Hannibal Heyes Hatband ("Alias Smith & Jones")

[H Weinstein]

My "3 Akubras & a Stetson" post the other day morphed into a chat about the hats and hatbands seen in the early 1970's TV series ALIAS SMITH & JONES. Fellow Lounger Sam Craig mentioned maybe doing a Heyes hat replica, something I'd contemplated as well...except for the difficulty of replicating the cool and unique hatband worn by actor Pete Duel on his beat-up black pinch-front. Baron Hats does make a pricey hat replica (they apparently made the original hats for the series).

But for those western fans among us who might want to do it ourselves, I just happened to stumble across a woman named Valerie Wright online who makes a very nice replica of the Heyes hatband (finished, or a do-it-yourself kit with all the pieces) at reasonable prices.

Here's the original --

Here's her good-looking copy with all the right conchos --

And here's the link -- http://www.lazyjvranch.com/outlaw_heyes_hatband.html

 

[HatsEnough]

I used to love that show. Too bad the star committed suicide before the series ended.

 

[Sam Craig]

I really thought hard about this one.
$60 for a hat band was just too pricey.
Then I began looking at the hats ... Hannibal Heyes, Maverick, Adam Cartwright and I got a great idea.
I already had a Stetson 4X, black cowboy hat I've owned since 1974 ... correct dimensions.
I hit the thrift stores until I found a girl's black leather belt ... OK, more than a little luck there ... because it came with decorative leather lacing and with holes already punched all around it.
Went to a fabric department and bought out all of their silver buttons ... about shirt sized ... and a good supply of heavy bronze bead wire.
I inserted the shanks of the silver metal buttons into the slits in the black leather belt and attached them by "sewing" through the holes with the wire, so the buttons are kept in place. They look like studs when its done.
The hat band project came in under $10 and I know, already, I need to post pics.
I'll be happy to because it turned out looking even better than Adam Cartwright's

Sam

 

[HatsEnough]

Love to see a photo.
Of course, to me for all that running around and work I'd just rather buy the one already made! I'm a lazy sort. LOL

 

[H Weinstein]

I really thought hard about this one.
$60 for a hat band was just too pricey.
Then I began looking at the hats ... Hannibal Heyes, Maverick, Adam Cartwright and I got a great idea.
I already had a Stetson 4X, black cowboy hat I've owned since 1974 ... correct dimensions.
I hit the thrift stores until I found a girl's black leather belt ... OK, more than a little luck there ... because it came with decorative leather lacing and with holes already punched all around it.
Went to a fabric department and bought out all of their silver buttons ... about shirt sized ... and a good supply of heavy bronze bead wire.
I inserted the shanks of the silver metal buttons into the slits in the black leather belt and attached them by "sewing" through the holes with the wire, so the buttons are kept in place. They look like studs when its done.
The hat band project came in under $10 and I know, already, I need to post pics.
I'll be happy to because it turned out looking even better than Adam Cartwright's

Sam

Sam, that sounds very clever and creative...I like it! (And I'd just hit the local thrift stores myself, looking for leather belts which might lend themselves to hatband projects...I found a nice, soft, tan 1-inch wide belt for
2 bucks which will have Tandy Leather silver conchos added and probably become the new band for the Kid Curry-inspired hat you already saw.)

I agree $60 was more than I wanted to spend for the Heyes band, so I've ordered the kit. $25 seemed reasonable -- heck, the 20 conchos alone would cost more than that if purchased separately! And the skills needed to put it together seemed moderate enough. I'll post mine when it's done, and I'd love to see your Thrift Store Special!

Howard W

 

[Sam Craig]

Yeah, when you start parting out a kit like that, you can mount up costs real quick.
I am under orders to get with my IT guy "kid" at work to learn how to post pics and I will work on that this week if I don't step on too many land mines;

I have picked up a couple of concho belts over the years. So often they are just too heavy to use, though.

Sam

 

[H Weinstein]

Yeah, when you start parting out a kit like that, you can mount up costs real quick.
I am under orders to get with my IT guy "kid" at work to learn how to post pics and I will work on that this week if I don't step on too many land mines;

I have picked up a couple of concho belts over the years. So often they are just too heavy to use, though.

Sam

Hi, Sam --

Even with remedial computer skills (that's me!), posting pics isn't hard to do. You don't even need to sign up for a specific photo-hosting site or account.

Just go to www.tinypic.com. Once there, you'll see a box inviting you to upload images and videos. Assuming your pics are saved somewhere on your computer, click on "Browse" -- that opens up a window showing all your saved image files. Just locate the one you want to post, click on it, then click "Open" in that window, and that file name will appear in the "File" box on Tinypic.

Then click on the green UPLOAD NOW box. Type in the security code gibberish Tinypic asks for, click on UPLOAD NOW, and you'll get 4 choices already prepped for posting to various formats. Click on the one that says "IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards" and copy and paste that line right here in the Reply box.

It sounds harder than it is, but it actually takes longer to describe than to do. With a little practice, you'll get the hang of it.

 

[H Weinstein]

ATT: Sam Craig...Heyes hatband follow-up

Hey, Sam. After our exchange about the ALIAS SMITH & JONES hatbands a couple of weeks ago, just thought I'd show you how the kit I ordered from the nice lady in Kentucky turned out. It took me about 90 minutes to put the thing together, not hard to do. I like the way it came out and how it looks on my black Akubra, which I tweaked to more closely resemble the semi-battered hat with its slightly asymmetrical crown Pete Duel actually wore in the show.

Considering a decent western band goes for $25 and up anyway, I ended up thinking this do-it-yourself kit was well worth $25.

 

[Sam Craig]

That is so cool.

Got sidetracked at work, and I lost the images of the completed Adam Cartwright inspired lid, but I'll get it shot again.

This hat has turned out really great.

Just wear it like Pete in the early days. He got pretty rough looking towards the end there.

Good work!

Sam

 

[H Weinstein]

I figured you'd enjoy seeing the finished product.

I even wore it last weekend for my first horseback ride in 25+ years (with a nice woven leather stampede string to keep it on my head).
Yes, please do post pics of your Adam Cartwright-inspired hat.