The hats of our fathers

[funneman]

I am fortunate enough to have my Father’s and my Grandfather’s Stetsons.

My grandfathers is a Nutria Quality with a rounded edge on the brim.

My father’s Stetson is XXX with more of a stiff cowboy crush.

I’m thinking of making these hats into something I can wear,
with more of a fedora look.

Trouble is I need to downsize them both and cut the brim on both hats.

The question is, how many hat sizes (or inches) can you move down on a
hat and who would be the best person to do the transformation.

It was my understanding that Art is only doing new custom hats and not
refurbishing,. He would be my first choice.

Would Optimo be good at a project like this?

Any suggestions?

 

[Tomasso]

Give Graham a call at Optimo, they regularly refurbish old hats. How many sizes do you need them to come down to fit you?

 

[DrSpeed]

Are you sure?
These are heirlooms after all. I'd keep them as they are.
Downsizing and wearing them is something else. An heirloom does not have to be a museum piece.
But hey, they are your hats now, and it's just my opinion.

 

[shortbow]

PLEASE don't alter your Grandad's hat! It is irreplaceable. I would love to have a hat like that. It looks like a genuine Boss of the Plains, and even if it isn't, how many like it have you seen? Me? Never.

 

[RBH]

GREAT HATS!!!
I would leave them as they are and get Mike Moore to make you one that might 'remind' you of the hats you have.
I had a old fedora that my grand dad had when he passed and I 're-did' it, I no longer have it. I wish I did and would have left it alone.

 

[rgraham]

I vote for letting them be. As suggested, you can get one made to look like either or both of them. Put them on display, or away in a hat box. Your grand daddy's hat is just awesome. I wouldn't even clean it. There's history to that one.

 

[ADHD librarian]

joining the chorus

Don't hurt the hats,
no,
really. These are great hats, stuff some paper in the sweat or fold the leather over to make them wearable for you but neither of them deserve to be cut.

Plus, neither of them will become fedoras. If you want a fedora look buy one and keep these ones as is.

 

[MAB1]

I'm for bashing Grandad's hat. He got it open crown, and for some reason thought he had to wear it that way. Looks like he never wore the damn thing.

That would make one fine fedora.

 

[Yohanes]

Clean both hats, at least brush off all the dust.

I suggest bash the first round hat - it's open crown, it is supposed to be bashed. Shape it as you like but no, don't cut he brim.

Leave the second hat alone.

 

[Dinerman]

DO NOT cut the brims! That first hat is an incredibly rare one.

 

[ddcronk]

It's been quite a while since I posted here at The Fedora Lounge, but I thought this was worth coming back for.

When I was a kid, I always remember my dad wearing a uniform of sorts, when he wasn't at work. Blue jeans, always. Sturdy brown leather shoes and belt (never black). Plaid flannel shirt in cooler weather, light blue chambray in the summer. And this hat.

He bought this hat at a garage sale in Illinois in the early 1970s for fifty cents, and it was already old then. He's 73 now (and still working, God bless him), and doesn't wear it anymore, so I convinced him to give it to me. It's in rough shape - moth damage, no band, missing edge binding, and a sweatband he fashioned himself out of duct tape after the original one fell out. It's not worth a dime to anybody but me, but I love it.

I've contacted Bob at Black Sheep Hatworks and I hope he can help me restore it, so it can get worn once again - this time by me.

It's been sitting on top of a cabinet in the garage for the last few years. I think it looks even more terrible in photos than it does in person, but I'll do what it takes to give it a second life.

I can see that it used to have a brim edge binding and a narrow satin band, much like this Stetson Open Road, so this is the look I'll be going for in restoration.

I'll update this thread as it progresses, and hopefully soon I'll post some photos of Dad's hat looking good again.

 

[belfastboy]

What a great endeavour. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

[jlee562]

Gotta love that duct tape sweat. The corrugation in front looks an awful lot like the kind Borsalino put in their hats.

Not great pictures of mine:

 

[ddcronk]

Gotta love that duct tape sweat. The corrugation in front looks an awful lot like the kind Borsalino put in their hats.

That duct tape sweatband is just my Dad to a T. Something needs fixing, what do I have that can fix it, that'll work, moving on. He came from a place and a time where you either fixed it yourself or it didn't get fixed.

Interesting similarity with the Borsalino, too. I'd pretty much given up hope of identifying the maker, but that is a very similar design.

*Update*

OK, so Jared's suggestion that it might be a Borsalino got me poking around, and in the Borsalino thread I found these photos of a postwar Borsalino Alessandria. There's the tell-tale corrugated piece behind the sweatband and everything. I guess I can't know for sure, but the similarities are clear.

 

[ddcronk]

That's weird, my thread just got folded into an old thread from 2008. I assume a mod did this, but I'm not sure why...?

 

[carouselvic]

Borsalino is as good of a guess as any, but Stetson and other manufactures also used the corrugated sweatband. Here is a war era Stetson.....it has a corrugated sweat

 

[RJR]

It's been quite a while since I posted here at The Fedora Lounge, but I thought this was worth coming back for.

When I was a kid, I always remember my dad wearing a uniform of sorts, when he wasn't at work. Blue jeans, always. Sturdy brown leather shoes and belt (never black). Plaid flannel shirt in cooler weather, light blue chambray in the summer. And this hat.

He bought this hat at a garage sale in Illinois in the early 1970s for fifty cents, and it was already old then. He's 73 now (and still working, God bless him), and doesn't wear it anymore, so I convinced him to give it to me. It's in rough shape - moth damage, no band, missing edge binding, and a sweatband he fashioned himself out of duct tape after the original one fell out. It's not worth a dime to anybody but me, but I love it.

I've contacted Bob at Black Sheep Hatworks and I hope he can help me restore it, so it can get worn once again - this time by me.

It's been sitting on top of a cabinet in the garage for the last few years. I think it looks even more terrible in photos than it does in person, but I'll do what it takes to give it a second life.

I can see that it used to have a brim edge binding and a narrow satin band, much like this Stetson Open Road, so this is the look I'll be going for in restoration.

I'll update this thread as it progresses, and hopefully soon I'll post some photos of Dad's hat looking good again.

Pretty good bet that it will be a wearable treasure when
Bob finishes.

 

[ddcronk]

Borsalino is as good of a guess as any, but Stetson and other manufactures also used the corrugated sweatband. Here is a war era Stetson.....it has a corrugated sweat

Interesting, was this a common feature on war-era hats? I haven't seen it on any of my various hats, the oldest of which is from the '60s.

 

[Pancho65]

I'm a newbee here in the Lounge. I wanted to share a photo of my 91-year-old dad in one of only three dress hats he wears - a black Fedora, a brown Fedora, and a Stetson Open Road. The below link is to an article from my hometown newspaper, The Pueblo Chieftain. During last year's Veterans Day Celebration, he was the only WWII veteran recognized in a ceremony that was focused on Korean War Veterans. I'm citing the newspaper as this is not my photo, so this photo is taken from the Pueblo Chieftain in Pueblo, Colorado - the "Home of Heroes." Although he wears a lot of ball caps, he only wears his three dress hats when the occasion calls for it. I'm not sure how old this Champ Fedora is. He's owned it as long as I can remember, and I'm 50. That's a testament to The Greatest Generation - they know how to take care of things. Enjoy the article - http://www.chieftain.com/news/4099734-120/veterans-war-korean-ceremony

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Great pic of your dad, Pancho! Good idea on how to resurrect this thread. You are lucky to have your dad for so long.

Here's a picture of an important man in my life; my grandfather wearing his big brim fedora probably around 1940. I had lots of uncles & great uncles; I need to see if I have pics of them in fedoras too.