The Conversion Corral

[TheDane]

Thanks Ole. I think it works with the wide brim. I have two Whippets, one 1940's and one 1950's. They have 3/8" and 7/16" bindings, respectively. This one is 1/16" wider than the widest one.

Haha ... never go "absolute" with a laywer! You're absolu ... ehhhh ... quite right, John lol

 

[John Galt]

Haha ... never go "absolute" with a laywer! You're absolu ... ehhhh ... quite right, John lol

We can't help it. We never think the same way after law school.

 

[hatguy1]

Haha ... never go "absolute" with a laywer! You're absolu ... ehhhh ... quite right, John lol

That's for sure.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Geldoc]

Here's one I just finished . This is a Stetson Homburg that was a wreck to begin with. Gave it a gas bath, re sized it up from 1/8 to a 1/2 . Original ribbons were faded so I went with a set off an idea from a 1927 color combo in mens hats book. Nice tall crown is still nearly 6" and brim is 2 3/4. Excellent felt to work with.

I had the good fortune of getting this hat from Bond. Even by his very high standards, this one is sensational.

 

[bond]

Thank you geldoc , enjoy that one.
Here's a recent find from a uk seller who thought it's possibly Italian, I liked the color a lot as its similar to my first Borsalino that I owned,Anyway turned out to be a size punti 4 1/2 so I thought I would experiment on it to see how far I could re size it. Here's the result of a few hours working on it (giving it a haircut). It's now about a 7 3/8.

 

[John Galt]

Wow! It's kind of sad to see the rare "beaver" finish go, but it looks very good, and certainly has much more appeal for the average buyer.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[bond]

Nothing rare about it if you saw it up close .

 

[ReverbDave]

I had the good fortune of getting this hat from Bond. Even by his very high standards, this one is sensational.

Excellent Bond!

 

[John Galt]

Nothing rare about it if you saw it up close .

Ah, I see. ;-)

 

[TheDane]

Did you shear it first (beard- or hairtrimmer), or is it all done by pouncing?

 

[bond]

Dane , I first carefully singed the felt with a torch(lighter) and then pounced it (read several hours).
I wanted to experiment with this one and it confirmed my belief to let the "hat makers" pounce hats .

 

[TheDane]

Dane , I first carefully singed the felt with a torch(lighter) and then pounced it (read several hours).
I wanted to experiment with this one and it confirmed my belief to let the "hat makers" pounce hats .

lol Yes, I can imagine it was a hard job lol

Just saw this runner up (not to be mistaken for a "runner down"). That could take a slight harvest. I'm wondering, where people buy the seeds for things like that?

 

[John Galt]

The ch-ch-chia hat! Available at the as seen on TV store!

"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[TheDane]

Great! If it's bought on TV-Store, it can go under the bed - if there's room for all the workout benches from TV-Shop already down there, that is!

And where else would anyone put it?

 

[Joshbru3]

Dane , I first carefully singed the felt with a torch(lighter) and then pounced it (read several hours).
I wanted to experiment with this one and it confirmed my belief to let the "hat makers" pounce hats .

While I applaud your efforts, there's a reason that hatters do not "pounce" long hair hat bodies. Long hair and velour hat bodies are made using longer hairs to begin with in the felting process where the "regular" hat bodies use much shorter hairs. If you pounce a long hair hat body as you have experienced, its not only very difficult, but you will never get that silky-velvety feel that you would with a regular hat body. The hairs are simply too long and even if you sand them, the finish is still different.

I have pounced raw Capeline hat bodies from scratch, and they are nothing like the long hair hat bodies. They are a bit rough, but you can see right off the bat that the hairs are much shorter.

 

[TheDane]

I have pounced raw Capeline hat bodies from scratch, and they are nothing like the long hair hat bodies. They are a bit rough, but you can see right off the bat that the hairs are much shorter.

Very true! Just like you can scratch the life out of a "short hair" body ... it will never get even near a "long hair" type. The bodies are made and treated in very different ways - all the way from selecting the fur and cutting it from the pelts to the last step of the finishing process.

 

[bond]

Thanks for the comments , I understand the different qualities of fur felt, but as I said it was more of an experiment to see what I could do to the hat. I am actually liking it except for the fact it's too small and I wasn't able to size it up larger. Its a cool hat non the less .

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Nothing rare about it if you saw it up close .

I wonder how the hat looked before you did anything to it, was it sort of a mess?

 

[bond]

The long hair finish was anything but nice ,It reminded me of a rats nest and brushing it didn't help it look any better. I liked the color of the felt more than anything else about it other than it may have been an Italian hat to begin with and the quality is pretty nice .

 

[yttclothing]

It's good too see it ! Very impressed with your work as i'll be the only other person in the lounge to have seen it first hand and the photos really don't do justice to how much you have improved it !