The Conversion Corral

[Cornshucker77]

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:

On the block:

The original sweat cut down:

Checking the sweat for fit. Perfect!

The original sweat bow and size tag were also salvaged and sewn back onto the sweat...

Brim cut down to 2 5/8

Finished: Tall straight crown with a tight pinch...

As always great job Terry.

 

[Cornshucker77]

My next project. Black Beaver Brand. I blocked it up two sizes from a 7 to a 7 1/4. Leaning towards a thin ribbon for this one, maybe even a mid ribbon if for some reason I can't locate some black 3/8. I'll have more later.

Hey Terry. Have you ever tried this site? They have some pretty good sales on ribbon. They have the black 3/8 on sale now. I recently bought a couple SB's from them and I liked them very much. Soft and easy to work with.
https://hatterssupplyhouse.com/

 

[T Jones]

Hey Terry. Have you ever tried this site? They have some pretty good sales on ribbon. They have the black 3/8 on sale now. I recently bought a couple SB's from them and I liked them very much. Soft and easy to work with.
https://hatterssupplyhouse.com/

Thank you, CS. As a matter of fact I just got off the phone with him about an hour ago and I ordered a roll of the black 3/8 and a roll of the silverbelly 3/8. I got a great deal on both ribbons that didn't stress my wallet. He's a great guy to work with.

 

[T Jones]

As always great job Terry.

Thanks again, buddy.

 

[Cornshucker77]

Thank you, CS. As a matter of fact I just got off the phone with him about an hour ago and I ordered a roll of the black 3/8 and a roll of the silverbelly 3/8. I got a great deal on both ribbons that didn't stress my wallet. He's a great guy to work with.

Yes he is. He has a good selection and very good prices.

 

[Scooterz]

Question about size. If you take a 7 1/8 and resize to 7 1/4 do you loose a small amount from the open crown or does it reduce the size of the brim?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Question about size. If you take a 7 1/8 and resize to 7 1/4 do you loose a small amount from the open crown or does it reduce the size of the brim?

It can come from either the crown or the brim. Normally the brim since you are forcing the felt over a block that will determine the shape and height of the hat. If only going up one size you might not lose anything...possibly just some imperceptibly thinner felt? I’ve had VS resize some 7 1/2 hats to 7 5/8 and they even used the original sweatband without any grafts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[M Hatman]

Not much done.....it is (was) a new production Dobbs homburg.......when I saw it I bought it with the express intent to turn it into a snap brim fedora. I think it works much better now, and is much more versatile, especially with the 2 5/8 brim! Did not take picture of before......
M

 

[Cornshucker77]

Not much done.....it is (was) a new production Dobbs homburg.......when I saw it I bought it with the express intent to turn it into a snap brim fedora. I think it works much better now, and is much more versatile, especially with the 2 5/8 brim! Did not take picture of before......
M
View attachment 174649 View attachment 174650 View attachment 174651

Looks great Mark. Did you re-do the brim bindings?

 

[M Hatman]

Looks great Mark. Did you re-do the brim bindings?

No, did not have to.....that was what made this hat such a good candidate. All I had to do was bring the crown back to open and re-flange the brim. This line of Dobbs felt, while it has a good soft hand and feel, is much thicker than I like.....making it much harder to work with. I am not entirely happy with the crease (the brim worked out perfect) but is about the best I can do with the thick felt. I compensate by bringing the front pinch to a tight crease.......thereby obtaining better definition.
This can work well with these thick felts........wish I could do more on top....but the felt is just too thick and soft.....plus the crown is a litte low.
M

 

[Cornshucker77]

No, did not have to.....that was what made this hat such a good candidate. All I had to do was bring the crown back to open and re-flange the brim. This line of Dobbs felt, while it has a good soft hand and feel, is much thicker than I like.....making it much harder to work with. I am not entirely happy with the crease (the brim worked out perfect) but is about the best I can do with the thick felt. I compensate by bringing the front pinch to a tight crease.......thereby obtaining better definition.
This can work well with these thick felts........wish I could do more on top....but the felt is just too thick and soft.....plus the crown is a litte low.
M

It looks great. You did a terrific job. I wouldn't have known it started it's life as a Homburg.

 

[T Jones]

Question about size. If you take a 7 1/8 and resize to 7 1/4 do you loose a small amount from the open crown or does it reduce the size of the brim?

Yup. You'll lose some brim. Especially if you change the block shape. Depending on block shape, reblocking from a somewhat tapered open crown to a straight sided #52 of the same size, i.e., can cost you some brim too. Wider brimmed Westerns are the way to go for conversions if you're sizing up and changing block shapes. You'll have plenty of brim to work with on those. If you're blocking a fedora up one size, stick with a similar block shape to the original to minimize any brim loss.

 

[Scooterz]

Got a Resistol western brim trimmed today at a hat shop not too far away, Schafer Hat Works. It was cool to just go in the shop for the first time. More western hats but he makes some fedoras as well. Also flattened the brim a little for me for a very reasonable fee.
Before


(this is the one fed ex smashed)

After
With a temporary ribbon. Its a nice light grey. Reshaped and trimmed brim to 3 inches and flattened a bit.

 

[Scooterz]

Looks a little less blue to the eye but last two pics are close to actual color otherwise.

 

[Cornshucker77]

Got a Resistol western brim trimmed today at a hat shop not too far away, Schafer Hat Works. It was cool to just go in the shop for the first time. More western hats but he makes some fedoras as well. Also flattened the brim a little for me for a very reasonable fee.
Before
View attachment 175596

(this is the one fed ex smashed)
View attachment 175597
After
With a temporary ribbon. Its a nice light grey. Reshaped and trimmed brim to 3 inches and flattened a bit.
View attachment 175598

View attachment 175601

View attachment 175599 View attachment 175600

I like it.

 

[T Jones]

Got a Resistol western brim trimmed today at a hat shop not too far away, Schafer Hat Works. It was cool to just go in the shop for the first time. More western hats but he makes some fedoras as well. Also flattened the brim a little for me for a very reasonable fee.
Before
View attachment 175596

(this is the one fed ex smashed)
View attachment 175597
After
With a temporary ribbon. Its a nice light grey. Reshaped and trimmed brim to 3 inches and flattened a bit.
View attachment 175598

View attachment 175601

View attachment 175599 View attachment 175600

Yeah, FedEx is getting pretty careless with the way they ship stuff anymore. Just won this Singer 201 from eBay a couple of weeks ago and it was shipped via FedEx. I saw the original pictures the seller posted on eBay and it was near perfect. No damage.

When I received it, the box was in none too good condition. I knew there was going to be a problem, and sure enough...
the motor cover was all smashed in and black paint chips were in the bottom of the box. I contacted the seller, who wasn't any too happy that happened, and he sent me another cover for it, which I already put on. Anytime somebody says that they ship via FedEx, I get nervous. They don't care about the way they handle people's stuff.

Nice conversion, btw...

 

[Scooterz]

1. I acquired a nice Dobbs Cross Country in a medium gray. There are no moth holes its just a little dirty. It turned out to be a size 7. I wear a 7 1/4 and if it was a 7 1/8 I might try stretching it a little but I do not think that will work. The sweat is thin and a little dry I am afraid it would just tear. Its a wonderfully lightweight felt and I am tempted to send it for a resize and new sweat. Its at least a 2 3/4" brim. I assume it would lose a 1/4" of brim with the resize? Also the ribbon and bow are just great but I worry that they might be too short to reuse on it resized to 7 1/4. Any thoughts on how much brim I might loose or likelihood of ribbon being saved? Its so nice in orginal condition that I may not do anything but clean it up a bit and see if I can trade it for something in my size.

 

[T Jones]

A work in progress. This 7 1/4 butt ugly 3X Resistol Western in Whiskey is getting a make over and a new block shape. I've already taken it apart and it's on the block. The ribbon, the sweat, the liner, are all in very good condition and I'll be putting those back in the hat along with all the original tags. It sports a 4 inch brim so I plan to keep it Western. The finish will also be changed out to a long hair. I'm not partial to the color so it's up in the air if I plan to keep it or not. Some people really look good in that color but it just doesn't suit me, personally.

Before:

On the head in its previous form...

On the block...

I have other hat projects that I'm working on but I'm waiting for material to arrive before I can finish any of them.

 

[jswindle2]

Yeah, FedEx is getting pretty careless with the way they ship stuff anymore. Just won this Singer 201 from eBay a couple of weeks ago and it was shipped via FedEx. I saw the original pictures the seller posted on eBay and it was near perfect. No damage.

When I received it, the box was in none too good condition. I knew there was going to be a problem, and sure enough...
the motor cover was all smashed in and black paint chips were in the bottom of the box. I contacted the seller, who wasn't any too happy that happened, and he sent me another cover for it, which I already put on. Anytime somebody says that they ship via FedEx, I get nervous. They don't care about the way they handle people's stuff.

Nice conversion, btw...

I was at my folks place yesterday and they received a giant box of toilet paper. Fed ex were the delivery service and the box had been smashed in on one side. The packing tape that holds the flaps closed was ripped all the way off, basically leaving the box wide open. Luckily, it was t.p. but it still ticked me off. That's a prime example of why I beg anyone I buy from to pack the object very well if it's in any way fragile. They have certainly lost my respect, especially after hearing your story.

 

[T Jones]

I was at my folks place yesterday and they received a giant box of toilet paper. Fed ex were the delivery service and the box had been smashed in on one side. The packing tape that holds the flaps closed was ripped all the way off, basically leaving the box wide open. Luckily, it was t.p. but it still ticked me off. That's a prime example of why I beg anyone I buy from to pack the object very well if it's in any way fragile. They have certainly lost my respect, especially after hearing your story.

FedEx is pretty bad. I've heard complaints about them from several other people I know.