What Hat Are You Working On Today?

[HatsBySam]

A while back I did a 1" curl on one of the big Resistol westerns. it looked cool and I tried to love it, but it was just a bit big. Fired up the steamer today and did a bit of curl reduction down to a 1/2" curl... I already like it better. Have a little smoothing to do but I think its moving the right direction.

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That one might need a bound edge?

 

[RickP]

That one might need a bound edge?

There was actually edge damage that I tried to camo with the brim curl. I decided to flatten the brim out and trim off the damage..... it left me with 3 inches of brim.... I have lots of big westerns, so I quit polishing a turd and just turned this one into a smaller hat

 

[HatsBySam]

There was actually edge damage that I tried to camo with the brim curl. I decided to flatten the brim out and trim off the damage..... it left me with 3 inches of brim.... I have lots of big westerns, so I quit polishing a turd and just turned this one into a smaller hat


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Looks great! You always make em work, good job.

 

[RickP]

Well I did a bit of coaxing on the hat stretcher for yesterdays little shrunken Stetson. Felt was in great shape and sweatband was perfect so I decided id take a stab at turning it back into a proper 7-1/4 Long Oval. Ive never seen a Stetson 7-1/4 LO that was tight on me so it was worth a shot. Did a bit of steaming and gave the wavy parts some attention and so far Im encouraged... I do believe its salvageable. One overnight evening of gentle persuasion on the hat stretcher and the hat brim is about 3/4" closer to the top of my ears. It got here measuring as a size 7 and now its almost 7-1/4. Couple more sessions and it should be good to go. Really nice smooth felt for a Royal, and I absolutely love the wide brim binding. Lovely medium grey color I didnt have. Once I get the size squared away Ill break out the little Monocote iron and tackle the bumps and dips on the front of the brim. Im thinking the brim binding ribbon shrunk a bit and introduced a few puckers.

Ive always been fond of the slightly shorter 50's-60's dress hats, so this one needed loving and wearing

Maybe the extra long post office trip to get it here from South Carolina to California and back to Texas caused it to shrink? lol

 

[Thundercolt]

There was actually edge damage that I tried to camo with the brim curl. I decided to flatten the brim out and trim off the damage..... it left me with 3 inches of brim.... I have lots of big westerns, so I quit polishing a turd and just turned this one into a smaller hat


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“You can’t polish a turd, but you can shellac it”

Keith Richards

 

[RickP]

Just got a couple ebay boxes in with three second hand braided horsehair hatbands... Getting ready to take a look at the wall and see what ive got hanging up that needs one

 

[HatsBySam]

Sold my Rip Wheeler hat to a gentleman in Japan, he wants it taken back to open crown. Had to get 1 last pic of the cattleman crease.

 

[MikeP]

How d this method work out ‍

 

[Stu K 323]

My plan for today later (it’s currently 10:50am in the UK) is to turn my Snowy river into a Ronnie Van zant style hat…..I’m not sure it will be massively successful, but worth a try. If I buy another hat, I may also need to buy a new house haha

Finally got around to modifying my hat. I decided against the RVZ style in the end and went for a Gus-style crease instead. It’s the hat I wear to the football, so it has a few club badges on the hat band. The John Wayne one just made me laugh when I spotted it in a shop.

The hat only cost me £80 from eBay, so it wasn’t exactly a massive financial undertaking. I wasn’t overly keen on the lighter colour, so I got a bit experimental. With plenty of spare coffee lying around, things got interesting. You can see the results in pictures 4 and 6. I know there’ll be some cringing and probably a few choice words thrown my way, my wife included, but it turned out better than expected.

I also curled the brim about a quarter inch, pulled it down slightly at the front and back, and gave it a subtle lift at the sides. The new Akubra Old West was my main inspiration for that. The finished version is shown in the last photo, taken in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the longest place name in Europe.

 

[HatsBySam]

Nicely done! And, yes that button kicks ***, lol.

 

[RickP]

Just about have the big Resistol cleaned up.... Thought that big brim needed some horsehair tassels. I really like the big 4" brim flattened out..think ill leave it like that after I get a couple wavy spots a bit flatter.

A local guy here prints up these 3d printed frogs with cowboy hats... picked up a handful for Christmas stocking stuffers.... Resistol... its what ALL the well dressed frogs wear! lol

 

[jeffgarf]

Picked up a James Dean Foundation Stetson Beaver hat from 1985, mostly for the challenge that cleaning it would be, but also as an interesting find. Photos show the hat as purchased then in the midst of the cleanup, post gas dip.

 

[RickP]

Picked up a James Dean Foundation Stetson Beaver hat from 1985, mostly for the challenge that cleaning it would be, but also as an interesting find. Photos show the hat as purchased then in the midst of the cleanup, post gas dip.

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Ive got a few of the James Dean Foundation hats and theyve all cleaned up nicely. Ive had best luck removing the liner before the gas bath ( lost some of the gold silk screening on one during the gas bath) Now I just remove the liner and gently wash it in a weak cool woolite solution and cool water rinse. Light colored hats looked fine with a few minutes of drying, but I had one darker grey one that Ill swear looked like a spotted leopard for several days before it fully dried.... that one scared me lol

 

[jeffgarf]

Ive got a few of the James Dean Foundation hats and theyve all cleaned up nicely. Ive had best luck removing the liner before the gas bath ( lost some of the gold silk screening on one during the gas bath) Now I just remove the liner and gently wash it in a weak cool woolite solution and cool water rinse. Light colored hats looked fine with a few minutes of drying, but I had one darker grey one that Ill swear looked like a spotted leopard for several days before it fully dried.... that one scared me lol

Going to do a more throughout gas bath next week with the lining removed. This was, shall we say, a preliminary dip for the stained part of the brim to see if the staining is even removable. I think things will work out well.

 

[RickP]

Going to do a more throughout gas bath next week with the lining removed. This was, shall we say, a preliminary dip for the stained part of the brim to see if the staining is even removable. I think things will work out well.

Over the years Ive found some James Dean Foundation hat that unusual crown and brim combinations..... pretty nice hats, but somewhat obsure and often available for a decent price. Well worth the effort

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Midsummer I picked up an older vented straw OR that was right off the ranch/farmhand’s head. I like the older vent pattern & the tone on tone ribbon over the newer vented shantung OR. But it was dirty & sweat stained something terrible. I first used a white vinegar/water mix @ 50/50 in a spritzer bottle to clean & sun bleach it as best as I could. That helped quite a bit. Then I soaked it in a Woolite mixture trying to remove the remaining stains. This is as clean as it’s going to get. Next summer if I don’t wear it on those sultry days around Hurricane Manor I’ll just salvage some parts.

 

[RickP]

Have been chasing some phantom dents that kept reappearing in the slimmed down Resistol 4x. Got a couple spots in the crown to actually stay smooth and one little spot on the brim to stay flat. There was a decent rip on the brim edge when I got it so its had some weight reduction/ damage removal done and its now a 3" brim. All clean and neat now. Figured while I had it out I might as well give it some sunlight

 

[RickP]

Lets just call this a Resistol correction day while Im at it....

Got a nice big ol 5x cattleman in last week that had a scrunched up brim. got it all cleaned up and flattened out and decided despite being bigger than I normally wear, I really like the look of a flat brim. Looks great on the whisky jug....Did one final steaming and brim swooping this morning so I thought why not trot it out in the bright sun to show how much shade it provides... No sunburned neck with this one! Sad to realize how well the tassels match my beard lol

 

[HatsBySam]

This hat has been a struggle. My first 100% nutria hat. I started with a 3 1/4 inch flat brim, bound it and gave it a 3/4” curl, with an RCA crown. It didn’t look right. So I flattened the curl, gave it more of a snowy river brim shape, and changed the crown to more of a fedora crease. Still didn’t look right. Even with a fair amount of stiffener, the nutria is pretty soft and the brim just wouldn’t hold its shape well. So last night I trimmed the brim to 2.5 inches, bound it again, flanged to a snap fedora and gave the crown more of a diamond shaped fedora crease, and I think I’m finally content with it.

 

[jeffgarf]

This hat has been a struggle. My first 100% nutria hat. I started with a 3 1/4 inch flat brim, bound it and gave it a 3/4” curl, with an RCA crown. It didn’t look right. So I flattened the curl, gave it more of a snowy river brim shape, and changed the crown to more of a fedora crease. Still didn’t look right. Even with a fair amount of stiffener, the nutria is pretty soft and the brim just wouldn’t hold its shape well. So last night I trimmed the brim to 2.5 inches, bound it again, flanged to a snap fedora and gave the crown more of a diamond shaped fedora crease, and I think I’m finally content with it.

Very sharp! Well done.