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[tommycam]

Hello All,
If this is the wrong thread, please let me know.
I have a vintage Bentley Fedora and could not find any information about it. I know Stetson has a Bentley model but I am not sure if they have connection. Any information would be helpful since it does not fit and I will have to sell it.

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[fedoracentric]

Looks like a house brand hat from the late 60s.

 

[FiftiesMan]

Thanks guys. I actually found a picture of it in an article by Warner Todd Huston of WWW,Publiusforum.com who quotes from this site often. He says that it is from the 50's/60's and is an "Open Road style" hat. So apparently the Beaver 50 7X was a model by itself. I would appreciate any further input but I got it cheap, it's in great shape, and I like the style.

Thanks again.

 

[The Fedorable]

I'm curious about something. There's a look with my brim that I'd like to try out in the future, but I don't know how else to do it.

On some of the hats from my favorites from back in the day, I noticed that the snap on the brim sorta curls downwards. Not only that, but it looks like it'll start from where the ears are and work it's way to the front. I've seen this on some of Frank Sinatra's hat, and I'm curious how to do this properly.

If I ever re-bash my current FedIV, I might give it a shot, but I like my hat the way it is. So this is more of a "For Future Reference" kind of question.

 

[jlee562]

A fed won't do that without being reflanged. The feds have very little flange in the brim as it is.

 

[Zombie_61]

A fed won't do that without being reflanged. The feds have very little flange in the brim as it is.

I concur. You can use steam or distilled water to get more "downturn" on the front of the Fed IV brim, but you won't get that smooth transition from back to front like Sinatra's hats had without an equal amount of "upturn" on the back of the brim, and the relatively flat brim on an off-the-shelf Fed IV just doesn't have that.

 

[ehansen]

Hat band loose

This seems to work on other sites, so I figure that it deserves a shot here.

If you've got a quick hat question and don't see a thread for it, just post it here. Whether the question is about cleaning, anatomy of a hat, brands, etc., this is the place.

Here's one to break the ice.

Several years ago I bought an open crown Stetson Twenty Five in excellent condition. This year the front of the sweat band came loose. What is the best fix for this before it comes out completely?

 

[gtdean48]

Several years ago I bought an open crown Stetson Twenty Five in excellent condition. This year the front of the sweat band came loose. What is the best fix for this before it comes out completely?

Send it to a hatter to have re-stitched....welcome to the Lounge & HTH

 

[liten]

hi whats a sweatband thickness?

 

[TheDane]

I think, a sweatband of 1/16" would be adequate for me

 

[dnjan]

hi whats a sweatband thickness?

I measured the leather sweatband that Art put on a panama for me and it is about 1.2 mm.
The leather sweatband on a vintage Stetson Sovereign I happen to have in the office measured about 1.0 mm.

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

I have a nice 1950's Stetson that needs a new sweatband. I want to be sure that the flange by the stitching is done properly. I've seen so many poorly done sweats with stitching that isn't flanged out at all and it digs into the forehead. Probably about a third of production hats I've seen have been this way as well as one of two expensive customs I've owned. My first thought is Art. What do you guys think? I'd like to have a nice thin, wide vintage style sweat.

 

[John Galt]

I have a nice 1950's Stetson that needs a new sweatband. I want to be sure that the flange by the stitching is done properly. I've seen so many poorly done sweats with stitching that isn't flanged out at all and it digs into the forehead. Probably about a third of production hats I've seen have been this way as well as one of two expensive customs I've owned. My first thought is Art. What do you guys think? I'd like to have a nice thin, wide vintage style sweat.

I don't quite follow the use of the word "flanged" in this context, but I believe I do understand your complaint: A properly executed reeded sweatband should tuck under the "foot" of the brim to keep the stitching from contacting the forehead.

I use the word "belling" to describe this effect, and I can make a sweatband that bells properly. I am confident that any reputable hatter can do this for you. Please PM me if you would like me to do this, and see the Conversion Corral thread for photos of my work.

Note:

I learned to do this properly in this forum with the guidance of TheDane and others, and truly appreciate their honest feedback regarding my initial attempts.

There is a real value to the conversations we have here regarding such technical skills and their execution. Without the candor of the FL members who offered their constructive criticism & guidance regarding my initial attempts, and such tutorials as I was able to find here, I would not have learned to do this properly.

If you look here, you will find my own efforts to "give back" in tutorial form and add to the collective body of knowledge regarding this subject after my research, reverse engineering, and experimentation. I am VERY thankful to each of you who provided that feedback & guidance, and also to the founders of this forum for creating a space for us to have these conversations.

 

[Landman]

Brian, as John stated, any of the reputable hatters here on the Lounge will be able to properly install a sweatband for you. John recently installed a sweatband for me and did an excellent job. Here is a link to some pictures of my hat with the new sweatband installed. You can see in the pictures that the sweatband reed is nicely flared out like you are wanting.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...rsion-Corral&p=1784425&viewfull=1#post1784425

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

I have a nice 1950's Stetson that needs a new sweatband. I want to be sure that the flange by the stitching is done properly. I've seen so many poorly done sweats with stitching that isn't flanged out at all and it digs into the forehead. Probably about a third of production hats I've seen have been this way as well as one of two expensive customs I've owned. My first thought is Art. What do you guys think? I'd like to have a nice thin, wide vintage style sweat.

Just give Art a call he can get it fixed and back on head. No Problem

 

[TheDane]

I don't quite follow the use of the word "flanged" in this context, but I believe I do understand your complaint: A properly executed reeded sweatband should tuck under the "foot" of the brim to keep the stitching from contacting the forehead.

I have noticed, that some hatters call it "belling", others call it "flanging". If I remember right, Mike Moore calls it "flanging" the sweatband. In any case, you're right about the meaning. Back in the day, some hatters also rolled (compressed) the edge along the reed-stitching (before reeding) to make that edge longer. I'm not sure, that is done anymore(?)

Brian: The itching/scratching stitches are also experienced on hats, that have been stretched up a size or more. If you stretch a hat, you only stretch the leather - not the reed. That means, that there is not enough reed to make the sweatband bell. It's absolutely possible to stretch a hat a size, but it will always be a stretched hat. The stretcher is a great tool to maintain the size, but a "panic-button" for up-sizing.

 

[T Jones]

Brian, as John stated, any of the reputable hatters here on the Lounge will be able to properly install a sweatband for you. John recently installed a sweatband for me and did an excellent job. Here is a link to some pictures of my hat with the new sweatband installed. You can see in the pictures that the sweatband reed is nicely flared out like you are wanting.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...rsion-Corral&p=1784425&viewfull=1#post1784425

+1 John Galt would be just the guy to do it. He did one for me too and it turned out excellent.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

And I'm waiting for him to do the same for me.

 

[liten]

I have a nice 1950's Stetson that needs a new sweatband. I want to be sure that the flange by the stitching is done properly. I've seen so many poorly done sweats with stitching that isn't flanged out at all and it digs into the forehead. Probably about a third of production hats I've seen have been this way as well as one of two expensive customs I've owned. My first thought is Art. What do you guys think? I'd like to have a nice thin, wide vintage style sweat.

just glue it in, heaps of glues in the market that will do the job! and as far geting a nice thin sweatband in a vintage color, it wont happen, not unless you get it custom made

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Do not use glue! That is the worst you can do.