The Conversion Corral

[elvisroe]

Cattleman conversion

Hey, just thought I'd exhibit my sawn-off and ribboned Akubra cattleman.

So this is pretty much how it arrived as an "unworn" ebay cast-off.

I took to it with scissors taking about 2cm off the brim then reblocking it to square it up a tad and raise the crown...

Then whacked a second hand ribbon on it for reference...

Then I gave it a go with the sandpaper, taking the brim back to 2 1/4 inches, polished it up and slapped on a nice thin ribbon in tune with it's country soul.

I know grommets are not strictly "fedora" but hopefully it'll be a tad cooler as a bush hat. I like it anyway and that's all that really matters!

 

[Redwoodjedi]

Hey, just thought I'd exhibit my sawn-off and ribboned Akubra cattleman.

So this is pretty much how it arrived as an "unworn" ebay cast-off.

I took to it with scissors taking about 2cm off the brim then reblocking it to square it up a tad and raise the crown...

Then whacked a second hand ribbon on it for reference...

Then I gave it a go with the sandpaper, taking the brim back to 2 1/4 inches, polished it up and slapped on a nice thin ribbon in tune with it's country soul.

I know grommets are not strictly "fedora" but hopefully it'll be a tad cooler as a bush hat. I like it anyway and that's all that really matters!

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap Nicely done elvisroe!! Looks sharp. I bet the seller regrets not seeing this hat's potential like you did! Bravo!

RJ

 

[Redwoodjedi]

Looks like the brim could use some flattening or it could be just the angle of the photos. I mist the felt with distilled water, cover with a handkerchief & use a steam iron to work the brim. JMHO...

I flattened the brim down a bit, GT just like you said. It looks and "wears" a lot better. Gave it swagger! Thanks Buddy.

RJ

 

[gtdean48]

I flattened the brim down a bit, GT just like you said. It looks and "wears" a lot better. Gave it swagger! Thanks Buddy.

RJ

Anytime RJ! I may not iron my shirts much at all but I'll iron a brim or a crown of a hat for sure!!!
Let's see some new shots of it when you get a chance...

 

[Redwoodjedi]

Anytime RJ! I may not iron my shirts much at all but I'll iron a brim or a crown of a hat for sure!!!
Let's see some new shots of it when you get a chance...

Will do Sir. It may not be as flat as you would like it but it has a considerable less bow or bubble to it than posted in the previous photo. I will post a pic of it this evening from my home computer. I'm on my work computer right now and it is heavily firewalled against just about everything. Meh....

RJ

 

[gtdean48]

..It may not be as flat as you would like it but it has a considerable less bow or bubble to it than posted in the previous photo.

To heck with what I like, you the one wearing it!!! lol
I hate corporate security stuff, gets in the way of so much fun...

 

[Redwoodjedi]

Here's the redo...

...on that converted Wrangler wool cowboy hat, GT.

Before...

After...

Cheers,

RJ

 

[gtdean48]

Very nice! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[RBH]

Very nice! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Very nice indeed!!
:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Redwoodjedi]

Thanks fellas. I'm always learning something new. Never too old to do that!

RJ

 

[Lloyd]

Here's mine

This is my new foul weather hat.
I bought this Miller Bros. Western off ebay with the intention of converting it. It was a nice looking longhaired beaver and I figured it was worth the $20 or so I paid for it.

Here is it in it's natural state

I managed to resize it from 7 1/4 to 7 1/2 and get the brim mostly tamed but the 7" crown defeated me so I sent it to Optimo and it just came back. It's still stiff as a baord, or combat grade as a friend of mine called it, but there's allegedly a new chain of rain storms headed to Southern California so I'm hoping a few good soakings will start the softening process.
Here are the afterward pics.

 

[billyspew]

This is my new foul weather hat.
I bought this Miller Bros. Western off ebay with the intention of converting it. It was a nice looking longhaired beaver and I figured it was worth the $20 or so I paid for it.

Here is it in it's natural state

I managed to resize it from 7 1/4 to 7 1/2 and get the brim mostly tamed but the 7" crown defeated me so I sent it to Optimo and it just came back. It's still stiff as a baord, or combat grade as a friend of mine called it, but there's allegedly a new chain of rain storms headed to Southern California so I'm hoping a few good soakings will start the softening process.
Here are the afterward pics.

Very nice looking conversion!

 

[Sam Craig]

lloyd

now you;re talking!

great job:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[tonyb]

That's a sharp lookin' lid, Lloyd.

What all did Optimo do to it, besides the obvious block and flange and brim trim and ribbon change? New sweatband, I'm guessing? And liner too?

Westerns typically (although certainly not always) have more stiffener than "city" hats. Heating the felt, which is generally a part of the re-blocking and re-flanging process, tends to "reactivate" the stiffener. I hypothesize that the old stiffener breaks down with use, through the bending and flexing of the felt that is a hat's lot in this world, and that heating (through the use of the crown irons and heated sandbaggers and whatnot in the hatter's shop) causes the stiffening agent to semi-liquify and bond with its adjoining little bits of same and thereby present a stronger face to the world.

No? Whatever the actual reason, heating does indeed tend to re-stiffen hat felt. So your fresh-back-from-the-hatter's-shop converted cowboy hat is stiffer than cardboard of a comparable thickness. Seeing how it is your intention to use it as a wet-weather hat, that stiffness is probably all to the good. You're almost certain to have the most well-appointed noggin on the block, and likely the driest as well.

 

[Lloyd]

Optimo did a complete rebuild on this hat.
They completed the upsizing that I started from 7 1/4 to 7 1/2,
reblocked and reflanged it, and lowered the crown about an inch in the process and trimmed the brim down from 4" to 3"
new sweat and liner and ribbon too

This hat was NOS when I got it and it was plenty stiff when I shipped it off to Optimo. The brim is definitely stiffer than when I sent it out, but I had abused the brim pretty badly in the course of my own attempts to reshape it. The crown may actually be a little softer now. As you said just handling it will break the stiffener down and soften the felt up considerably, 3 or 4 days of good solid rain usually does the trick for breaking down and washing out all the stiffener in my experience. I've got a Stetson Mineola that's buffalo felt. After a couple of years of wearing it in the rain and using it as my primary trail hat it's almost as soft as some of my fedoras, but the felt is twice as thick. Hopefully I can get this one to the same state although I think it will take a lot more rain to get this beaver soaked all the way through. I'm willing to give it a try though!

Optimo did a great job on this hat, and they got it back to me in about the same time my local hatter usually completes a clean and reblock so I am more than pleased.

 

[Kkaderly]

Mississippi riverboat / gambler conversion

Thanks Lloyd for sending me to this thread!!!!

Here is my project hat! This hat was a gift from my Aunt about 20 years ago ... it seems to be good beaver felt (small fibers and it kind of smells like wet dog when you steam it) made by Clearwater hats (they are/were friends of my aunts and from what I have seen have recently had some success in making early period correct hats for Hollywood). This hat was originally a Mississippi riverboat or gambler style hat ... tall stovepipe crown with strait curled brim. This hat has made 3 moves with me and I have never really worn it a lot because the style didn't suit me.... I was cleaning out my closet and decided I needed to get rid of the thing or wear it ... so if I was going to wear it I figured it had to be a fedora ... so I re-blocked it myself with lots of time pictures from the Lounge and lots of steam!!! I also shortened the 3 inch brim to 2 7/8 and will probably shorten it some more ... the crown is a touch over 5 inches .... I really like this hat and it has shaped to my head perfectly and the sweat band is supper soft and confy ... next step is to "sand" it a little to make it smoother as it is a little hairy for my tastes ... i put in a picture of it on me I am thinking about trimming the brim a little more but I want to wear it a while and see ... what do you think ... sorry for the teeshirt with the hat but you get the idea! This one started my off on my addiction !!! I stuck a pic of me in a 2 3/8 brim gray jaxon to give you an idea of how i look in a thinner brimed hat.

 

[Stan]

Semi-converted

Hi,

I don't go in for the Western hats much. Heck, I only have two so far. Unless, you count the Open Road style, then I have a lot!

Anyway, I grabbed this white Stetson a while back. I didn't have a white hat, and so this one caught my eye. It's a pretty soft and supple felt for a Western hat, too. I thought I'd prefer it if it were a slightly oversized fedora, actually.

So, I took the cattleman's crease out and put in a diamond crease with a front pinch. I might have, should have, sanded it a bit maybe, as you can still see some faint lines from the original crease. But, I have this 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mentality.

Anyway, I didn't like the single ply cord, a 1-cord as it's known, it sported. I did, however, have this grosgrain hatband in 'Glen' in 19 ligne and so I pulled off the cord and now it has a very nice ribbon.

I thought about cutting down the brim, but then thought that the now higher-looking crown with that diamond crease made the brim look about right, so I left it alone as well.

I do still need to take some 6 ligne white ribbon and dye it to match the body and edge bind the thing. It looks a tad unfinshed with the raw brim. But, that's a job 'for later' at this point.

If I have my choice, I prefer a 2 3/4" brim but this 3 1/4" one doesn't look *too* big on my head. My real issue is that I don't have all that many opportunities to wear a white hat.

Anyway, what do y'all think? Does this little work to a Western qualify as a conversion?

later!

Stan

 

[Mr E Train]

I'd qualify that as a conversion because it doesn't look anything like a western hat anymore. It looks fantastic--post some more pics!

I think your instincts regarding the brim size are correct. I think it would be better proportioned with a 2 3/4 brim, but it still looks awesome the way it is.

 

[bolthead]

2 Stetsons....

A friend of mine had 2, average, run of the mill, stingy Stetsons, size 7 5/8. Turns out his 6 mo. old black lab gotta hold of both of them. He was so disgusted that he threw them out. Yeah I know, that's what I said.

I told him that if he wanted, I can probably fix them up,almost as good as new for him, had he wanted. He said, no thanks, don't bother. I in turn said, that if you're still planning on ditching them, don't....I'll be happy to take them off your hands. 2 free stetsons, heck.

I was foolish not to take before photos of these hats, I know....I don't know what I was thinking. :eusa_doh:

Anyway, like I said, they were your standard, run of the mill, stingy Stetsons, only now the ribbons were shot, one was salvageable and I reused it on the Black hat with a different highlighted knot, the other is new. I managed to save and reuse both sweats as well. Both liners were torn to pieces, it seems that was the tastiest part of the hat I guess, good for me.

I turned the black one inside out and it now has an under-welt. I didn't turn the other one because it has a mode edge and wanted to keep it that way.

I soaked and cleaned both, then re blocked them into a size 7. I was surprised that i wasn't able to gain anymore brim, only a little, but I was able to get the crown much higher. I am stoked that his loss was my gain, and pleased with the results.

 

[John in Covina]

Sharp Stetsons