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So I bought this Lee
for five bucks. The shipping cost more than the hat. It was a size 7, which is WAY too small for me, but I liked the wide, bound-edge brim and I figured it was hard to go wrong at that price. I could always give it away if I couldn't make it fit. It was dirty and thoroughly frumpy looking in the eBay photos. And in actuality it was indeed as funky as the photos indicated. So I cleaned it in naptha and stretched it 'til it screamed. Indeed, I stretched it so much that the button for the fake windstring broke loose from the bow. (Those faux windstrings have no elasticity to speak of.) After one of the initial stretching sessions I dropped the hat on my head and it was so loose it rested on my ears. And then I felt it try to return to its original size. So back on the stretcher it went for another overnight stay. (Yes, this is all contrary to the best thinking in the field. But again, it's only a five-dollar hat.)
Anyway, I got it to hold its new size (something a bit larger than a 7 1/4 but smaller than a 7 3/8), and it had remarkably little crown taper, considering the abuse I visited upon it. But it just didn't look right in the bash I generally prefer: a straight center dent and a medium fedora pinch. So I tried it this way, a sort of stovepipe with a whatever-you-call-it top treatment.
I like it, but my wife, who has such exquisite taste in men that her aesthetic assessments ought be heeded, feels otherwise. So what do you all think? And what should I call this bash?
I understand that Lee was a "workingman's hat," a Chevy in a world of Lincolns and Cadillacs. But its quality seems pretty darned good to me. The felt is a nice medium weight and it feels dense, and the leather and the liner and the ribbon are equally nice. And besides, I've always kinda liked Chevys.
One more thing: Any estimates as to its vintage?
for five bucks. The shipping cost more than the hat. It was a size 7, which is WAY too small for me, but I liked the wide, bound-edge brim and I figured it was hard to go wrong at that price. I could always give it away if I couldn't make it fit. It was dirty and thoroughly frumpy looking in the eBay photos. And in actuality it was indeed as funky as the photos indicated. So I cleaned it in naptha and stretched it 'til it screamed. Indeed, I stretched it so much that the button for the fake windstring broke loose from the bow. (Those faux windstrings have no elasticity to speak of.) After one of the initial stretching sessions I dropped the hat on my head and it was so loose it rested on my ears. And then I felt it try to return to its original size. So back on the stretcher it went for another overnight stay. (Yes, this is all contrary to the best thinking in the field. But again, it's only a five-dollar hat.)
Anyway, I got it to hold its new size (something a bit larger than a 7 1/4 but smaller than a 7 3/8), and it had remarkably little crown taper, considering the abuse I visited upon it. But it just didn't look right in the bash I generally prefer: a straight center dent and a medium fedora pinch. So I tried it this way, a sort of stovepipe with a whatever-you-call-it top treatment.
I like it, but my wife, who has such exquisite taste in men that her aesthetic assessments ought be heeded, feels otherwise. So what do you all think? And what should I call this bash?
I understand that Lee was a "workingman's hat," a Chevy in a world of Lincolns and Cadillacs. But its quality seems pretty darned good to me. The felt is a nice medium weight and it feels dense, and the leather and the liner and the ribbon are equally nice. And besides, I've always kinda liked Chevys.
One more thing: Any estimates as to its vintage?
I think kyour second bash looks much sharper than the telescope bash you started with. It'd stil be nice to see a pic of you in the hat, though. :cool2:
