The Conversion Corral

[DOGMAN]

Thank you bowlerman and scottyrocks.I do like the contrast with the blue ribbon.

 

[Harry Jones]

Super job, Dogman. Love the blue ribbon, too.

Harry, I had the same issue with a western conversion. The crown was so high that a center dent didn't look right so I went with a C.

The problem with a lot of westerns is that they're so thick that they're not so easy to work with.

A nice soaking with distilled water sure helped! Don't have much experience with westerns, but I suspect this one was not quite as thick as some. Still quite substantial felt but it may also not have had as much stiffener as others. There was some give to the crown before I wet it down.

 

[scottyrocks]

I converted a Bailey that is quite thick. I soaked it thoroughly more than once. It just doesn't want to hold a shape. I may try it again anyway.

 

[DOGMAN]

Very cool! You are a brave soul, with that tall crown. When I was playing with my latest, I ended up with a C crown; trying to do a center dent produced a crown that just would not look right: height and taper. Tell us about your brim trimmer. I am particularly interested in the cutter.

I don't think I'm a brave soul,maybe a little eccentric.I wanted a hat with a tall crown and it does take some getting use to. But I really don't mind standing out in a crowd.

 

[bowlerman]

I like your style, Dogman. My favorite hats have a little bit of a taller crown, but I've been "settling" lately for the smaller ones, especially since my chin shrunk 3 inches last week.
How about a noggin' shot of that conversion?

 

[DOGMAN]

I like your style, Dogman. My favorite hats have a little bit of a taller crown, but I've been "settling" lately for the smaller ones, especially since my chin shrunk 3 inches last week.
How about a noggin' shot of that conversion?

Soon as I get a new memory card for my camera, I'll get that noggin' shot.My chin also grows and shrinks,I sometimes get tired looking at the same face in the mirror.

 

[Joshbru3]

Stetson Gun Club Conversion

Well I finally "converted" my Gun Club even though its really not a full conversion. I would call it an "update." From the auction photos it looked like a nice light blue with a tall/straight crown, and nice felt.......well it turned out to be a bit different.

1) The hat is actually a steel blue and not light blue, like the auction photos showed.

2) The crown was only 5 1/2 inches open with quite a bit of taper when opened up.

3) The felt was not finished well AT ALL. I usually only wear vintage hats and the vintage Stetson felt is almost "magical" in its own way. This new stuff doesn't hold a candle to the vintage stuff. The felt on this Gun Club is rough and I do not believe it was meant to be that way intentionally. I've re-creased some modern stetson felts for friends and relatives of mine and its all about the same. The felt doesn't have any "springy-ness" to it and is fairly limp. This Gun Club didn't wrinkle at all when shaped which was good, but the shellac was not dispersed evenly in the felt, so there were spots that were stiffer than others. My biggest complaint however was the dye work. There was so much powder used on this hat it was a joke, and when it was steamed, brushed, and shaped, a good amount came out and what was left was uneven colored spots. They are not too evident now, because I spent a bunch of time trying to hide them, but I still know they are there.

The saying used to be that, "if a hat is high quality in its dying and felt composition, it doesn't ever need powder."

Under the sweatband there was a $54.00 dollar price tag (but NO factory tags of any sort), so it could be from the early to mid 80's. I'm not sure if Stevens still made hats for stetson at that time, or if they were already owned by Hatco. Either way, im pretty disappointed in the factory craftsmanship from that time. The brim edge wasn't even cut properly.

Anyways, all gripes aside, I bought this hat to make into a remake of an early 1900's Chamois thin ribbon that was once owned by Lefty. However, after re-blocking the hat with a very straight 52 block, the crown came down to about 5 1/8 inches tall. So......I did quite a bit of digging in my vintage hat ads and found the perfect early 1900's look.

Here's a clipping from a 1920 Sears Roebuck catalog. This was the style that I was going after (MINUS THE THIN RIBBON), what do you guys think?

Here's the before pictures (auction photos)

And AFTER:

 

[Joshbru3]

CONT....

 

[Chepstow]

Josh, that is amazing what you can do with Hats. Incredible. It looks really similar to your Hat in the ads.
That is a fantastic job you done. Congrats Josh

 

[BR Gordon]

Josh, that is amazing what you can do with Hats. Incredible. It looks really similar to your Hat in the ads.
That is a fantastic job you done. Congrats Josh

Manfred used up all of the adjectives, so I'll just have to second what he said. Josh, you did a great job.

 

[gtdean48]

....

...

SWEET!!!! Damn nice job Josh...

 

[DOGMAN]

Nice job Josh.Very cool that you made it look like the hat in the add.

 

[randooch]

Nice job Josh.Very cool that you made it look like the hat in the add.

Pair it up with something a bit rougher than the dress shirt, deeper colors and more texture. Very cool conversion!

 

[bowlerman]

:laser::rapture: Nice shootin', Tex! It looks great. I have got to get around to learning how to do ribbons and bows.

 

[DOGMAN]

I like your style, Dogman. My favorite hats have a little bit of a taller crown, but I've been "settling" lately for the smaller ones, especially since my chin shrunk 3 inches last week.
How about a noggin' shot of that conversion?

 

[bowlerman]

looks great, dog! Cool home decor, too!

 

[randooch]

Insouciant style, Dogman.

 

[BR Gordon]

Insouciant style, Dogman.

I agree, good description.

 

[job]

Maybe it's the camera angles but to me thats a LOT of crown. At least the brim is nice and full.

 

[Aureliano]

Looks nice. It might be the photo but it looks like the ribbon needs to be swirled as it seems that at the front, opposite to the bow side, it's not flushed against the crown.