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[Fedster]

Question: I bough a Sunbody hat (Sam Houston, 4 inches brim). I love some things and dislike some. I generally love the hat and the fact is reasonably soft and pliable. What I dislike is that it is slightly oversized (something I fixed by exposing the sweatband to hot steam to shrink it and changing the hat band with a home made one that is smaller) and the fact that the sweatband is permanently attached to a plastic foam. So the question: how easy of painful would it be changing the sweatband? I really like the cotton, but I'd like something more size appropriate, and without foam...

 

[Eliesti]

I think you could get away with a really narrow brim as you have the gift of making small brims look wide. Your fed IV looks like a sombrero. maybe something like 2 1/4"

Maybe I'll see if they have two or three homburgs of differing brim widths I could try on. Thanks for the advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Michael R.]

Question: I bough a Sunbody hat (Sam Houston, 4 inches brim). I love some things and dislike some. I generally love the hat and the fact is reasonably soft and pliable. What I dislike is that it is slightly oversized (something I fixed by exposing the sweatband to hot steam to shrink it and changing the hat band with a home made one that is smaller) and the fact that the sweatband is permanently attached to a plastic foam. So the question: how easy of painful would it be changing the sweatband? I really like the cotton, but I'd like something more size appropriate, and without foam...

A Hatter could do it , most show a price for New Sweats , and sewing them in . Art Fawcett at VS charges $26 , prices vary , as do the Sweatband quality . bond could do it , FineVintageFedoras on Etsy . I can't remember what he charges , but he has two types , several colors . They're Roan Leather Sweats though . They may do cloth .

 

[Fedster]

A Hatter could do it , most show a price for New Sweats , and sewing them in . Art Fawcett at VS charges $26 , prices vary , as do the Sweatband quality . bond could do it , FineVintageFedoras on Etsy . I can't remember what he charges , but he has two types , several colors . They're Roan Leather Sweats though . They may do cloth .

Thanks! Anybody in the UK or the wild norths of Finland...

 

[Michael R.]

Thanks! Anybody in the UK or the wild norths of Finland...

Sorry , I didn't pay attention to where you were . I'm sure there are . There's a Thread on here with Hatters , Hat Block Makers , etc. . Our Sweet Esther the Hatter of Antwerp might know , @EstherWeis . Or a Lounger in UK or close to Finland , like @TheDane , or others .

 

[Bob Roberts]

Is it ok to get Scout brand felt hat cleaner on a hat ribbon?

 

[Redfokker]

Is it ok to get Scout brand felt hat cleaner on a hat ribbon?

I used Scout recently on a hat with a rather wide ribbon. No effect on it at all. Although it didn't take care of a couple of the stains on said ribbon either. A little Woolite on a cue tip and some stroking took care of the ribbon.

 

[Bob Roberts]

I used Scout recently on a hat with a rather wide ribbon. No effect on it at all. Although it didn't take care of a couple of the stains on said ribbon either. A little Woolite on a cue tip and some stroking took care of the ribbon.

Thanks Red.

 

[commanderbond]

I've been thinking of buying my first cowboy hat and am considering a Stetson for their legacy.
Unfortunately there are no shops that sell Stetsons in my area and was wondering if their quality is still high or
should I look into one of the custom hat makers(I'm a big fan of the Paladin hat Richard Boone wore)

 

[belfastboy]

I've been thinking of buying my first cowboy hat and am considering a Stetson for their legacy.
Unfortunately there are no shops that sell Stetsons in my area and was wondering if their quality is still high or
should I look into one of the custom hat makers(I'm a big fan of the Paladin hat Richard Boone wore)

With a lot of the custom hatters you will pay a premium for a custom. But you cannot beat having a custom made hat. I suggest you check out Northwest Hats. They have a website and his prices for custom are similar or better than an off the rack hat. He offers both rabbit and 100% beaver westerns at great prices. His work is stellar.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Mike at Northwest should be able to dup the Paladin without a prob.

 

[bowlerman]

I should know the answer to this by now... but for all you professional hatters out there:
Can an oversized hat be resized smaller? Is it as simple as a sweatband replacement, or would it be a more involved process? I'm talking specifically reducing from 7 1/4 to 7 1/8.
I have a beautiful D Bar J fedora that if I can't sell, I'd love to be able to wear, but the 7 1/4 is just too big.

 

[Frunobulax]

I should know the answer to this by now... but for all you professional hatters out there:
Can an oversized hat be resized smaller? Is it as simple as a sweatband replacement, or would it be a more involved process? I'm talking specifically reducing from 7 1/4 to 7 1/8.
I have a beautiful D Bar J fedora that if I can't sell, I'd love to be able to wear, but the 7 1/4 is just too big.

I had Gus Miller at Batsakes reduce a 7 3/8 Dalton to 7 1/4. He may have just "tightened" the sweatband as I asked him to preserve the original. He really wanted to put a new sweat in. So I'm not a hatter (nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night), but Mr. Miller didn't blink when I told him I wanted it reblocked/reduced.

 

[LabRat 101]

I’m a new member and this is my first post. My question is on steaming with a tea kettle. I see a lot of You Tube videos and most posts on here make it seem easy, but they never point out the don’ts when steaming/shaping a hat. I had a bad experience once trying to shape a hat using a tea kettle. I had a Stetson 6X beaver cowboy hat that I ruined because of using a tea kettle. The crown seems to be no problem but the brim is what I have trouble with. What happened was the brim edges buckled/wrapped when I tried to shape the brim sides. And I’m not sure what I did wrong. I took it to a hatter in the city and he said it was unfixable. Now I’m terrified of trying to steam/shape a hat. Have other people had this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Frunobulax]

I’m a new member and this is my first post. My question is on steaming with a tea kettle. I see a lot of You Tube videos and most posts on here make it seem easy, but they never point out the don’ts when steaming/shaping a hat. I had a bad experience once trying to shape a hat using a tea kettle. I had a Stetson 6X beaver cowboy hat that I ruined because of using a tea kettle. The crown seems to be no problem but the brim is what I have trouble with. What happened was the brim edges buckled/wrapped when I tried to shape the brim sides. And I’m not sure what I did wrong. I took it to a hatter in the city and he said it was unfixable. Now I’m terrified of trying to steam/shape a hat. Have other people had this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Got any pix? Not certain what you mean by buckling/wrapping. Were the over heated and curled up? You can look at many hat shaping videos (look for Pork Pie Hatters/Kevin on YouTube). Or look at our own "Monster Bash" thread. My only fear with steaming is having the steam come into contact with the leather sweatband, which can quickly ruin it.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Too much steam/heat for too long, in too close proximity to the steam source especially on a small localized spot(s) of the brim can cause weird things to happen. I dont kno how badly its warped etc but I just had Mike at Northwest Hats do a brim reflange on a thick, stiff and heavy western weight rabbit/hare felt hat and it came out fine.

 

[Michael R.]

I’m a new member and this is my first post. My question is on steaming with a tea kettle. I see a lot of You Tube videos and most posts on here make it seem easy, but they never point out the don’ts when steaming/shaping a hat. I had a bad experience once trying to shape a hat using a tea kettle. I had a Stetson 6X beaver cowboy hat that I ruined because of using a tea kettle. The crown seems to be no problem but the brim is what I have trouble with. What happened was the brim edges buckled/wrapped when I tried to shape the brim sides. And I’m not sure what I did wrong. I took it to a hatter in the city and he said it was unfixable. Now I’m terrified of trying to steam/shape a hat. Have other people had this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the Lounge ! Yeah getting steam too close to the edge of a Brim will cause the edge to not be straight and get wavy , but that can be fixed . It normally happens with Hats that don't have trim binding , though they can , too . Two or three ways to fix it , iron with steam and the back of a Hat Brush on a clean flat surface , iron with a cloth over the felt and a steam iron NOT set on high CAREFULLY , and the steam and tap and hold method on a flat surface , but if you can't get it fixed , a Hatter can .

 

[rogerstg]

I should know the answer to this by now... but for all you professional hatters out there:
Can an oversized hat be resized smaller? Is it as simple as a sweatband replacement, or would it be a more involved process? I'm talking specifically reducing from 7 1/4 to 7 1/8.
I have a beautiful D Bar J fedora that if I can't sell, I'd love to be able to wear, but the 7 1/4 is just too big.

You can easily adjust a size with sizing tape, aka camper mounting tape. It's an inexpensive way to see if the hat wears how you imagine, before having work done to it.

 

[Michael R.]

You can easily adjust a size with sizing tape, aka camper mounting tape. It's an inexpensive way to see if the hat wears how you imagine, before having work done to it.

That beats the weather stripping I bought , its too narrow , but still works . For $3.29 I think I got enough to do hundreds (maybe thousands) of Hats . But no backing on the sticky side , you roll off what you need and the sticky is exposed , but its not bad , comes right off if and when you need to remove it .

 

[jlee562]

The foam stuff works well, but I've recently become a convert of these: http://jjhatcenter.com/collections/hat-accessories/products/cotton-sizing

JJ sent me some to use with the Boss Raw Edge I'm wearing in my avatar. They're functionally the same, but in my possibly OCD opinion, the cloth strips look like they "belong" inside a hat more so than the foam.

But then again I'm weird like that....

Anyway, they work real nice. I see Village Hat Shop also has some terry cloth sizers that would work well in a straw hat.