The Conversion Corral

[Joshbru3]

1980's Resistol 4X Beaver Western conversion

Here's my latest conversion.....


I bought this hat about 3-4 months ago. I thought it was a gray color based on the auction photos but it turned out being blue. The crown was very tall at 6 1/4 inches but had a rounder profile.




At first, I left the hat as a western and changed the ribbon to a pearl white 1 inch ribbon.



I wasn't crazy about having a blue western, so I decided to make it into a fedora. I usually only like my westerns in 4 colors. Black, White/silverbelly, tan, and gray. What's kind of neat about this hat is the fact that there isn't as much shellac in this felt as modern Resistols. Its not as soft as a fedora, but not as stiff as cardboard either. There was also no power used and the felt was finished fairly well.

I used a Columbia style block with VERY strait sides and a VERY flat top to lower the crown height to 6 inches. I then cut the brim down using my rounding jack from 3 1/4 inches wide to 2 1/2 inches wide. I then gave the felt a velvety smooth finish using 4 different grits of sandpaper on the crown and brim. Because this felt body wasn't felted as densely as vintage bodies, I needed to take a good amount of material off the body in order to pounce it down smooth. Its still a western weight body in thickness and actual weight, but its far softer and thinner than a standard western weight body now.

I then took 2 1/8 inch ribbon off a vintage ribbon bolt and made the bow by hand. I wanted a bow that copied the late teens/early 20's long and wide winged bows. With a fresh flanging and crown creasing, I think I have it looking like a fedora now.

6 inch Open Crown

2 1/2 inch Brim

2 1/8 inch ribbon

 

[alanfgag]

Wow. Josh, that is a beautiful piece of ribbon work.

 

[Joshbru3]

Wow. Josh, that is a beautiful piece of ribbon work.

Thank you very much, Alan! :yo:

 

[mikespens]

Very nice job Josh, can't have too many blue hats. I have a similar conversion I'll be posting soon. Didn't do it myself though so can't be as proud as you.

 

[job]

Great job Josh.

 

[mikespens]

Here's my Black Sheep Hat Works western conversion. I don't have a before pix but it was nearly identical to Josh's above. Mine was a Resistol 3X in green. I just wanted a decent green hat and this what Bob turned out:






Specs creased: crown front: 4 3/8, middle: 5 1/2, back: 5, brim: 2 3/8

 

[ManofKent]

Lovely work Josh.

 

[Lotsahats]

Josh, that's just another amazing conversion! What a great looking hat.

Nice recovery on yours, too, Mike.

Sharp hats, guys!

A

 

[bowlerman]

The bow is fantastic, Josh. Excellent work! I like the color of the yellowish tan ribbon from your first conversion but looks so much better now!

Mike, again that is beautiful. You said its green? Is it sort of loden? The color scheme is just sublime.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

 

[mikespens]

Jeff, I think loden would be an accurate description. The color is pretty true on my monitor.

 

[DOGMAN]

Josh,cool conversion.I really like the frayed bow.Mikespens,nice conversion.I want that sweatband and liner.

 

[great white]

Taking my first steps into my first conversion ever.

So far, from this:

To this:

Please be gentle, this is my first attempt at modifying a hat, ever.

it's a Biltmore Western and I only paid 5 bucks for it locally so no loss if I mess it up.

So far, just steamed and reshaped.

It's actually kinda fun to see a hat change personality!

More shaping, cutting and ribbon work to come....

 

[ManofKent]

You seem to be doing a fine job on the reshaping.

 

[bond]

Recent rehab project. Vintage 1966 Dobbs, dated courtesy of owner written on inside of original sweat.
Hat was faded and dirty , original sweat and ribbon were shot so I replaced both as well as flipped felt inside out . New old stock ribbon is close match to original brim binding.
http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/zenguy101/library/Dobbs Conversion

 

[DOGMAN]

The Dobbs rehab looks great.I also enjoyed looking at your other hats on photobucket.

 

[bond]

Thanks Dogman. Here's a Borsalino I am working on currently, waiting on ribbons,needs new sweat,resized as well.
Always amazes me what a little steam does for a felt to bring it back to life.

 

[bond]

Recently finished the Borso restoration. This one had a gas bath, re stitched brim edge,gave it a new old stock borsalino ribbon with wind cord , and roan leather sweatband. Fur felt was in pretty good shape with no moth nips,so all it needed was a good steam to bring it back to life. Liner was also pretty clean.
Having difficulty posting pics with the latest photo bucket updates which suck .
http://s1187.photobucket.com/user/zenguy101/library/Mobile Uploads

 

[Geldoc]

Looks really good so far, Bond.

 

[bond]

Thanks D, photos make it lighter than it really is.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Nice work Scott