That crease looks great. Do you find westerns with more pliable felt to start with or do you just end up with a stiffer fedora when you're done with a conversion like this?Couple more pics.
Alden 403 Moc Toe Boot - Brown Chromexcel - $680 The classic "Indy" style Alden Boot in the classic Horween brown Chromexcel. 
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Most are stiff.This hat's felt was more like dress weight felt.I do like a stiff hat ,when I bump them I don't have to fix the crease.
I dunno DMAN. You're a tough one to follow. The hat looks great, as usual for all of your conversions.Looking good Mr Jones.Finished my conversion.
I am awfully late in responding, but damn! I love this hat. Everything about it is perfect. I've seen a similar one at auction, but not my size.I found this Resistol Weekend Roundup and was going to do a conversion.I like the hat the way it is so I only changed the rope band to a ribbon and bow.
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Congratulations on that one! I almost bid on that, being a fan of red liner Resistol. I am glad you got it. The brim treatment is so unique to a Resistol western, I might be hesitant to cut it, just my biased western opinion. You may actually like the wider brim on occasion. Check out Dogmans, after just a ribbon change. Either way I'm sure you'll do a fine job, and have fun at it.My first attempt at a conversion.
Started with this Resistol:
Using nothing but steam, distilled water, time, an iron, and my fingers I got it to here:
A quick dry crease gave me this:
It still needs a good cleaning and I'm undecided on cutting the brim down from its current 3.25 inches. I'm also thinking of asking my very talented wife to have a go at the ribbon.
Suggestions welcomed.
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You look pretty darn good in that.And a noggin shot:
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I would just make sure to use a cotton/ rayon, or silk. Vintage ribbon responds good to steam. Polyester is not a good choice.
That is very nice. I really like the high crown, wide brim Fedoras. Good work!Finally got around to taking some pictures of the Navy Blue 3X Resistol that Michael R gifted to me. I reused all the original ribbon and brim binding and was even able to save and reattach the original manufacturer's label and 7 1/4 size tag. I was also able to clean up and reuse the original red liner and red sweat bow to 'like new' condition. The original sweat couldn't be saved so I replaced it with a new goat skin leather sweat. It started out as an early '60s lower crowned western with a 3 1/2 brim that, to me, looked disproportionate to the hat. I decided to convert it to a fedora. To start off with, the hat was very well made. The material and the workmanship that went into it originally was as high quality as I ever saw.
I retained the original open crown height of 5 1/2 inches and reblocked it on a straight sided hat block. I creased in my preferred teardrop with a tighter pinch at 4 3/4 with a rake sloping to 4 1/4 at the back. The brim is 2 3/4 wide...
Before:
After:
I would second that. I don't have experience with silk but, cotton/rayon is much easier to work with than polyester.
Good 1st try.Have you went back to the start of this thread page 2.Davidson did a write up on how he did his conversions it helped me get started on mine.My first attempt at a conversion.
Started with this Resistol:
Using nothing but steam, distilled water, time, an iron, and my fingers I got it to here:
A quick dry crease gave me this:
It still needs a good cleaning and I'm undecided on cutting the brim down from its current 3.25 inches. I'm also thinking of asking my very talented wife to have a go at the ribbon.
Suggestions welcomed.
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