Softening felt hat

[Weatherman]

Just bought a 50s era Stetson Twenty Five Open Road. Need to soften the felt. Any idea SS to the best way to take some of the stiffness out of

the felt?

 

[jlee562]

This is the hat with the bad ribbon? Doesn't look like it needs to be replaced, just tacked back down. Should only take a few minutes.

 

[Weatherman]

This is the hat with the bad ribbon? Doesn't look like it needs to be replaced, just tacked back down. Should only take a few minutes.

I'm not certain that I can tack this thing back down properly and I don't want to use glue as other people have suggested.

 

[jlee562]

I'm not certain that I can tack this thing back down properly and I don't want to use glue as other people have suggested.

It's not rocket surgery, peek behind the liner and look at the stitches.

Either way, the main point is you do not need to replace the band. Not only is it wholly unnecessary, it would be a crap shoot trying to find a matching ribbon.

 

[belfastboy]

I'm not certain that I can tack this thing back down properly and I don't want to use glue as other people have suggested.

These style of ribbon is meant to sit loose on the brim. A good spritz of water and a shot of steam and it will lay back down. After the steeam you may have to manipulate it a bit with your fingers.......pressing it down a bit. It may take a few tries.

 

[shopkin]

Why can you see a 1/2 inch gap between the right/rear side of the bow and the band part of the ribbon?

 

[65 Classic]

Just bought a 50s era Stetson Twenty Five Open Road. Need to soften the felt. Any idea SS to the best way to take some of the stiffness out of View attachment 652538 View attachment 652539 the felt?

Nice catch! I have a Borsalino western with the same issue, stiff as a board.

 

[Weatherman]

Why can you see a 1/2 inch gap between the right/rear side of the bow and the band part of the ribbon?

Because it came undone. I was asking on another page about replacing it but I was able to stitch it back.

 

[Mcox47]

The thread keeps getting off track from the original question regarding stiff felt. I would be interested in how to take some stiffness out of hard hat bodies. Any suggestions welcome.

 

[bluesforchallah]

The thread keeps getting off track from the original question regarding stiff felt. I would be interested in how to take some stiffness out of hard hat bodies. Any suggestions welcome.

Thank you, I'm curious to know as well.

 

[jlee562]

My follow up to that is, for what purpose?

If it were my vintage 25, I wouldn't do anything to the hat other than steam it. I have one of the later, stiffer 100's, and that is not my preference, but I wouldn't try to alter the felt. It is what it is, an example of production during a moment in time.

In my experience with a modern Akubra and a modern Resistol 10x, giving them a few good rain soakings will help.

But ok, not my hat. From some board veterans of a different day:

I've used a 50/50 mixture of distilled water & rubbing alcohol. Soak the brim liberally & then work the brim with your hands.
Let it dry slowly. The brim is more flexible.

Couple of things ...

Yes, denatured alcohol will soften the shellac in a felt hat body. But I don't know that anything short of a long soak in a large amount of it will wash out enough shellac to make much of a difference in the felt's stiffness once the alcohol has evaporated. I've used denatured alcohol to soften some board-stiff Western hats long enough to reshape them. But they stiffened right back up again once they were dry. Perhaps others have experienced otherwise, but ...

And ...

Are you sure you want to soften that brim? It might get kinda wampus and unruly and just plain sloppy looking. When it's raining, the state troopers out here (in this state, the uniform hat is a nice blue shade) wear those plastic protectors over their "Smoky Bear" hats. Yeah, the plastic protectors ain't much to look at, and some would argue that a hat is made to be worn in the rain, but I'd bet that the covers keep those hats looking sharper over the long term.