the person that is to finally receive and use these, I will post the location of his business, a hat maker. Until then, I don’t want to spoil his surprise.

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Nice job Mark, I think, I’ve never heard of or seen one either. mike

-- (You just have to please the man in the Mirror) Mike from Michigan -

My Dad worked for a laundry, & dry cleaning company. When I was a little kid I used to go to the laundry with him. They used to block hats, & they had wooden forms for all shapes, & sizes. That was a full time job as a Hat Blocker.
I don’t think I ever seen a talicer. I just remember all of the forms sitting on the shelves.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

well, there’s something you don’t see everyday… pretty cool to help keep an old craft going.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Van Gogh -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I once built a maple bumper for rope that hangs out of a B-24?’s tail. A twisted tapered bent chunk of wood. The old drawings were great! It challanged me. I just wish I could find the blue prints. What a very interesting job thoseTalicers are.

Here’s what I have found.

Is item 54 or 62 a “talicer”?

What about that device on the bench to the left of the man?

Felt hat terms that may be similar: Tenturer, a person who stretched fabric while it was drying

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hillsbiblechurch.org/

In the mail today I received a note from the customer, and a copy out of an old hat making book showing the use and proper name and spelling of this old tool. I don’t know what book title this came from.

Thanks for looking,
Mark

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-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

One more reference

http://books.google.com/books?id=71YaekMCh5YC&pg=PA48&ots=lsPIm3Gv0Z&dq=Tolliker&sig=ABf2_-VTtnIrAhAX_RyaWBR-TxY

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

You have done a lovely job on the tollikers.
The book quoted from is the 1920 scientific hat finishing and renovation guide published as the hatters bible by Roberts Cushman in a day when they was the major supplier of hatter supplies. We republised the book a couple years back as a service to the hatter community as most hatters only have a partial xerox copy of it. We contracted the Library of Congress to send us the full version.

You are obviously a master of the art. I am not sure why the job was done in walnut as I have never seen an original in walnut before and not sure really if it is the best for the job. We are going to offer these in Rock Maple later this year as well as the old Iron and Brass ones.

No reason to reinvent the wheel twice however and we hope to get you to just make the Maple ones for us to offer the hatter community.

I personally have about 100 of these in mixed wood and metals and combos and also a few varieties.

Again just simply lovely and beautiful work

-- Learn about traditional hat making at: http://www.gladhatter.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=22

Well, Mark, you do expose me to things that I would, otherwise, never have seen.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)