SHAPESHIFTERS

[Mario]

I want this to be a classic 'Before & After' thread. As gene pointed out a few days ago, sometimes when you give a hat a new crease, it almost feels like an entirely new lid. With some hats, it may take some time before you know what crease they want (or need).
Or as gtdean once put it: keep listening to the lids!

So show us your before & after photos and let's have some eye candy!

 

[Mario]

I'll start off with my latest aquisition, a Stetson Sovereign. At first I wanted to give it a center dent, but somehow it didn't look right so I gave it 4-point diamond. A few days later, I made up my mind again and gave it another center dent, and now it feels right at home on my noggin.

Et voila, before & after...

 

[jeffconnors]

I want this to be a classic 'Before & After' thread. As gene pointed out a few days ago, sometimes when you give a hat a new crease, it almost feels like an entirely new lid. With some hats, it may take some time before you know what crease they want (or need).
Or as gtdean once put it: keep listening to the lids!

So show us your before & after photos and let's have some eye candy!

Great ! Nice hat.
I have a Question about re-shaping hats, I have the opportunity to get a Australian Akubra Snowy River Outback Hat at a discounted price but I don't like the double down turned brim. Is there a way to Mod this hat to turn the back brim up and make it look more whippet like ? Iv got some ribbon I could trim the outside with and replace the leather band. Anyone does this before? Think it will look ok?

 

[Akubra Man]

Steam will help

Use a Steam Kettle to steam the brim then you can shape as you wish

 

[AlterEgo]

Brim's Tricky

I wanted to do the same thing with a Stockman, virtually the same hat as the Snowy River, only with a 2 3/4-inch brim.

Reshaping the crown was a cinch, but the problem was with the brim. In order to "de-outbackize"--rid it of the up-curled sides and dramatic front and back downturns--it would not behave with ye ol' steam and fingers. I got the side curls out, but the front and back of the brim were recalcitrant.

Enter THE IRON, full steam ahead. I was of course careful to keep it away from the leather sweat, but when I got the brim flat, the sweat was, to use a technical term, catawampus--the whole hat kinda buckled, becoming wider at the sides and shorter front to back.

I could have sent it off to be professionally reblocked into the fedora I desired, but since the hat was essentially free, it made more economic sense to put the hat back to its original shape--it looked brand new--and then sell it to use the proceeds toward a new one, a Sydney.

You may have better luck. Being an Akubra, you ain't gonna hurt the felt no matter what you do.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Here's one (Stetson Gun Club), Before, During and After:

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

As this one arrived:

Then after:

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

 

[Mario]

Use a Steam Kettle to steam the brim then you can shape as you wish

Steam alone won't work. The brim needs to get properly reflanged.

 

[Mario]

Oh, my...

 

[Mario]

Er... What can I say? Peculiar? Idiosyncratic? Naw...sometimes words just fail me... lol

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Here's a Stetson Privateer which accepts shifting shapes easily with no steam or water needed:

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Same with my 7X:

 

[Mario]

Those photos of the 7x look great. Some kind of creaseology... :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Mario]

My early 50's Borso also made the transition from center dent to diamond and back...

 

[Mario]

Mallory Ten Pliafelt. Started out as a deep center dent and evolved into a 4-point diamond.

 

[RobStC]

Mallory Ten Pliafelt. Started out as a deep center dent and evolved into a 4-point diamond.

Mario,

Thanks for laying this one out as in the side by side pictures above - really lets one see the different proportions that a centre crease and a diamond bring to the same hat.....

Good work, Herr Diamond Meister :eusa_clap

Rob St.C