The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Bic on August 20, 2011, 07:24:59 PM
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I'd been wanting to try for a while.
I started with a beat up motheaten Resistol cowboy hat that felt like cardboard which I bought for & $5 at the local thrift store:
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff372/StuartCowley/Cowboy%20hat%20to%20Fedora%20conversion/P1000921.jpg)
and after a little work trimming the brim and reshaping the crown and fitting a new ribbon:
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff372/StuartCowley/Cowboy%20hat%20to%20Fedora%20conversion/P1000934.jpg)
[ Here's a link to the Fedora Lounge page where I posted showing more of the process, scroll down to post #776:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?22306-The-Conversion-Corral/page78 ]
ended up with a pretty natty lookin' fedora :)
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Very nice. If I recall there is a very cool haberdashery (a word you rarely get to use) in Buda just a little south of Austin. I popped in a couple of times to look, but they were a bit out of my league price wise. Still, I was stuck there for close to an hour each time learning more than I needed to know about hat making. I might make a trip down there if you want to make more. The guy in charge would probably teach you a lot for free. Sorry I don't remember the name, but its been 12 years. If it helps their claim to fame was making a hybrid cowboy hat with a straw crown and a felt brim, but they did a lot of nice standard stuff to.
FQ13
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And now we know what the notorious MP looks like. ;D
The hat looks right on you.
Now a hat question only an Englishman could answer, What the hell is a "trilby" ?
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Here's the other dumb post :)
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff372/StuartCowley/Cowboy%20hat%20to%20Fedora%20conversion/P1000937.jpg)
'Trilby' is what we Brits call a short brimmed fedora, it comes from a play of the same name where a hat in that style was worn by a woman.
Thanks for that info FQ, I will endeavour to search them out.
MP
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Very nice. If I recall there is a very cool haberdashery (a word you rarely get to use) in Buda just a little south of Austin. I popped in a couple of times to look, but they were a bit out of my league price wise. Still, I was stuck there for close to an hour each time learning more than I needed to know about hat making. I might make a trip down there if you want to make more. The guy in charge would probably teach you a lot for free. Sorry I don't remember the name, but its been 12 years. If it helps their claim to fame was making a hybrid cowboy hat with a straw crown and a felt brim, but they did a lot of nice standard stuff to.
FQ13
Silly me, I thought it was across the river from Pest ::) ;D
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Very nice. If I recall there is a very cool haberdashery (a word you rarely get to use) in Buda just a little south of Austin. I popped in a couple of times to look, but they were a bit out of my league price wise. Still, I was stuck there for close to an hour each time learning more than I needed to know about hat making. I might make a trip down there if you want to make more. The guy in charge would probably teach you a lot for free. Sorry I don't remember the name, but its been 12 years. If it helps their claim to fame was making a hybrid cowboy hat with a straw crown and a felt brim, but they did a lot of nice standard stuff to.
FQ13
It appears they've moved out to Lockhart FQ
http://www.texashatters.com/drivingdirections.html hardly any further at all though.
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Don't tell alf,....he's a Fedora kinda guy....
Looks great.
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Good looking chapeau. And from your photo. it appears that you have enough experience to appreciate a good hat. Mine is off to you, sir.
Respectfully,
Crusader
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Jolly good show, old chap.....very nice lid.
Shaping a hat can be a trying experience............Took me a lot of practice and patience over a steam pot. ;D ;D
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It appears they've moved out to Lockhart FQ
http://www.texashatters.com/drivingdirections.html hardly any further at all though.
Yep, those are the guys, and as you can see from the site they know what they are doing, don't do it for cheap, and are happy to tell you about it at great length. Given that Lockhart is known for world class BBQ at Kreuz Market, I'd say its worth a drive. Hell, its worth it for the Q alone, plus you'll pass Shiner Tx. (home of Shiner Bock for you heathans) and can take a brewery tour which includes free samples where they never bother to collect your tokens. Plus its an even money bet as to whether there will be live music if you time it for a Saturday afternoon. To quote the unfortunate mister Sheen: "Winner". ;D
FQ13
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TW, Crusader, Peg,
Thank You all for your kind remarks, my experiences show all too well even in the 'head shots' but I'm still new to this hat sharpening game, kinda fun really.
MP
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Cool process you used at your link in the OP.
Have you tried steam shaping?
Heck, I've found that I still like an aluminum pie-pan over a pot of boiling water better than anything else I've tried.....but an old tea kettle works pretty good too.
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Cool process you used at your link in the OP.
Have you tried steam shaping?
Heck, I've found that I still like an aluminum pie-pan over a pot of boiling water better than anything else I've tried.....but an old tea kettle works pretty good too.
If you like doing it that's cool. But I've found that most western wear stores will steam and shape your hat either for free or for such a ridiculously low price that you feel compelled to tip the guy who does the work a ten spot. They have a steam machine and the staff is (usually, no promises) trained to use it.
FQ13
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Like working on guns....it just ain't the same if you get someone else to do it. ;D ;D
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Cool process you used at your link in the OP.
Have you tried steam shaping?
Heck, I've found that I still like an aluminum pie-pan over a pot of boiling water better than anything else I've tried.....but an old tea kettle works pretty good too.
Yeah, when re-doing an old 'cardboardy' hat you need to start with the denatured alcohol (methanol) the driedout shellac stiffener, then acheive the desired shape, then 're-set' the shellac with steam. Newer or older finer felts don't need the methnol treatment first.
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Yeah, when re-doing an old 'cardboardy' hat you need to start with the denatured alcohol (methanol) the driedout shellac stiffener, then acheive the desired shape, then 're-set' the shellac with steam. Newer or older finer felts don't need the methnol treatment first.
OK BIC you might have answered a problem I have. My grand dad had a Stetson Tribly/short brimed cowboy hat
(its got kind of a 1930s FBI/Untouchables vibe to it). It doesn't fit anybody in the family and I hate to trash it. Its a silverbelly 3x Stetson circa 1960ish or earlier still in the orginal box. Its got two small moth holes but is otherwise perfect. Its 7 1/4. I take a 7 1/2. If you want it to play with customizing it,its yours for whatever the price of shipping is. Its very Melvin Purvis. ;)
FQ13
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Welllll, OK, send it. Don't worry too much about the packing as they have to be destroyed to be re-created. I take a 7 3/8 usually but it may stretch enough to work for me..Thanks!
PM sent.
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Here's the other dumb post :)
(http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff372/StuartCowley/Cowboy%20hat%20to%20Fedora%20conversion/P1000937.jpg)
'Trilby' is what we Brits call a short brimmed fedora, it comes from a play of the same name where a hat in that style was worn by a woman.
Thanks for that info FQ, I will endeavour to search them out.
MP
Damn I thought this was a pommy's national hat
(http://dpnow.com/galleries/data/500/Knotted-Hanky-Man.jpg)
well ya live and learn huh!
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LOL........check on my sister up in Mount Glorious sometime Sledge - she's gone completely bush as far as I can tell.....if you'll pardon the expression ::)
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LOL........check on my sister up in Mount Glorious sometime Sledge - she's gone completely bush as far as I can tell.....if you'll pardon the expression ::)
If it wasnt 2500km away and across an ocean I probably would LOL
Going bush up there is a prerequiste of the local, those rainforrest dwellers are a breed of their own!
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Nice hat. Good job. I've never attempted haberdashery.
Don't tell alf,....he's a Fedora kinda guy...
You Remembered! I'm touched.
For those who don't know, here's a picture taken off a TV set (sorry for the low quality). I was doing a live promo for a local costume shop on the early morning news. Should have seen me in the Beefeaters getup.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IaU23B894Z0/TNvg5O_ZPOI/AAAAAAAAgmk/rFww4bZlNlQ/NorcostcoCostumesmall.jpg)