The Conversion Corral

[Hurricane Jack]

Thanks Rick. I understand why the western fans say to leave it as it is or just shape it differently. For me, it would barely get any wear as a western. I like how they look, but I just don’t like how they look on me.

Your conversion looks great! I’ll give it some thought, but that’s the way I’m leaning.

Brent


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You can see how heavy & thick the brim is just by looking at your pics. Cutting the brim back won't change that & you probably won't wear the hat over 2-3 times because of it. But you will have altered the hat forever. It matters little with an AHC, Thoroughbred or even a Stagecoach but it would be a shame to do that with a Stetson, Resistol, Mallory, etc.

 

[scottyrocks]

Or you can break out the sand paper.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

You can see how heavy & thick the brim is just by looking at your pics. Cutting the brim back won't change that & you probably won't wear the hat over 2-3 times because of it. But you will have altered the hat forever. It matters little with an AHC, Thoroughbred or even a Stagecoach but it would be a shame to do that with a Stetson, Resistol, Mallory, etc.

I hear you. I think about this every time I cut a hat: I’m destroying something that has finite availability. I haven’t decided for certain, but I’m thinking that if I do trim it back I’ll only go to 3.5”. Maybe I’ll give Desert Dog’s kettle curlinging another go.

 

[Florida_Marlin]

Posted this in the Resistol Roundup as well. Didn't have to do much on this conversion, just remove old rotted sweat, steam it on my open crown block to open crown and resize, sew in a reclaimed sweat. Finished it with 1-1/2 in ribbon. The brim was 3, left it flanged as found. It was an old melorol Resistol Western. Great old felt. I think I like this one snapped up the best. I really like the brim on this ole boy.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

The American Hat Co. 3X western that I wasn’t comfortable wearing:

After a bit of a brim trim, minor reshaping of the crease and pinches, and a little kettle curl:

To my eye, it’s lost some of its western feel and it’s much more wearable for me. Its not a full conversion, but I personally like the hybrid western/fedoras.




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[RJR]

The American Hat Co. 3X western that I wasn’t comfortable wearing:

After a bit of a brim trim, minor reshaping of the crease and pinches, and a little kettle curl:

To my eye, it’s lost some of its western feel and it’s much more wearable for me. Its not a full conversion, but I personally like the hybrid western/fedoras.




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Nice job,I like it that way.

 

[bond]

Recent salvage hat. I think it was a Dobbs quality hburg. Felt is badly faded on top of brim but the felt is still pretty good overall . I wanted to keep the patinaed binding intact so was careful while gassing the dirt out of this one.
added a silk liner and sweat in antique.
I discovered this hat shrunk down considerably over the years from a healthy 7 1/2 to a 7 1/4 so I reblocked it with more of a straight profile 52 crown to keep with more of a traditional homburg style.

New vintage stock crown ribbon in a chocolate. Also added a couple of silk pinch protectors front and rear to inside of felt as these areas were showing wear and fiber breaks in crease of front.

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[1mach1]

Recent salvage hat. I think it was a Dobbs quality hburg. Felt is badly faded on top of brim but the felt is still pretty good overall . I wanted to keep the patinaed binding intact so was careful while gassing the dirt out of this one.
added a silk liner and sweat in antique.
I discovered this hat shrunk down considerably over the years from a healthy 7 1/2 to a 7 1/4 so I reblocked it with more of a straight profile 52 crown to keep with more of a traditional homburg style. View attachment 120204 View attachment 120205
New vintage stock crown ribbon in a chocolate. Also added a couple of silk pinch protectors front and rear to inside of felt as these areas were showing wear and fiber breaks in crease of front. View attachment 120202 View attachment 120203


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Nice work Scott!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

My Stetson 5X long hair is ready for a brim trim and re-flanging before it gets a new ribbon to cover up the glue damage from the crocheted band it originally wore.

As received:

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[humanshoes]

That's going to make a kick ass conversion. Very hairy.

 

[bond]

Thanks for the comments. Sewing an oval is finally getting easier after 8 years!



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[steur]

Some patience if you will; this is going to take a few posts. Last year I stumbled upon an auction for a ladies straw hat. Can't remember how exactly, but it was meant to be I guess. I remember thinking "that looks like a nice finely woven straw actually". So, for a tenner; why not?
These are the pictures of the auction.

The hat arrived on my doorstep in pretty much the condition shown above and my thought was that there should be something possible. I took these pictures of it then.

A ladies hat that was quite the mess too. The ribbon treatment was awful and haphazard and the crown pinch on top was actually done with a staple! It was obvious to me that the hat had a different past. To find it in drag and in this sorry condition was beyond the pale. Something needed to be done.
More in part II.

 

[steur]

Part II
I decided to strip the hat of all its adornments and started with the horrid staple. After that I put on the hat stretcher to see if it would remember a more glorious past. These are the pictures of that phase.

I did not stretch it, but just putting it on the stretcher seemed to revive the memory of what looked like an optimo crease it may at one time have had. My possibilities are limited where blocking is concerned and by now I thought it would be a real shame if I messed this up. So I contacted my hatter Fleur de Huu of Penumbra Hat co. Take a look at her work here:
https://www.instagram.com/penumbrahatco/
She had never done a panama before but we agreed she would give it a try. So we entered phase III.

 

[steur]

part III
The hat was sent over to Penumbra hat co and Fleur got to work (I'll post more of her work in other thread, because she actually did several hats for me.
https://www.instagram.com/penumbrahatco/
She cleaned the hat as well as she could and we exchanged quite a few ideas on how to approach this. The conclusion was not to muck about with it too much. She mended the small tears it had (in the crown from the staple and one in the front from handling I suppose). She stiffened the hat a bit to prevent future damage and to make it keep it's new shape. The repairs were done from the inside and could be covered up with a crown patch and the sweatband.
I decided on a light coloured leather sweatband, because the hat had a distinct vintage feel to me and I'm not too keen on cloth sweatbands.
By then it looked like this:

I now had to decide on a ribbon. That can be harder than you'd think. These were the options:

In the end I chose option 2 because it was fresh anough for a summer hat, easy to combine with the colours I wear most and different enough from the ribbons and pugs I have on my other panamas.
Last week I finally got the message all my hats, including this one, were finished.
Conclusion in part IV.

 

[M Hatman]

Oh Holy Cow!! What an awsome story and save!! Look forward to the continuing story with the final results!
M

 

[steur]

Part IV
The hat arrived and the transformation is complete. From a tattered ladies hat to a beautiful fine panama that has years of wear left in it; if that's not a conversion I don't know what is. It is now one of the finest panamas I own. Still a spot here and there, but this is a hat with a (shady) past and I think that should at least show a bit. I could not be more happy with the work Fleur has done for me on this hat. Gorgeous light coloured and vented sweatband, the bow treatment was restrained to avoid it looking "busy", but the keeper lifts it up again. The crown patch is exquisite.
I award myself bonus points for seeing the potential, but the points for the save and the conversion results go to Fleur of Penumbra hat co. The end results:

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Part IV
The hat arrived and the transformation is complete. From a tattered ladies hat to a beautiful fine panama that has years of wear left in it; if that's not a conversion I don't know what is. It is now one of the finest panamas I own. Still a spot here and there, but this is a hat with a (shady) past and I think that should at least show a bit. I could not be more happy with the work Fleur has done for me on this hat. Gorgeous light coloured and vented sweatband, the bow treatment was restrained to avoid it looking "busy", but the keeper lifts it up again. The crown patch is exquisite.
I award myself bonus points for seeing the potential, but the points for the save and the conversion results go to Fleur of Penumbra hat co. The end results:

View attachment 122919 View attachment 122920 View attachment 122921 View attachment 122922 View attachment 122923 View attachment 122924 View attachment 122925 View attachment 122926 View attachment 122927 View attachment 122928

It’s now a beautiful hat that any of us would be proud to own. Great save! The photos of all the steps in the conversion are also most appreciated. I wonder if in 60 years a new owner will have any idea of the history of the hat.


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[steur]

Oh Holy Cow!! What an awsome story and save!! Look forward to the continuing story with the final results!
M

It’s now a beautiful hat that any of us would be proud to own. Great save! The photos of all the steps in the conversion are also most appreciated. I wonder if in 60 years a new owner will have any idea of the history of the hat.


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Mark, Brent, thank you. It's a lovely hat again indeed and a joy to wear. I was prepared to go a little further to save this one, just because of the appreciation I have for the amount of work and craftmanship that goes into weaving these fine hats.

 

[BobHufford]

It's a lovely hat again indeed and a joy to wear. I was prepared to go a little further to save this one, just because of the appreciation I have for the amount of work and craftmanship that goes into weaving these fine hats.

Great save Stefan and Fleur!

 

[steur]

Thanks Bob. I'll report the kudos to Fleur (I don't think she's a member here although she does look in once in a while). The amount of work she has put in was not reflected in the small amount she charged me in the end; she's as much an afficionado as we are.