Hat Making Tool: Foot Tollikers, Double Set on a Display Stand

Sold (3-28-2008) – this matched set of Birch Tollikers has been sold and is headed to the Brainpan Hat Shop in Sumner, WA.

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Purchasing:

1. To purchase a “Right Hand” Hardrock Maple Foot Tolliker, please visit this item in my Etsy.com Shop
2. To purchase a “Left Hand” Hardrock Maple Foot Tolliker, please send me an email.
3. To purchase a Black Walnut Foot Tolliker (right or left hand), please send me an email.

email: mark@decoustudio.com

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Project Story:

These white birch tollikers were custom made for a hatmaker in the state of Washington. He found my other lumberjock posting on Tollikers, and contacted me to commission the work. The inlayed “dots” are turquoise and abalone, used to match each tolliker up to it’s position in the display stand. The display stand is walnut.

I read on the internet recently that in the United States a “Tolliker” is called a “Tolliker”, but in England, it is called a “Dummy.” But, I don’t know that for a fact. Tollikers, of Dummys are used to shape the hat for a customer during the process of making and forming a hat to a customer’s specification.

Hat tool crafting is apparently a lost art, but custom hatmaking itself is gaining a comeback, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how many folks are taking up hatmaking as a hobby. The problem for them, is that there aren’t many antique tools to buy, and really nobody making them. When the tools do show up on eBay, they are often broken, or there are way more buyers than there are products to buy. Each time a hat tool is on eBay, I get a couple of emails after the bidding has closed with a photo of the product, asking if I could make it.

Whether hatters make Western, Fidora, Top Hats, Millinery hats, or other historical hat styles, there appears to be more and more folks out there that are tired of dressing in ball caps with Nascar, or sports teams on them. Those discerning folks find it challenging to find hatmakers today, and hatmakers find it difficult to find tools.

That creates a niche for someone like me, a woodworker, who is willing to spend some time whittling, carving, shaping, sculpting, sanding, and polishing these tools. There isn’t any easy way to make these, just carved from a block of wood, sanded smooth, and then polished with a muslin wheel. They aren’t cheap, but compared to a gallon of gasoline, or a cup of fancy coffee, a handmade original product like this that is useable for decades really doesn’t seem so high priced. At least to me.

If you find yourself in the position of collecting, or using Tollikers, or other hatmaking equipment, I would appreciate your business. Please email me for more information, pricing, and such.

Here are a couple of old drawings from Ermatinger’s book on how the Foot Tolliker used to be used.

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Artisan Hat Tools by Mark DeCou Studio
(Do you want to see More? Just follow these links):

NOTE:
ALL HAT MAKING ITEMS THAT I HAVE IN STOCK
ARE LISTED IN MY ETSY.COM ONLINE SHOP, click here to check inventory

Collector Edition Model Rounding Jacks:

1. Ebonized Walnut with Laser Engraving
2. Collector Model w/ a Brass Blade Holder

Deluxe Model Rounding Jacks:

1. Maple Deluxe Model, Counter Clockwise Cutter
2. Maple Deluxe Model, Clockwise Cutter

Hobbyist-Hatter Model Rounding Jacks:

1. Walnut Hobbyist-Hatter Model, Counter Clockwise Cutter
2. Walnut Hobbyist-Hatter Model, Clockwise Cutter

Customized Rounding Jacks, Personalized for Specific Hatters:

1. Spradley Hats in Apline, TX
2. Rachel Pollock of La Bricoleuse
3. Brainpan Hat Shop in Sumner, WA
4. Steve Delk's Adventurebilt Hat Co.
5. Marc Kitter's Adventurebilt Hat Co.
6. Pyrate Trading Co.
7. Hatman Jack at Wichita Hat Works
8. Inaaya Hat Co.
9. Penman Hat Co.

Formillons & Conformateurs:

1. Complete Restoration of a Maillard Conformateur and Formillon
2. New DeCou Formillion & Conformer, Prototypes #1 & #2
3. Custom Designed Conformateur Carrying & Storage Case
4. New Plot Base Board for the Maillard Allie Formillon
5. Maple Wrench for Tightening Formillon Thumbnuts

Foot Tollikers:

1. Left-Handed & Right-Handed Foot Tolliker
2. Foot Tolliker: Elk Antler & Birch Wood, on a Display Stand
3. Foot Tolliker: Walnut Wood, on a Display Stand
4. Foot Tollikers: Three in White Birch Wood
5. Foot Tollikers: Walnut Wood Set of Four
6. Foot Tollikers, Birch Wood Double Set, on Display Stand

Brim Edge Curling Tools:

1. Hinge-Shackle Curling Tool for the Homburg Hat
2. Full Circle Shackle Curling Tool
3. Half Circle Shackle Curling Tool
4. Groove Tolliker Curing Tool

Hat Block Spinners:

1. Hard Rock Maple and Walnut Ornamentally Turned Hat Block Spinners

Puller Downers:

1. Puller Downers, made in Birch & Maple

Pusher Downers:

1. Pusher Downers, made in Walnut, Hard Rock Maple, & Poplar

Stainless Steel Slip Stick:

1. “Coming Soon”, please check back.

My Website with other woodworking, including furniture, walking canes, scrimshaw artwork, custom knives, and other misc. items

Mark DeCou Studio Website

(Note:This project story, project design, and photos are protected by copyright in 2008-2009 by the Author, M.A.DeCou., all rights reserved, no use allowed without expressed written permission.)

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