The Conversion Corral

[RBH]

Fantastic!

 

[Grizzly Adams]

Here's a conversion I did, just to test the waters in terms of my own skills. The "donor" hat was a sad old western made by B Bar H/Silver Spur, Cattleman model which proudly declared it to be made of %100 premium wool. It had faded from a lite gray to a pale green.:eeek: I cut the brim down to 2 7/8 fore and aft, and 2 5/8 on the sides, and gave it a C crown fedora bash. To correct the color, I stained it with a strong tea. It came out a soft fawn brown. In deference to it's western roots, I put a beaded hatband on it.

Whatsha think, guys?

 

[scooter]

Came out looking pretty good, the tea idea was pretty ingenious. Didn't blow a bunch of money figuring out the process either.

 

[Joshbru3]

Josh a job well done!

Great work, Josh.Love those conversions.Your an artist keep them coming.

Fantastic!

Thanks so very much, Everybody!!

 

[danofarlington]

You put tea on it and it came out like that? That's actually a very attractive and rich color.

 

[Joshbru3]

Here's my latest conversion....

I made this hat at Buckaroo Hatters this past April during Fedorafest. I originally wanted a wide brimmed western with a pencil curl, but in a dress hat weight, not a western weight felt. Western weight felts can usually accomodate bigger brims because they tend to be bigger felt bodies. The dress weights can only have so wide of a brim. I decided on a 3 inch brim with the pencil curl for this hat originally and after wearing it a couple times, realized that its not really wide enough to be a western in my opinion, and too wide for a dress hat...at least for me. So I decided to convert the hat that I originally made, into something else.

I spent a good amount of time sanding the felt at Buckaroo Hatters because I was trying to get the dress weight felt as thin as I could to make it a lightweight hat. Yesterday I decided to do a little more pouncing on the felt, but instead of using an orbital sander, I simply sanded the felt by hand only in a counter clockwise direction. I started with 220, then 400, then 600. I can tell you now, this hat is for SURE a lightweight felt. Its literally one of the lightest felt bodies I own. This Winchester body responded very well to a ton of pouncing and finished up surprisingly soft. Its a Rabbit body, and with all the hand pouncing, its seriously the softest I've even seen a modern Winchester body to be.

I trimmed the brim to 2 3/8 inches, re-blocked the crown using a 5 7/8 block with slight upper taper, so I could use a center crease. I then flanged the brim with a very cool flange that I obtained not too long ago from ebay. Its labeled "Swing" and has a VERY high rear curl and a relaxed front for a nice straight snapped front brim. I sanded and cleaned the top of the flange before I used it because this hat is bone white and I didn't want any transfer of old wood stain onto the felt. (I have had that problem in the past, so now I sand my flanges)

Here's some pictures:

BEFORE:

THE FLANGE:

AFTER BRIM TRIM, POUNCING, AND FLANGING

 

[Joshbru3]

AFTER (CREASED):

You can see how high the rear flange is.....very early 30's

For some reason, the hat looks tan here, but its not. Its bone white.

 

[m0nk]

Very cool conversion. I like the results with the flange.

 

[Chepstow]

Josh, wonderful wonderful wonderful, I really love what you do with that hat. The original curled Hat was an Eye catcher,
color, shape and ribbon. I liked this hat too. But now the Hat is absolutely stunning. The combination brim wide, crown and ribbon looks
now perfect. The shape ist great with the snap brim also the rear flange looks really sharp on that!
Josh, a masterpiece!

 

[mayserwegener]

Josh, It looks great! How does it look without pinch?

 

[mikespens]

Spectacular result Josh! Sounds like a lot of TLC in this one. Definitely a good-guy hat too. Congrats!

 

[Joshbru3]

Very cool conversion. I like the results with the flange.

Thanks, m0nk! I usually don't like very high flanges with wide brims, but with a shorter brim and flat snapped front, a deeper/higher flange really adds a nice effect. I think it also has to be paired with a tall/straight crown, but of course that's just my opinion.

Josh, wonderful wonderful wonderful, I really love what you do with that hat. The original curled Hat was an Eye catcher,
color, shape and ribbon. I liked this hat too. But now the Hat is absolutely stunning. The combination brim wide, crown and ribbon looks
now perfect. The shape ist great with the snap brim also the rear flange looks really sharp on that!
Josh, a masterpiece!

Thank you so much, Manfred!! I really appreciate all the wonderful compliments. They mean a lot to me. :yo:

Josh, It looks great! How does it look without pinch?

Thanks, Steve!! I steamed the pinches in, but here's a quick pic with the pinches popped out.

Spectacular result Josh! Sounds like a lot of TLC in this one. Definitely a good-guy hat too. Congrats!

Thank you, Mike!! I'm not sure how many man hours I put into this one, but its a lot. When I'm working on a hat, I just get lost in it and time just seems to slip away. I was working on this one till 3am this morning. :eusa_doh:

 

[alanfgag]

I echo the raves... super work, Josh.

 

[Rabbit]

Great work, Josh! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!

Good to know that the Winchester dress weight felts can in principle be sanded down to a lighter weight. I'm curious to know how much time went into the sanding from start (at Buckaroo's) to finish. Roughly, I mean.

 

[Joshbru3]

I echo the raves... super work, Josh.

Thanks again, Alan!!!

 

[mayserwegener]

Thanks, Steve!! I steamed the pinches in, but here's a quick pic with the pinches popped out.

Josh, That looks great too!

 

[Joshbru3]

Great work, Josh! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us!

Good to know that the Winchester dress weight felts can in principle be sanded down to a lighter weight. I'm curious to know how much time went into the sanding from start (at Buckaroo's) to finish. Roughly, I mean.

Thanks so much, Nik!!

As far as the amount of time it took to sand this body down to something comparable to a vintage lightweight felt, its hard to say. I first sanded the crown with regular sandpaper on a spinner for about 20-25 minutes just to get the right softness. I used 150, 220, 300, then 400. I ironed the crown as well with a crown iron. Then the brim I used the same grit sandpaper but I used an orbital sander. You'll have to ask Robert and Bill, but I would guess I spent about 1-2 hours sanding the top and bottom of the brim until I got the right softness and thickness. I will say one thing that I noticed though, since modern day Winchester bodies are not felted as long and as dense as vintage bodies, the orbital sander left mini "pock" marks in the felt. It almost gave it a rough look. The feel was fine, but the felt wasn't uniform in look. I was trying to figure out a way to fix this problem and knew that there must be some way to get the felt to look more uniform. I went to Home Depot and bought 4 grades of professional quality sheet sandpaper. I bought 100 (I didn't use the 100 on this hat since it was already pounced), 220, 400, and 600. Since every felt hat is felted counter clockwise (except for very old Austrian velours which are clockwise) I figured I would ONLY sand in one direction. I blocked the crown and with the block in the hat, started sanding counter clockwise with the 220, then 400, then 600. I used the 220 for the longest since it "cuts" away the most felt. The 100 grit would have taken way too much off and since I was already treading on thin ice as far as thickness, I wanted to be sure I didn't sand through anything. I sanded the crown for about 15-20 minutes, then the top side of the brim for 10-15 minutes, and then bottom side of the brim for 10-15 minutes. I applied slight pressure, but not too much. I also made sure to check the felt every minute or so just to ensure that I wasn't sanding too far. I would honestly say that the total amount of sanding I have done with this hat probably is somewhere in the 2-3 hour range. Most of that was just making the felt thinner and the the last portion of time was getting the felt a smooth as silk. I still say that NOTHING beats hand sanding.

 

[Rabbit]

Josh, you're awesome! That's very useful information indeed. 2-3 hours is still reasonable and totally worth the effort, I'm sure. Note to self: try hand sanding on a "what do I do with this one" hat first, then proceed.

 

[bowlerman]

NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo! (Really superb work, Josh! You're amazing with these conversions) ...but nooooooooooooo! The old version was definitely on my top ten list for other loungers' hats!

 

[tomb1013]

Great work Josh!