Open Road issue?

[RBH]

I put on my old Open Road today to head out in the rain. But to my surprise after wearing my Peter Brothers Indy straw and my Federation with a few wearings of my TVA thrown in....the Open road 'looked' so short crowned on my head. I just could not wear it. I guess I have gotten so used to the tall crowns....
Has anyone else had this experience ?

 

[jimmy the lid]

It's funny that you mention this, R. I had this experience with my Royal Stetson OR (which was my first bash effort and looked fine to me at the time) and wound up re-doing the bash to get a little more height. It's funny how your perspective changes, isn't it?

Cheers,
JtL

 

[feltfan]

My Dobbs West appears to be a good bit shorter than
my Stetson OR 25. I find that makes the Dobbs look
more casual. I don't hesitate to wear it with a t-shirt or
Hawaiian shirt, while the Stetson OR 25 looks dressier
and only seems to work with some shirts.

I do want to give some weight to the "hat perception"
phenomena. Many are the hats I have put away in a
box because they appeared to have the wrong dimensions
for me (including the Dobbs West), only to pull them out
later and find they have become a favorite. We just
aren't that used to wearing hats these days. Also we
no longer have hat fashion trends to follow. Instead, we
have decades of hat styles available at the same time.
I personally wear hats from the 1920s to the 1960s, sometimes
with nice clothes, sometimes with an aloha shirt and shorts, which
is certainly not what a man in the 1930s would have done.

 

[DOUGLAS]

I think the average man in the Twenties threw the Sixties did have as many hats as we here do. I too find myself leaning towards one style for a while only to find a different type that makes me sway to it.

 

[thunderw21]

Sometimes I get stuck on a certain hat or hat style for a while before switching to another. May I suggest rebashing your Open Road to give it a higher/less tapered crown? That might help.

While not my tallest crowned hats (my tallest is a cowboy conversion with 6 1/2" open crown), my Open Road style hats have some of the tallest and least tapered crowns of all of my hats. I think it really depends on the hat and the bash.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Yup, I too have both a high crown and a low crown Open Road.

 

[The Wingnut]

I had a hard time last year getting back into the 'groove' of wearing my fedoras after I returned from 5 months of basic and tech training. Having worn nothing but the standard AF utility cap and flight cap for so long, looking in the mirror with a fedora on my head looked...wrong. It was bizarre. I was disappointed that my brain was telling me that what it was seeing looked out of place. I cycled through all of my fedoras and gave up, coming back later and finally picking one that looked the most conservative.

I've resettled into the fedoras and I'm still exploring my personal style. I got a Resistol with a low crown and a narrow ribbon this week and it looked extremely different, as I prefer a very wide ribbon and a tall crown with minimal taper. I could see it working as a late '40s casual / working class look, though.

 

[jimmy the lid]

sometimes with an aloha shirt and shorts

Don't tell me there are two of us out there!!!

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Feraud]

Having different crown heights suit my different moods, outfits, and seasons. I notice the change when the hat goes on but quickly grow used to it.
I say enjoy the difference.

 

[Duck]

But to my surprise after wearing my Peter Brothers Indy straw and my Federation with a few wearings of my TVA thrown in....

RBH, it is not so much the crown height, but you have been wearing only wide ribbon hats thus the thin ribbon looks odd to you.
RBH wearing only wide ribbon hats....... What is the world coming to?

 

[AlanC]

RBH wearing only wide ribbon hats....... What is the world coming to?

Next thing you know DeanGlen will be wearing an Indy hat.

 

[RBH]

RBH wearing only wide ribbon hats....... What is the world coming to?

Hey I resemble that remark! lol

Next thing you know DeanGlen will be wearing an Indy hat.

Come to think of it..Dean does have a slightly modified Indy hat.....

 

[scotrace]

Of all my hats, my Open Road is the one I put on my head and then hang back up again most often. I grabbed it for a day trip recently and ended up leaving it in the car. It's just that so many of mine have taller crowns and narrower brims. When I put on the OR, it seems odd looking.

 

[RBH]

Of all my hats, my Open Road is the one I put on my head and then hang back up again most often. I grabbed it for a day trip recently and ended up leaving it in the car. It's just that so many of mine have taller crowns and narrower brims. When I put on the OR, it seems odd looking.

I understand completly Scot, now my Campdraft does not look that way to me now. Of course it has a pretty tall crown so it does not seem too short even with its c-crown bash. My Stratoliner and Marathon are still put away, so I cant comment about how they appear to me now.
I am sure when felt weather really hits here I will quickly re-adjust to the lower crown looks.
I hope.

 

[ideaguy]

I've got taller OR'S that I like better, and one shorter crown OR that
I hang back up. Not anymore, it's for sale-I'll try and get it & photos
on CLASSIFIED today.
ps 7 3/8, very light tan,3X great condition...

 

[barrowjh]

I will not buy another OR in a black box w/orange lettering, cowboy crown, diamond pattern liner, black or dark brown sweat. The one I bought turned out to have a taper that I did not expect, and way too much glue in the crown felt. I had no trouble re-bashing a stratoliner, and my fav now is a OR clone by Resistol (construction quality matches the strat, probably 50's) - it cleaned up and rebashed from cowboy to center dent very, very nicely. I suspect that the OR I bought was from the Stevens ownership period, or very early hatco. The OR will become a 'hash' run hat, destined for abuse.

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Don't have that problem as all I have are Open Road models (Stetson & Resistol). Of course I have the western hats down at the farm in Virginia.

 

[HamletJSD]

Having different crown heights suit my different moods, outfits, and seasons. I notice the change when the hat goes on but quickly grow used to it.
I say enjoy the difference.

This philosophy seems to suit me as well, Feraud ...
In fact (quite opposite of this thread's beginnings), I was used to my Fed., but when I finished a low crown (snowy river) into a fedora-ish style and through it on my head I enjoyed the change to a lower crown

It's about time to return to the Fed. though