Cotton fibre plaits are generally stiffened with a gelatine solution similar to the viscose method, but another process was evolved for black cotton hats, by which a resinous solution after application was burned off in a blocking machine, combining at the one time the dual processes of stiffening and blocking. This, however, can only be taken advantage of when the particular variety of machine, with spelter male and female blocks, was available. (This will be described under the head of Blocking.)

These, in the main, are the “stiffening” methods in use in the straw hat trade as it is to-day, when the materials used for hats are prepared to their final appearance stage before being sewn, but in the early days of the trade when the finished plait was quite crude as compared with that of this century, some methods were utilized during stiffening to alter or improve the colour of the hat or bonnet. The earliest attempt in this direction was the production of a white colour on straw. It has been shown in previous chapters that the early bleachings simply improved the natural colour of the straw, and did not remove its yellow tinting. But it was found possible during the stiffening to carry the improvement a stage further. This was done by the mixture of some acid, such as oxalic, sorrel and other similar chemicals, in the gelatine bath. These had a dual effect, they kept the gelatine from returning gradually to its pristine browny-yellow tint, and when the hat was stiffened the chemically treated “stiffening” was more easily affected in the bleaching by the fabrics of sulphur. (Incidentally one may remark that the addition of a similar chemical action to that produced by the above-mentioned acids, will materially improve the colour of even the darkest tinted gelatine.) But even under all these improvements, plait could not be made as white as fashion demanded sixty or seventy years ago. Attempts were made to produce the required article by making plait similar to “twist” or “Luton” with the straws plaitted inside out, that is the two splints used for each straw were laid with the outsides of the straws together, leaving the inside of the straw, or “rice,” which is much paler in colour, on the outside of the plait. This, when bleached, was materially whiter than that with the silicate outside, but it did not come up to the required standard. A method was introduced called “Enamelling” or “Compoing,” which consisted of a paste made of starch, or isinglass, or gelatine, mixed with various white powders, making when ready for use a thickish whitewash. This provided both stiffening and colouring to the hat.

But this in itself was an additional weight, and as all plaits with heads made the proper distribution of the enamel very difficult, some smoother and lighter medium had to be found. “7 ends Split” was the chosen plait, and for several years enamelled split bonnets were a most fashionable feature. The modus operandi was to spread the “enamel” or “compo” over the outside surface of the bonnet or hat, in a perfectly even manner, so that when dry it presented the appearance of being evenly whitewashed. The final touch was given by ironing the hat very carefully on the block, with a bare iron not too hot; this imparted a slight glaze, which, if unscorched, was really very fine. Various other media have been used at different times for stiffening straw hats, such as dextrine and other farinaceous products, and resinous and other gums, soluble in spirit or in water. Machines have been utilized for stiffening, but the little advantages therefrom were so overweighted by the disadvantages, that they have never obtained any popular support and to-day it is probably not too much to say that every straw hat is stiffened actually by hand.

CHAPTER XI
BLOCKING BY HAND

The process of “Blocking,” as the next operation in the making of a straw hat is termed, consists of some method, either by hand or machinery, to place the somewhat uncouth looking article, exhibited by the dried stiffened hat, into its ultimate form.

Naturally, the thoroughly softened shape, saturated with hot gelatine and hung to the rod by a thread, assumes during drying an appearance totally at variance with the proper shape, and in order to achieve the correct outline some means has to be employed that will at the same time render the gelatine amenable and also fix the contours. Ever since hats have been made, whether in the oldest woven form, or in the more recent plait sewn way, this process has been a necessity. In fact the smoothing for wear of the finished hat is a process considerably older than that of giving some extra firmness. In the account of the making of the Panama mention has been made of the use of wooden mallets to obliterate the ridges caused by the “setts” and to give a general outline of conformity to the hood, and even so in the case of British made hats, even before the stiffening methods of wicker, wire or buckram, hats were given a smoothening finish by means of some similar instrument. It is probable that in the earlier times wooden tools were used here, but of these there are no records clearly indicating their nature. The earliest instrument used in the trade of which there are existing examples were termed “Slicken Stones.” Of these there are two fine specimens in the Luton Free Library, and they are of different sizes, one about 4 ins. diameter and one about 6 ins. They are circular, but flattened with a rounded bevel edge something like the shape of a muffin, but with very smooth surfaces. Their mission was to remove all inequalities from the hat after weaving or sewing, contributing at the same time a smoothness which could not be obtained from wood. They were probably used from the earliest hat making times, and certainly played a part in the smoothing of hats made on wicker. Whether they were needed for the wire foundationed shapes is uncertain, as this medium was so easily adjusted by the fingers, but they undoubtedly were extensively employed in the shaping of the buckram supports, as this article, slightly damp, could be easily moulded. They were used cold, and the probability is that in the wicker and the buckram methods, a slight steaming over boiling water, immediately followed by the application and use of these cold “Slicken” stones, would result in the possibility of shaping and at the same time “setting” the material. About the commencement of the nineteenth century they were in common use around the South Bedfordshire hat making centres, and there is no doubt they were successful in their operations on hats both woven and sewn that were sufficiently firm in their straw nature. From what can be gleaned they were still in use when the first gelatine was used, but as the necessary steaming or softening of the hat was another process, the old established method was soon superseded by the use of irons, for it was found that with a damp cloth over the hat, the iron at one time could produce its own steam and soften the stiffened material, and also make the hat conform to the shape of the block. At the time of the gelatine introduction, shapes were all of variations of the “Poke,” “Coalscuttle,” or “Granny” bonnet styles, and the smoothing or ironing of them was done on a “block,”[1] something the shape of a vaulting horse, and nearly as large, for it had legs long enough to make it sufficiently high to work at without stooping. The ends were made to take the crown, or rather the portion which hung at the back of the head or nape of the neck of the wearer, into which was set the voluminous “poke” or side brims of the “petasus” or coalscuttle type that completely obliterated the side views of the wearer’s face. The poke could be blocked on any part of the “horse” except the ends, and its curves and outlines varied as occasion might require. On the introduction of irons and the use of a damp cloth, known in the trade as a “strainer,” the wooden horse was the only apparatus for blocking until the advent of other shapes necessitated further and more complicated outlines. When the “iron” in present use first made its appearance in the trade it has been impossible to find out. It is what is now universally known as a “box iron,” consisting of a wedge shaped shell of metal with flat top and bottom, but with curved sides, into which a red hot “pad,” or block of iron to fit the interior, could be put to impart to the “box” the necessary heat. That this style of iron was known long before the beginning of the nineteenth century is certain. Quaint forms for ironing the Elizabethan ruffs embodying the hot pad principle are still in existence, but the early nineteenth century accounts of the instruments used in the straw trade are something like the History of England between A.D. 500 and A.D. 800, extremely hazy! Therefore, it is impossible to fix the exact date of its introduction to the trade; one may conjecture that, like “Topsy” in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, “it growed.” Its trade birth was probably accidental, but its existence has been phenomenal in duration, for although machinery for blocking is now doing a lot of work formerly done by hand, still in most factories hand ironing occupies a very prominent place, and even where hats are blocked by machine in many cases they need roughly shaping first by hand. Hand blocking is done in the following manner: the hat to be ironed is first put through some process to make the hardness of the gelatine sufficiently soft to fit the blocks. In the early days of the trade this was always done by lightly passing the hot iron over a damp cloth in which the hat was enveloped, thus producing enough steam to render the hat pliable, the crown was then carefully adjusted on the block, special attention being given to the spacing and direction of the rows of plait.

About 1880 straw hat manufacturers, having also started the making of felt hats, for which a small steam jet in an enclosed box or vessel was necessary, found that this same “steam pot” (trade term) provided an easy means of softening the hat, for placing on the wooden block, and since that time the old method of softening has practically died out, with the exception of such plaits as would be injured by steam action. When the crown of the hat is in proper position on the block, it is covered with the “strainer.” This should be in a well wrung-out damp condition, and is held in its place by the left hand of the “blocker,” the ironing operative. With the box iron in his right hand, he evenly and with a slightly circular motion, keeping the iron on the hat, presses out any inequalities that may be left, but with such discretion as not to injure the design of the plait. This process continues until the “strainer” is dry, which indicates that all superfluous moisture is evaporated and that the material will stay permanently in the required form. Some plaits with prominent heads or fancy embellishments require two or more “strainers” or even a thickness of flannel between the iron and the hat to prevent bruising, but plaits such as these are generally “blocked” by being “steamed” (trade term), that is the shaping on the block is entirely done by the hand of the operator after the material has been softened in the “steampot.” When hats are, as they always were till about 1885, of “one piece” make, the crown having been finished, is taken off the wooden block and placed head downward in the “curler” or “brimmer” of wood. Either name sufficiently designates its form and use, and the “one piece” hat is carefully adjusted in the head entry, due regard being made to the contour of the base of the crown, and the arrangement of the first gores of the brim, so as to ensure a perfectly clean line of junction between the crown and the brim. The brim is then adjusted to the exact outline of the edge, and when true is “blocked” in a similar way to the crown. The two piece hats are done in the same way with, of course, the exception that the crown and the brim are blocked apart. It is, of course, obvious that only quite a small portion of some parts of the hats can be ironed at a time, the surface of the iron can only, at most, impinge on that amount which is parallel, and, therefore, the blocking of a crown with rounding top, bevelled edges and perhaps almost “O. G.” sides, is an operation needing considerable skill, for no lines must show, nor must there be any bruise marks, and yet at the same time there must be enough pressure to cause the material to assume and retain the required shape.