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The Conversion Corral

NewJack

Practically Family
Messages
629
Location
New Jersey
One of my favorite lounge customers (Doc) sent me this Vintage Homburg for a conversion to make into a fedora style hat. The Custom brand felt is different than most felts Of standard brands but it turned out to be suitable for the task.
Navy hats can be difficult to match the correct navy ribbon with as this was case with this hat so I let it sit for a while and came back to it several times to find some vintage ribbon that would potentially work with this color navy felt.
I’d call this color ribbon more of a Bronze.
The liner and sweat are original and fortunately I was able to rework the felt without much of a problem there.
Here are before and after pics View attachment 163001
View attachment 163002
View attachment 163004
View attachment 163005




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Truly wunnerful!! :cool:
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Just finished up this Granite Gray Resistol Stagecoach conversion. The hat was gifted to me by a fellow Lounger. It started out as a size 6 7/8 and I blocked it up three sizes to fit me. I wanted to do something of a late '40s - early '50s era mid ribbon'ish' fedora so I got with alan who was helpful in giving me some ideas and showed me pictures of the nice collection of mid ribbons that he has. I also parked myself in front of a few film noir movies, as I usually do when I'm getting ready to do a conversion, to get a few more ideas of what I wanted to do with this hat....My thanks to the fellow Lounger who gifted this hat to me.

1. 6 inches tall straight sided open crown.
2. Creased to my preferred Teardrop. 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 1/4 to the back. Overall crown height, as creased, is 5 inches.
3. 2 3/4 wide snap brim.
4. 1 1/4 black ribbon and bow that I scavenged from a Borsalino. I gave the bow a little bit of an upswoop.
5. I reworked the finish into a Brushed Longhair.

Before:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-9-A.jpg


IMG-20190326-045541950.jpg


On the block:
Blocking-Gray-Resistol-3-A.jpg


Making good use of a Band Block that was made by fellow Lounger, 'Rockwater', and I trimmed the brim down using a Rounding Jack that was made by Rick of the Phoenix Hat Company, another Lounger...
Band-Block-and-Rounding-Jack.jpg


Deciding on a ribbon choice. I finally chose this 1 1/4 black ribbon with a double bow that I scavenged from a more recent vintage Borsalino:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-14.jpg


Finished: I also gave the bow work a little 'upswoop'.
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-10-A.jpg


Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-12-A.jpg


The crown is tall and straight:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-13-A.jpg


From the back:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-14-A.jpg



 

Steve1857

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,857
Location
Denmark
Just finished up this Granite Gray Resistol Stagecoach conversion. The hat was gifted to me by a fellow Lounger. It started out as a size 6 7/8 and I blocked it up three sizes to fit me. I wanted to do something of a late '40s - early '50s era mid ribbon'ish' fedora so I got with alan who was helpful in giving me some ideas and showed me pictures of the nice collection of mid ribbons that he has. I also parked myself in front of a few film noir movies, as I usually do when I'm getting ready to do a conversion, to get a few more ideas of what I wanted to do with this hat....My thanks to the fellow Lounger who gifted this hat to me.

1. 6 inches tall straight sided open crown.
2. Creased to my preferred Teardrop. 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 1/4 to the back. Overall crown height, as creased, is 5 inches.
3. 2 3/4 wide snap brim.
4. 1 1/4 black ribbon and bow that I scavenged from a Borsalino. I gave the bow a little bit of an upswoop.
5. I reworked the finish into a Brushed Longhair.

Before:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-9-A.jpg


IMG-20190326-045541950.jpg


On the block:
Blocking-Gray-Resistol-3-A.jpg


Making good use of a Band Block that was made by fellow Lounger, 'Rockwater', and I trimmed the brim down using a Rounding Jack that was made by Rick of the Phoenix Hat Company, another Lounger...
Band-Block-and-Rounding-Jack.jpg


Deciding on a ribbon choice. I finally chose this 1 1/4 black ribbon with a double bow that I scavenged from a more recent vintage Borsalino:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-14.jpg


Finished: I also gave the bow work a little 'upswoop'.
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-10-A.jpg


Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-12-A.jpg


The crown is tall and straight:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-13-A.jpg


From the back:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-14-A.jpg



Wow! I'm in awe, man. Really nice job.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
Just finished up this Granite Gray Resistol Stagecoach conversion. The hat was gifted to me by a fellow Lounger. It started out as a size 6 7/8 and I blocked it up three sizes to fit me. I wanted to do something of a late '40s - early '50s era mid ribbon'ish' fedora so I got with alan who was helpful in giving me some ideas and showed me pictures of the nice collection of mid ribbons that he has. I also parked myself in front of a few film noir movies, as I usually do when I'm getting ready to do a conversion, to get a few more ideas of what I wanted to do with this hat....My thanks to the fellow Lounger who gifted this hat to me.

1. 6 inches tall straight sided open crown.
2. Creased to my preferred Teardrop. 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 1/4 to the back. Overall crown height, as creased, is 5 inches.
3. 2 3/4 wide snap brim.
4. 1 1/4 black ribbon and bow that I scavenged from a Borsalino. I gave the bow a little bit of an upswoop.
5. I reworked the finish into a Brushed Longhair.

Before:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-9-A.jpg


IMG-20190326-045541950.jpg


On the block:
Blocking-Gray-Resistol-3-A.jpg


Making good use of a Band Block that was made by fellow Lounger, 'Rockwater', and I trimmed the brim down using a Rounding Jack that was made by Rick of the Phoenix Hat Company, another Lounger...
Band-Block-and-Rounding-Jack.jpg


Deciding on a ribbon choice. I finally chose this 1 1/4 black ribbon with a double bow that I scavenged from a more recent vintage Borsalino:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-14.jpg


Finished: I also gave the bow work a little 'upswoop'.
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-10-A.jpg


Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-12-A.jpg


The crown is tall and straight:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-13-A.jpg


From the back:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-14-A.jpg




Another great job, Terry! How do you give them the short nap longhair finish?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Messages
18,446
Location
Nederland
Just finished up this Granite Gray Resistol Stagecoach conversion. The hat was gifted to me by a fellow Lounger. It started out as a size 6 7/8 and I blocked it up three sizes to fit me. I wanted to do something of a late '40s - early '50s era mid ribbon'ish' fedora so I got with alan who was helpful in giving me some ideas and showed me pictures of the nice collection of mid ribbons that he has. I also parked myself in front of a few film noir movies, as I usually do when I'm getting ready to do a conversion, to get a few more ideas of what I wanted to do with this hat....My thanks to the fellow Lounger who gifted this hat to me.

1. 6 inches tall straight sided open crown.
2. Creased to my preferred Teardrop. 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 1/4 to the back. Overall crown height, as creased, is 5 inches.
3. 2 3/4 wide snap brim.
4. 1 1/4 black ribbon and bow that I scavenged from a Borsalino. I gave the bow a little bit of an upswoop.
5. I reworked the finish into a Brushed Longhair.

Before:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-9-A.jpg


IMG-20190326-045541950.jpg


On the block:
Blocking-Gray-Resistol-3-A.jpg


Making good use of a Band Block that was made by fellow Lounger, 'Rockwater', and I trimmed the brim down using a Rounding Jack that was made by Rick of the Phoenix Hat Company, another Lounger...
Band-Block-and-Rounding-Jack.jpg


Deciding on a ribbon choice. I finally chose this 1 1/4 black ribbon with a double bow that I scavenged from a more recent vintage Borsalino:
Gray-Conversion-Stagecoach-14.jpg


Finished: I also gave the bow work a little 'upswoop'.
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-10-A.jpg


Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-12-A.jpg


The crown is tall and straight:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-13-A.jpg


From the back:
Gray-Converted-Stagecoach-14-A.jpg


That is another great conversion, Terry. Excellent in every way. Do you re-use the liners of the converted hats?
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
That is another great conversion, Terry. Excellent in every way. Do you re-use the liners of the converted hats?
Thank you, steur. I reuse anything that can go back into the hat. I was able to reuse the sweat bow and the LO tag, which I sewed onto the new sweat. The original liner was too small to reuse after the size up. But I did have another Resistol liner that was like new that I put in the hat.
 

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
One of my favorite lounge customers (Doc) sent me this Vintage Homburg for a conversion to make into a fedora style hat. The Custom brand felt is different than most felts Of standard brands but it turned out to be suitable for the task.
Navy hats can be difficult to match the correct navy ribbon with as this was case with this hat so I let it sit for a while and came back to it several times to find some vintage ribbon that would potentially work with this color navy felt.
I’d call this color ribbon more of a Bronze.
The liner and sweat are original and fortunately I was able to rework the felt without much of a problem there.
Here are before and after pics View attachment 163001
View attachment 163002
View attachment 163004
View attachment 163005

Wow, that is sharp!
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Finally getting around to posting my most recent conversion. This was a fun little conversion project and is going to be my outside activities hat. It started out as a hat that was made by Stratton for the New York State Highway Patrol, purple ribbon and all. It was too small for me so I blocked it up to a 7 1/4 to fit me and I made a thin ribbon fedora out of it. It has two vent holes on each side of the crown and slots on both sides of the brim for a head strap. I replaced the purple ribbon and sewed on a two ply thin ribbon with a very simple bow. It has a tall straight crown that's creased to my preferred Teardrop. As creased, the crown is 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 inches in the back and has a 2 3/4 snap brim.

Before:
IMG-20190405-074340706-HDR.jpg


IMG-20190405-075345104-HDR.jpg


Converted-Stratton-3.jpg


On the block:
Converted-Stratton-4-A.jpg


Open Crown and flanged 2 3/4 snap brim:
Converted-Startton-3-A.jpg


Completed and creased:
Stratton-II-8-A.jpg


Two ply thin ribbon with a simple bow and keeper:
Stratton-II-5-A.jpg


Stratton-II-7-A.jpg


On the head from a few different angles:
Stratton-II-2-A.jpg


Stratton-II-4-A.jpg


Stratton-II-3-A.jpg




http://www.nysth.com/uniforms.html?...I2eEvobJtS1nu-FOA2xPbgjT3mBjmWYFUSRQ0NIP7p-mw
 

Steve1857

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,857
Location
Denmark
Finally getting around to posting my most recent conversion. This was a fun little conversion project and is going to be my outside activities hat. It started out as a hat that was made by Stratton for the New York State Highway Patrol, purple ribbon and all. It was too small for me so I blocked it up to a 7 1/4 to fit me and I made a thin ribbon fedora out of it. It has two vent holes on each side of the crown and slots on both sides of the brim for a head strap. I replaced the purple ribbon and sewed on a two ply thin ribbon with a very simple bow. It has a tall straight crown that's creased to my preferred Teardrop. As creased, the crown is 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 inches in the back and has a 2 3/4 snap brim.

Before:
IMG-20190405-074340706-HDR.jpg


IMG-20190405-075345104-HDR.jpg


Converted-Stratton-3.jpg


On the block:
Converted-Stratton-4-A.jpg


Open Crown and flanged 2 3/4 snap brim:
Converted-Startton-3-A.jpg


Completed and creased:
Stratton-II-8-A.jpg


Two ply thin ribbon with a simple bow and keeper:
Stratton-II-5-A.jpg


Stratton-II-7-A.jpg


On the head from a few different angles:
Stratton-II-2-A.jpg


Stratton-II-4-A.jpg


Stratton-II-3-A.jpg




http://www.nysth.com/uniforms.html?...I2eEvobJtS1nu-FOA2xPbgjT3mBjmWYFUSRQ0NIP7p-mw
Congrats Terry, you've done it again, great job. From one working hat to another. Sure looks cool as a Fedora.

Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L31 using Tapatalk
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
Finally getting around to posting my most recent conversion. This was a fun little conversion project and is going to be my outside activities hat. It started out as a hat that was made by Stratton for the New York State Highway Patrol, purple ribbon and all. It was too small for me so I blocked it up to a 7 1/4 to fit me and I made a thin ribbon fedora out of it. It has two vent holes on each side of the crown and slots on both sides of the brim for a head strap. I replaced the purple ribbon and sewed on a two ply thin ribbon with a very simple bow. It has a tall straight crown that's creased to my preferred Teardrop. As creased, the crown is 4 3/4 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 inches in the back and has a 2 3/4 snap brim.

Before:
IMG-20190405-074340706-HDR.jpg


IMG-20190405-075345104-HDR.jpg


Converted-Stratton-3.jpg


On the block:
Converted-Stratton-4-A.jpg


Open Crown and flanged 2 3/4 snap brim:
Converted-Startton-3-A.jpg


Completed and creased:
Stratton-II-8-A.jpg


Two ply thin ribbon with a simple bow and keeper:
Stratton-II-5-A.jpg


Stratton-II-7-A.jpg


On the head from a few different angles:
Stratton-II-2-A.jpg


Stratton-II-4-A.jpg


Stratton-II-3-A.jpg




http://www.nysth.com/uniforms.html?...I2eEvobJtS1nu-FOA2xPbgjT3mBjmWYFUSRQ0NIP7p-mw

Looks great, Terry. I’m curious if you think the vent holes help any? Your conversions are great...any plans for the purple ribbon and campaign bow it came with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Looks great, Terry. I’m curious if you think the vent holes help any? Your conversions are great...any plans for the purple ribbon and campaign bow it came with?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Thank you buddy! Can't really say yet about the vent holes as to how effective they may be. Although I did notice they did pretty fair in a breeze when I wore it today.
As far as the purple ribbon, I was curious to see how it would look against grey or black. I would probably change the bow. For me, it's too wide for that kind of bow style. I would do a more traditional bow with it.
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,795
Location
Central Ohio
Finished up this Brown 4X Stetson a few days ago. This was gifted to me by a fellow Lounger. This one started out with a Longhair finish and I kept it that way. It was also a size larger than I wear and I blocked it down to a 7 1/4 to fit me. This one came out to be a pretty nice looking hat. Though not intended in anyway what so ever to be a replica, I used Alan Ladd's 'China' hat as a model for creating this one, except with my own touches. The specs for this hat are as follows...it has a straight sided six inches tall open crown that's creased to my preferred Teardrop. It's 4 7/8 at the pinch with a rake sloping to 4 1/8 inches to the back. The overall height of the crown, as creased, is five inches. The snap brim is 2 5/8 wide. I also found a vintage black 1 5/8 ribbon and bow to sew on it. I was also able to cut down the original sweat to my size and reuse it, along with the original reed and ferrule, as well as reusing the original sweat bow and size tag. I'm also reusing the original liner...

Before:
Brown-Stetson-Hat-1.jpg


Brown-Stetson-Hat-3.jpg


On the block:
IMG-20190514-152325041.jpg


The original sweat cut down:
Brown-4-X-Stetson-2.jpg


Checking the sweat for fit. Perfect!
Brown-4-X-Stetson-4.jpg


The original sweat bow and size tag were also salvaged and sewn back onto the sweat...
Brown-4-X-Stetson-3.jpg


Brim cut down to 2 5/8
Brown-4-X-Stetson-1.jpg


Finished: Tall straight crown with a tight pinch...
Brown-Hat-4-X-Stetson-2-A.jpg


Brown-Hat-4-X-Stetson-1-A.jpg


Brown-Hat-4-X-Stetson-6-A.jpg


Brown-Hat-4-X-Stetson-4-A.jpg
 
Last edited:

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