bolthead
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I wouldn't think of such a thing!!
Ri i i i i i i i i i ight.
I wouldn't think of such a thing!!
...In one post about trimming, someone mentioned the risk you run that you may lose whatever brim curl there was to the brim. Not that the Feds have much to start with. But is this a real worry? Will I need to steam and iron the rear brim into a curl after I do the trimming?
I have exactly one such store in my metro area, and the owner flatly refused to trim a brim when I showed him my Moonstone Fed IV as a sample. "It'll be too short, out of proportion. I won't do it." I wasn't suggesting going to a 2", but still he wouldn't do it.I know of a local Tack and Western store that trims brims, but I'm not sure if it would end up being a dimensional brim when done. Anyone familiar with the brim trimming process at a Western type store?
What I've been doing to adjust the back curl, at least a little, is to wet it, then set the hat on a flat counter with D-cell batteries wedged underneath at even intervals to curve the brim upward. If necessary I put a light weight on the crown to press down on the hat and force the brim upward. Again, this isn't for a serious snap-brim curl, but just enhancing what's already there, so maybe that wouldn't work after a trimming.You are pretty much removing that last part of the rear brim that is part of the curl. I'd say you're going to need to steam or wet the rear brim to get it back, at least to adjust it to your taste. When I have cut down brims, I have ironed out the brim after sanding & re-set the curl in the back but I do a quasi-pencil curl on the back since I want just a subtle curl back there. HTH
I did cut a brim, once. It was a 4 inch brim that I cut down to 2-1/2 inches. It was a 7X Stetson western with a rancher crease. I cut it down to 2-1/2 and re-creased it to a fedora front pinch. It was a pretty thick stiff felt and it took a trim well. I used sandpaper to even out the cut and it ended up looking great. I sold this one, though.
In retrospect, would you have trimmed the brim again to 2 1/2 or to something longer, such as 2 5/8 or 2 3/4? And after trimming, how did you find the balance between the crown height (I assume it was high for a Western hat) and brim? I am going to have one converted myself in the future, but am a little leery of the crown height/brim size ratio that results.
I trimmed a brim last night...
I trimmed a brim last night...
Is that section of brim from your Cattleman, Rodkins? I can omly think you'd do that to an Akubra or other modern production hat.
I used a mechanical pencil and a cloth measuring tape. I pinched the cloth at 5/8" (what I wanted to remove) and used the same hand as a brim buide and created a pencil mark 5/8" from the edge all the way around. I then used heavy duty scissors to cut my pencil line.
Both of my Fed IIIs are scissor trimmed to 2 3/8" all around. Results: mixed. Even doing a nice sharp compass line that doesn't waver is difficult, and the cuts reflect that.
Before attempting this, experiment on an old lid you don't care about and find out whether your eye sees finer detail than your hand can execute. This was definitely the case with me.