Randall Renshaw Restorations

[BobHufford]

What’s in the suds? Other than the hat obviously…

 

[Randall Renshaw]

What’s in the suds? Other than the hat obviously…

I had meant to go back and edit in some explanation of the photos, but got busy.

In the soapy water inside the crown is the 3/4” hatband ribbon.
It isn’t original to this hat and I had planned to remove it and use 3/8” ribbon and do the usual open Road type bow, but after I took it off I’m now under the impression that this particular 100 originally left the factory with 3/4” ribbon and was replaced with new 3/4” ribbon. The “tan line” on the lower crown looks too well defined with no evidence of anything else ever being there.
So I will use the same ribbon, but I’ve reconstructed the bow to suit my taste, which is more along the lines of how it was likely done originally by Stetson.
This 100 had and still has a 3 1/8” brim with a 6” crown, which isn’t what is typically seen in 100s, as most have smaller proportions, which also lends in making me suspect this hat possibly, originally came with a 3/4” ribbon with western bow.

 

[BobHufford]

In the soapy water

Thanks for the breakdown of the breakdown. What soap and what ratio is safe for the felt?

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Thanks for the breakdown of the breakdown. What soap and what ratio is safe for the felt?

Not a lot of Dawn dish soap, but I’ve never measured how much I put per sink tub. Maybe a tablespoon or so.
Too much and it’s hard to get out of the felt even with many rinses, however, pure beaver is too dense to soak up much soap and it rinses right off. On the other end, 3X fur, or less will definitely **** in the soap.
I lightly scrubbed the felt while in the water with a wet cloth.
This one didn’t need it, but a very dirty hat will require more soap and more light scrubbing, but be super careful not to over or heavily scrub ribbon binding or ribbon hat bands because it WILL TEAR OR FRAY!
(Also, be careful not to over scrub wet felt, as it will pull up unwelcome fur knap)
Old ribbon with yellow sweat or rust stains doesn’t want to clean well anyway, so don’t waste your time trying to clean it too much, or you’ll only end up with frayed ribbon.
As an aside, I’ve found that with pure beaver hats the felt doesn’t shrink or stretch, a bit, in the cleaning, reblocking stage. Therefore, if you use the wrong style block or too big, you will lose original proportion measurements.
FYI, for those who may not know, The pic with the hat on the block the felt is still soaking wet, so it looks splotchy. When it dries it should look close to original color and be pretty darn clean. We’ll see come tomorrow.

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Happy to report that I tested a small area of the leather sweatband with water, front and back, and was surprised that it didn’t shrivel or shrink a bit. Most the time when you see cracked or flaking leather, it means that it’s suffered enough dry rot that it’ll shrivel.
No type of conditioner will reverse this.

I will also offer this piece of earned wisdom:
Others might, but I do not recommend any type of conditioner to be used on vintage leather. I’ve tried all kinds and brands and haven’t found anything that actually helps and many times stiffens the leather in the long run.
You may have gotten different results with a certain product and that’s great, but my experience is that it’s best to leave it be.
If the leather in a particular old hat you bought is in great condition after decades in decent storage conditions it likely means that it’ll last just as long in the future without using anything on it. If it’s not in good condition when you get it, leather conditioners won’t usually help and can stand a chance of ruining it, especially if dry rot is an issue.
That’s my long time sweatband maintenance experience, anyway.
I’m sure others have had completely different, or similar experiences.

 

[rogueclimber]

That little touch to the bow does so much. Well done sir!

 

[Randall Renshaw]

That little touch to the bow does so much. Well done sir!

Thanks, Rob!

 

[belfastboy]

Not a lot of Dawn dish soap, but I’ve never measured how much I put per sink tub. Maybe a tablespoon or so.
Too much and it’s hard to get out of the felt even with many rinses, however, pure beaver is too dense to soak up much soap and it rinses right off. On the other end, 3X fur, or less will definitely **** in the soap.
I lightly scrubbed the felt while in the water with a wet cloth.
This one didn’t need it, but a very dirty hat will require more soap and more light scrubbing, but be super careful not to over or heavily scrub ribbon binding or ribbon hat bands because it WILL TEAR OR FRAY!
(Also, be careful not to over scrub wet felt, as it will pull up unwelcome fur knap)
Old ribbon with yellow sweat or rust stains doesn’t want to clean well anyway, so don’t waste your time trying to clean it too much, or you’ll only end up with frayed ribbon.
As an aside, I’ve found that with pure beaver hats the felt doesn’t shrink or stretch, a bit, in the cleaning, reblocking stage. Therefore, if you use the wrong style block or too big, you will lose original proportion measurements.
FYI, for those who may not know, The pic with the hat on the block the felt is still soaking wet, so it looks splotchy. When it dries it should look close to original color and be pretty darn clean. We’ll see come tomorrow.

I use Orvus Paste instead of Dawn. It is Ph neutral, is effective in ridding oils but is very easy to rinse out. More expensive than Dawn but it saves me a ton of time trying to rinse out the Dawn from the felt.

 

[Randall Renshaw]

I use Orvus Paste instead of Dawn. It is Ph neutral, is effective in ridding oils but is very easy to rinse out. More expensive than Dawn but it saves me a ton of time trying to rinse out the Dawn from the felt.

Thanks for the tip, Robert, I might give it a try.

 

[belfastboy]

Thanks for the tip, Robert, I might give it a try.

My wife is a fibre artist that works with wool. She uses the Orvus Paste to clean the raw fleece. It cuts through the huge amount of lanolin in the fibre but is gentle. As a plus it washes out easily.

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Thanks to a dehumidifier she’s dry and shaped with the ribbon wrapped around for a photo.

Next steps, sew on bow and band and then sew in the original sweatband.
Gotta go thru my miscellaneous liners and pick out a good one for this great old hat!

 

[Rmccamey]

That is a nice hat. I may have to copy that design on a donor hat.

Thanks to a dehumidifier she’s dry and shaped with the ribbon wrapped around for a photo. View attachment 706518
Next steps, sew on bow and band and then sew in the original sweatband.
Gotta go thru my miscellaneous liners and pick out a good one for this great old hat!

 

[Randall Renshaw]

That is a nice hat. I may have to copy that design on a donor hat.

Thanks, Randy.
For this look it helps if the crown is high and the sides are squared/straight up.

 

[TimmyV]

Not a lot of Dawn dish soap, but I’ve never measured how much I put per sink tub. Maybe a tablespoon or so.
Too much and it’s hard to get out of the felt even with many rinses, however, pure beaver is too dense to soak up much soap and it rinses right off. On the other end, 3X fur, or less will definitely **** in the soap.
I lightly scrubbed the felt while in the water with a wet cloth.
This one didn’t need it, but a very dirty hat will require more soap and more light scrubbing, but be super careful not to over or heavily scrub ribbon binding or ribbon hat bands because it WILL TEAR OR FRAY!
(Also, be careful not to over scrub wet felt, as it will pull up unwelcome fur knap)
Old ribbon with yellow sweat or rust stains doesn’t want to clean well anyway, so don’t waste your time trying to clean it too much, or you’ll only end up with frayed ribbon.
As an aside, I’ve found that with pure beaver hats the felt doesn’t shrink or stretch, a bit, in the cleaning, reblocking stage. Therefore, if you use the wrong style block or too big, you will lose original proportion measurements.
FYI, for those who may not know, The pic with the hat on the block the felt is still soaking wet, so it looks splotchy. When it dries it should look close to original color and be pretty darn clean. We’ll see come tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing some of your expertise Randall. I really appreciate it !!

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Finished last night, or this morning, really, around 6:00 am. I think if you go back and check out the before pictures you might be at least a little bit impressed with this outcome.
Took a 3X red liner from a Stetson I had busted down a year ago and never finished, and I thought I’d rather have it in this more importanter Stetson. Erased the 3 and drew in a 100 using gold ink. Wish I could’ve done that better.
She’s not mint condition, but sure has allotta character. If worn with a lil bit of care, it should last another 75 years.

I probably should’ve taken more pics in the last few installation steps, but heck, it was late!
Went ahead and fashioned a keyhole size tag from a Manila folder that better reflects its size. She fits like it was made to fit me now, somehow. ;-)

 

[Blare]

Finished last night, or this morning, really, around 6:00 am. I think if you go back and check out the before pictures you might be at least a little bit impressed with this outcome.
Took a 3X red liner from a Stetson I had busted down a year ago and never finished, and I thought I’d rather have it in this more importanter Stetson. Erased the 3 and drew in a 100 using gold ink. Wish I could’ve done that better.
She’s not mint condition, but sure has allotta character. If worn with a lil bit of care, it should last another 75 years. View attachment 706839 View attachment 706840 View attachment 706841 View attachment 706842 View attachment 706843 View attachment 706844 View attachment 706845 View attachment 706846
I probably should’ve taken more pics in the last few installation steps, but heck, it was late!
Went ahead and fashioned a keyhole size tag from a Manila folder that better reflects its size. She fits like it was made to fit me now, somehow. ;-)

Wonderful restoration Randall

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Wonderful restoration Randall

Thanks, Joe

 

[Rmccamey]

Very nice restore, Randall.

I'm still loving my Revolver.

Finished last night, or this morning, really, around 6:00 am. I think if you go back and check out the before pictures you might be at least a little bit impressed with this outcome.
Took a 3X red liner from a Stetson I had busted down a year ago and never finished, and I thought I’d rather have it in this more importanter Stetson. Erased the 3 and drew in a 100 using gold ink. Wish I could’ve done that better.
She’s not mint condition, but sure has allotta character. If worn with a lil bit of care, it should last another 75 years. View attachment 706839 View attachment 706840 View attachment 706841 View attachment 706842 View attachment 706843 View attachment 706844 View attachment 706845 View attachment 706846
I probably should’ve taken more pics in the last few installation steps, but heck, it was late!
Went ahead and fashioned a keyhole size tag from a Manila folder that better reflects its size. She fits like it was made to fit me now, somehow. ;-)

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Very nice restore, Randall.

I'm still loving my Revolver.

View attachment 706870 View attachment 706871 View attachment 706872 View attachment 706873

Thanks, Randy.

Man, that Revolver still lookin awesome with you under it.
Love the brim stitching!

 

[rogueclimber]

Finished last night, or this morning, really, around 6:00 am. I think if you go back and check out the before pictures you might be at least a little bit impressed with this outcome.
Took a 3X red liner from a Stetson I had busted down a year ago and never finished, and I thought I’d rather have it in this more importanter Stetson. Erased the 3 and drew in a 100 using gold ink. Wish I could’ve done that better.
She’s not mint condition, but sure has allotta character. If worn with a lil bit of care, it should last another 75 years. View attachment 706839 View attachment 706840 View attachment 706841 View attachment 706842 View attachment 706843 View attachment 706844 View attachment 706845 View attachment 706846
I probably should’ve taken more pics in the last few installation steps, but heck, it was late!
Went ahead and fashioned a keyhole size tag from a Manila folder that better reflects its size. She fits like it was made to fit me now, somehow. ;-)

What workmanship! Great job Randall