High Plains Drifter woes........

[Lean'n'mean]

Right guys, time for a bit of fun.
My aim was to transform this recently aquired black wool felt hat


into this.....



I got this hat for free & not being one for looking a gift horse in the mouth I accepted it with grace.
Little did I know what was waiting for me.
First off I think I can say that this is the crapiest hat I have ever laid hands on & popping up from behind it's cardboard sweatband was a label proudly stating 'made in the USA' ......sorry guys but I've had wool felt hats 'made in China' far better quality than this. If I pumped out garbage of this kind I would want to keep it's origins a secret.
I think you can guess the brand, yep, Eddy Bros. so only a rang above a party hat. This thing has severly shaken my long held belief that behind every hat,no matter what the quality, there is a star waiting to shine. Anyway not one to give up on a project I decided to go head with my plans & see what turned out.
It has a 3 3/4" brim & 5" crown.


The hat after a preliminary 'aging' process


Not wanting to spend a dime on this thing I made a sweatband from some scrap leather I have..


After spending far too long on trying to crease & shape this hat I had to admit that it just wasn't possible to get it as I wanted, the felt has a mind of it's own & refuses to cooperate so I thought it wiser to go 'with the grain' so to speak & settle for something ' in the spirit of' rather than a close resemblance to.
This is what it looks like now,








The main problem is the brim, the mamma just refuses to flatten & prefers to flare like a bell, I haven't given up completely yet but it will have to do for now. Looking on the bright side I've still got this hat, which is No.1 on my list of favourite hats, to make in the future.

 

[suitedcboy]

Wool felt doesn't like being changed from the factory pressed shape it arrives in. It is a hallmark characteristic of wool.

Ebay for a 4x felt in your size. Those are cheap enough for experimentation and will cooperate with you.

 

[Blackthorn]

love that hat band, where did you find it?

 

[Rick Blaine]

Try using a Stetson "Revenger", they are plentiful on the used market and usually quite inexpensive, especially in black.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Wool felt doesn't like being changed from the factory pressed shape it arrives in. It is a hallmark characteristic of wool.

I've not had problems before shaping & creasing wool felt hats but you're probably right concerning this particular one.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

love that hat band, where did you find it?

I made it.

 

[randooch]

Nice work. And may I point out that Clint's hat doesn't seem to be cooperating much either.

 

[tommyK]

A lot of what makes his hat so cool is his mug beneath it

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The "Revenger" only has a 3 1/4" brim & I don't think a "Gambler" type shape would be suitable & after having a quick look on the bay where they appear to be around a 100 bucks, it definately won't be suitable

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Nice work. And may I point out that Clint's hat doesn't seem to be cooperating much either.

Hahaha......nice one.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

A lot of what makes his hat so cool is his mug beneath it

Maybe but I think this hat would look cool even if Mickey Mouse was wearing it

 

[The Good]

I think you've done a very good job at changing the shape and the hat band. It looks very close to the High Plains Drifter hat, to me.

 

[Blackthorn]

I made it.

Well done, you have inspired me to do the same thing.

 

[tuco1963]

looks great to me

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Thankyou for your comments guys.
I took a few more pics today as not only was it late last night when I photographed it to get it onto the forum but my camera doesn't take very good close ups & I thought that prehaps they didn't show it properly.







And what does it look like on ?.....not great I'm afraid..

 

[Crazy Dave]

That's not bad at all! Well done! :eusa_clap

 

[Edward]

That's the sort of fun project you can commit to with a hat that you're not so fussy about to begin with.... I've often considered buying some nice, used furfelt Westerns and doing a fedora conversion, though I'm not so sure it would be a good idea in the long run.... I'd have no trouble steaming and reshaping the crown by hand, but I don't have the tools to cut the brim down right, and that could make it an expensive project.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

That's not bad at all! Well done! :eusa_clap

+1

 

[ManofKent]

Nice project!

 

[hatophile]

L and M we can't see your steely eyed glare under that brim.

The other thing to remember is that true old-time cowboy hats probably never retained their original pristine shape after exposure to snow, rain, wind, arrows, etc. That hat has the true "character" of the plains.