Re-shaping an Open Road....

[Kentucky Blues]

Okay, I've found an Open Road I'm considering purchasing on ebay, but it has the traditional cowboy bash in it, and I'd like to know how easy these are to re-shape. I'm darn sure its a vintage one, but I don't know how stiff they are. However, I know about 2.5 billion members on this site (give or take) have an Open Road, and I'm hoping a couple of them might be able to speak up and help me out. I tried searching, and found plenty of open road threads, but nothing about shaping....

 

[John in Covina]

Bash Away!

If it is vintage the felt should be very pliable and you be able to reshape it very easily. You may wish to first follow the cleaning instructions in the sticky and then do the reshaping. If you find that it is not as pliable then you can use a little steam from a tea kettle to soften and help with shaping memory for the pinch.

Shaping is called bashing so a search of bash or bashing should get you some tips from the hat section here in the Lounge!

 

[Kentucky Blues]

As many years as I've been in and out of this place, you'd think I'd be smart enough to search for bashing... oh well. Thanks a bunch though, I'm much more confidant in bidding. Now if only I could decide whether the color would go good with my jackets or not.....[huh]

 

[J.T.Marcus]

The color (silverbelly) goes with anything. If you want to make absolutely certain, though, get two extra ribbons, one black and one dark brown. Then swap them around, depending on the rest of the outfit you're wearing, that day. The color of the ribbon tends to make you think that "tannish gray" hat is the same color as the ribbon.

 

[Kentucky Blues]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[RBH]

Vintage Open Roads are fun to reshape... new ones are hell.
Stick with the vintage if you can.

 

[deanglen]

STEAM And patient persistant finger work.

dean

 

[Ande1963]

I over-paid for my first OR several months ago. It wasn't in the shape I was hoping for... generally just not a happy purchase. Anyway, I sat on it for awhile, and then finally decided to try a re-bash. This started with the traditional cattleman's bash.

This is vintage, but of a recent enough vintage that the felt is very stiff... like fuzzy cardboard, almost. I steamed the hell out of it, and finally ended up wth something I like. It ain't perfect, but this is now one of my favorite everyday hats.

One word of caution... when I was steaming, I got the sweat hot and wet, which led to some cracking and minor tearing when I stretched the felt out to my long oval. Be careful about steaming the sweat.

Anj

 

[Kentucky Blues]

not a bad looking hat, I'll keep that in mind and I gotta say, stretching from one oval to another has hurt a stetson of mine in the past...

 

[J.T.Marcus]

:eusa_clap Ande1963, How long did you have to "sit on it" to get the felt soft enough for a rebash?lol

 

[Ande1963]

It took three bouts of steaming and shaping to get it this far, which is still far less than perfect. It's come a long ways, though, and I'm happy to wear it now.

Anj

 

[HDRnR]

The ones with the factory done cattlemans crease are hell to get back to an open crown. Older ones with better quality felt are much easier to rebash. I actually started a thread on this topic a few months back and I had mixed results. The biggest problem is getting rid of the "ghosting" of the old crease. I tried Scout dark cleaner and the brushes and sponges which helped slightly but its still visible. I think it would have to go to Art Fawcett to get done correctly.