The Conversion Corral

[T Jones]

Joao, the color was a nice surprise. The size of the crown was the big surprise though!

TJ, thanks for the compliment. I love horsehair bands and think they can make any western look good. Because of the height of the crown on this one a wider horsehair band would probably look better but I don't have any.

From what I see of the picture that horse hair hat band looks just fine. That width gives it a clean and neat appearance.

 

[DOGMAN]

From what I see of the picture that horse hair hat band looks just fine. That width gives it a clean and neat appearance.

+1,also really like the crease you put in that hat.

 

[Landman]

Thanks guys.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Joao, the color was a nice surprise. The size of the crown was the big surprise though!

TJ, thanks for the compliment. I love horsehair bands and think they can make any western look good. Because of the height of the crown on this one a wider horsehair band would probably look better but I don't have any.

Big crowns are so nice

I share the same opinion as TJ and Dogman..

 

[T Jones]

Well, I like the tweaks. Looks like a Montana cowboy hat to my eye. If the crown is just too high for you, you might telescope or double-telescope it Roy Rogers style. Check out the YouTube video of Roy making his signature crease if you haven't seen it - it's pretty cool.

Hey, you should make up a few of these hats and give them away with every conversion you do! That way when people ask....

 

[LuvMyMan]

I received my Resistol 3X Beaver hat yesterday. This is the hat that I was asking about a few days ago that has similar dimensions to a Resistol Stagecoach.

First of all, the hat looked to me to be silverbelly in the auction photos but turned out to be a rather unique Camel color that is very hard to photograph. Even in my "After" photos the color is not accurately represented. It is more of a mustard colored tan or what I would call a Camel color. The brim on the hat is 4" but looks smaller because the crown on it is huge! It measured 7" when open crown and is still 6" at the highest point in the new crease.

Here is a brief description of what I did to the hat. First, I removed the original ribbon, blew all the dust off of the hat with an air compressor and then steamed the crown back into an open crown. After letting it dry I then sprayed the entire hat with distilled water and went to work on the crease. The felt is a typical thick western weight but was fairly easy to work with once it was sufficiently wet. After letting it dry I put a brown and black horsehair band on it for the photos below.

I think it turned out very nice but the crown on it is so big I would never wear it. It just looks funny on me because I'm tall and skinny. It would probably look very nice on a person with a larger frame. This was a fun little experiment though!

Here are some before and after pictures.

BEFORE:





AFTER:

The felt on that hat looks really smooth...nice hat for sure.

 

[John Galt]

Hey, you should make up a few of these hats and give them away with every conversion you do!

Probably have a trademark issue with Ayn Rand's estate. I'm closing in on a name for the hat company. Let's chat soon.

 

[T Jones]

Probably have a trademark issue with Ayn Rand's estate. I'm closing in on a name for the hat company. Let's chat soon.

Will do buddy.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Hey, you should make up a few of these hats and give them away with every conversion you do! That way when people ask....

Hey...John Galt for President Hats! LOL

 

[Landman]

Sweatband Extension

Attached is a photo of an older Stetson Open Road. The hat was apparently resized at one time and instead of replacing the sweatband they extended it by using a piece of a similar sweatband. I thought this was a great way of upsizing an old hat and still keeping the original sweatband. Just thought I would post this here for those who would like to try and keep the original sweatband in their hats.

 

[T Jones]

Attached is a photo of an older Stetson Open Road. The hat was apparently resized at one time and instead of replacing the sweatband they extended it by using a piece of a similar sweatband. I thought this was a great way of upsizing an old hat and still keeping the original sweatband. Just thought I would post this here for those who would like to try and keep the original sweatband in their hats.

Ha! I thought of doing that samething...I saved a couple of old sweats for that very purpose.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I saved the original sweatband of my 30x Stetson in a similar way...

 

[Landman]

Ha! I thought of doing that samething...I saved a couple of old sweats for that very purpose.

I've been saving my old sweats too. Even if only a few inches of it are good it could be used for this purpose.

 

[T Jones]

Ha! I never would have thought that fiddle fartin' around with a cheap DP IJ woolie would have come out as good as it did. I was just messing around with this thing and it actually surprised me at how well it turned out. I'll probably give this one to my grandson....I still have a little more touch up work to do on the brim before I sew on a ribbon...

The crown is creased at 4 1/2 inches tall with a generic Indy Center Dent. The brim is 2 1/2 inches wide. The hat actually looks a lot better than the pictures portray....

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Apart the brim trim that looks square angles in some parts it looks nicely done.

 

[T Jones]

Apart the brim trim that looks square angles in some parts it looks nicely done.

Thanks...It's not finished yet. I still need to do more work on the brim and sew on a ribbon. The crown is pretty straight sided.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

A very minor conversion, but I replaced the 2 1/4" dark grey/brown ribbon on my Dobbs Seven Fifty with a new 1 1/2" plum ribbon. I'm a big fan of how Cavanagh would fray the edge of the peek-a-boo ribbon ends. I was never happy with the way it looked. Overall, the new ribbon adds greater contrast and it reveals more crown height. The other slight mod is the upturned brim all the way around. Wore it today and loved the results!! :thumb:

 

[John Galt]

Looks great! Love the contrast, and the ribbon work is very good. Shazam!

 

[Daniele Tanto]

TJones your conversion are really intriguing.
I wish I had your skills.
I have many hats that I would like to change more or less.
I just have to look at your work and try to do the practice.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Nice work A'n'A!!