| Project by Mark A. DeCou | posted 603 days ago | 523 views | 0 times favorited | 10 comments | ![]() |
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SOLD 4-29-2008: This Tollliker and Stand is headed to Tennessee.
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Purchasing:
- To purchase a “Right Hand” Hardrock Maple Foot Tolliker, please visit this item in my Etsy.com Shop
- To purchase a “Left Hand” Hardrock Maple Foot Tolliker, please send me an email.
- To purchase a Black Walnut Foot Tolliker (right or left hand), please send me an email.
email: mark@decoustudio.com
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I often take on unique and outdated craft projects in the midst of my other work with furniture, walking canes, knives, and scrimshaw artwork.
Almost always, these unique projects come as a request from someone who has gotten frustrated trying to find either antique copies, or someone capable of crafting them.

Hatmaking tool crafting is a lost art, but hatmaking is gradually gaining a comeback. The problem is that there aren’t many antique tools to buy, and nobody making them. Hatmaking has been making a comeback with small hat shops where true craftsmanship is used to make artisan made custom hats.
Either Western, Fedora, 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, willing to spend some time whittling, carving, shaping, sculpting, sanding, and polishing these tools. 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.
Tollikers are used to shape the hat for a customer during the process of making and forming a hat to a customer’s specification.

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.

This is a Walnut single tollikers, with an inlayed “dots” of abalone shell. The display stand is walnut.
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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
- Walnut Hobbyist-Hatter Model, Counter Clockwise Cutter
- Walnut Hobbyist-Hatter Model, Clockwise Cutter
- Spradley Hats in Apline, TX
- Rachel Pollock of La Bricoleuse
- Brainpan Hat Shop in Sumner, WA
- Steve Delk's Adventurebilt Hat Co.
- Marc Kitter's Adventurebilt Hat Co.
- Pyrate Trading Co.
- Hatman Jack at Wichita Hat Works
- Inaaya Hat Co.
- Penman Hat Co.
- Complete Restoration of a Maillard Conformateur and Formillon
- New DeCou Formillion & Conformer, Prototypes #1 & #2
- Custom Designed Conformateur Carrying & Storage Case
- New Plot Base Board for the Maillard Allie Formillon
- Maple Wrench for Tightening Formillon Thumbnuts
- Left-Handed & Right-Handed Foot Tolliker
- Foot Tolliker: Elk Antler & Birch Wood, on a Display Stand
- Foot Tolliker: Walnut Wood, on a Display Stand
- Foot Tollikers: Three in White Birch Wood
- Foot Tollikers: Walnut Wood Set of Four
- Foot Tollikers, Birch Wood Double Set, on Display Stand
- Hinge-Shackle Curling Tool for the Homburg Hat
- Full Circle Shackle Curling Tool
- Half Circle Shackle Curling Tool
- Groove Tolliker Curing Tool
- “Coming Soon”, please check back.
My Website with other woodworking, including furniture, walking canes, scrimshaw artwork, custom knives, and other misc. items
(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




























10 comments so far
darryl
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1392 posts in 1217 days
posted 603 days ago
I like the look of the walnut.
What type of finish do you put on something like this, or do you leave the finish off to avoid transferring something to the hat material?
-- www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.darrylmasterson.etsy.com
Napaman
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3482 posts in 968 days
posted 603 days ago
very cool mark…and I DID LEARN! I bet you will do well…and be able to make more…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...
Mark A. DeCou
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1537 posts in 1296 days
posted 603 days ago
Hey Darryl. No finish.
Tollikers are used with heat and steam to shape a hat, and so any finish, or stain is scary to a hatmaker. They get covered with hand oil, and such over time. To put a luster on them, I buff them on a muslin wheel, basically burnishing the wood surface.
thanks for asking, forgot to mention that. Crap, there I go again giving away trade secrets.
M
-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com
rikkor
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11338 posts in 765 days
posted 602 days ago
It looks great to me. I am glad you explained it so well. Otherwise, I would have probably thought it was a sculpture of someone’s foot, or something.
Scott Bryan
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20518 posts in 713 days
posted 602 days ago
Hi Mark,
To tell the truth I am like rikkor. If you had posted this as a “What is it?” I would never have guessed. Thanks for the insight on hat making too. I have never been “into” anything other than baseball hats but the hat you pictured looking interesting.
Thanks for the post. It is always a good day when you learn something new.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
dlcarver
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260 posts in 621 days
posted 602 days ago
Actually , at first I thought they were mounts to be screwed on to a board and make a gun rack. So I too learned something. I’ll bet they could be used for gun racks. Ummmm ! A two fold purpose.
Great work Mark !
Dave
-- Dave Leitem,Butler,Pa.,http://dlcarver.etsy.com
Mark A. DeCou
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1537 posts in 1296 days
posted 602 days ago
Thanks folks for the encouragement. Gun mounts, or drawer handles, I guess it would work, but it is lots of work for that though.
The hand shape works for right or left handed people. I have also made them with the foot curving the other way, which helps a left handed hatmaker.
-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com
Lee A. Jesberger
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3710 posts in 870 days
posted 602 days ago
Hi Mark;
Not being a hat man I don’t really have a clue how useful this is, but I do recognize great workmanship.
Nice job
Lee
-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com
DocK16
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710 posts in 978 days
posted 602 days ago
I thought for sure you’d model that hat for us.
-- DocK, WV
Mark A. DeCou
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1537 posts in 1296 days
posted 601 days ago
Hey DocK, I don’t get caught in front of a camera often, and surely not often when I’m shooting the photo.
I was thinking it would be good to get a photo at the Hatman Jack’s Wichita Hatworks store in Wichita, KS where they use the Tollikers. Then you could see a real expert make a hat using a tolliker.
-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com