The Other Open Roads.....

[gtdean48]

The List...

Adam LBJ Style R
Adam Mainliner
Adam Texan
Akubra Campdraft
Bailey Beaver 20 ??
Beaver Brand River Runner
Biltmore Wilderness
Borsalino Alessandria
Champ Ranger
Churchill ???
Dobbs 20 ???
Dobbs Westward
Dobbs West Open Trail
Knox Westlite
LaSalle ???
Lee Corral (JCPenney Marathon, Towncraft, etc.)
Mallory Dallas
Miller Douglas (Beaver Brand or Biltmore ?)
Penney Marathon
Portis Sterling
Resistol Saddler
Resistol San Antonio
Resistol The Wide Country
Shudde Bros ???
Stevens ??? (Imperial & DeLuxe)
Tanbark 1546
Wormser Texan
Various Store brands (ie Richman Bros, et al)

Thanks, ScottF.

 

[ScottF]

Resistol San Antonio 7 1/4

I don't know how tough these are to find - I know an antique store that has a silverbelly for $32, but it's a little dirty and has moth damage. I don't want it, but could take some pics and acquire it probably for a little less and ship to anyone interested.

...or if any Seattleites are interested - I'll just point you to it.

 

[ScottF]

Adam LBJ Style R
Adam Mainliner
Adam Texan
Akubra Campdraft
Bailey Beaver 20 ??
Beaver Brand River Runner
Biltmore Wilderness
Borsalino Alessandria
Champ Ranger
Churchill ???
Dobbs 20 ???
Dobbs Westward
Dobbs West Open Trail
Knox Westlite
LaSalle ???
Lee Corral (JCPenney Marathon, Towncraft, etc.)
Mallory Dallas
Miller Douglas (Beaver Brand or Biltmore ?)
Penney Marathon
Portis Sterling
Resistol Saddler
Resistol San Antonio
Resistol The Wide Country
Shudde Bros ???
Stevens ??? (Imperial & DeLuxe)
Tanbark 1546
Wormser Texan
Various Store brands (ie Richman Bros, et al)

Thanks, ScottF.

My pleasure - this site has been an invaluable source of information and fun. I've participated on a lot of forums, but never one that was totally "friction-free" like this one - what a pleasure it is to visit here!

I've been wearing my $25 Open Road clone daily - my "new" fedoras rarely see any air-time anymore. The other day I had a homeless guy downtown yelling at me to give him his hat back (I'm not joking).

 

[ScottF]

Shudde Bros

I think this is Shudde Bros version of the "Open Road". I was dying to get it, but advertised as a 7 1/4+....it's actually tagged 7 (bet no one's experienced that before!

Ribbon aside, this old Texas trooper hat (thanks for the info, Dinerman) has been given a non-steamed rebash to resemble my other Open Road clone. I also removed the leather band to display a decent ribbon. It was too cool to send back, too small to wear.

 

[Dinerman]

I think this is Shudde Bros version of the "Open Road". I was dying to get it, but advertised as a 7 1/4+....it's actually tagged 7 (bet no one's experienced that before!

Ribbon aside, this old Texas trooper hat (thanks for the info, Dinerman) has been given a non-steamed rebash to resemble my other Open Road clone. I also removed the leather band to display a decent ribbon. It was too cool to send back, too small to wear.

That looks great. Nice crease you put in it. Pity about the size, though.

 

[ScottF]

That looks great. Nice crease you put in it. Pity about the size, though.

Thanks Dinerman, I was surprised how much easier stiff felt is to crease. The brim is another story - it's drying after my attempt to give it a bend. It was like working with cardboard...the anti-Borsalino.

BTW - great website. Are you a 'Zippy' fan? Griffey has some great Diner humor.

 

[ScottF]

Portis Sterling

Here are better pics of that Portis Sterling I posted earlier - it's actually light brown. Seller said it's '40s (belonged to his Dad), but I'm clueless about dating hats.

 

[Bob Smalser]

Here are better pics of that Portis Sterling I posted earlier - it's actually light brown. Seller said it's '40s (belonged to his Dad), but I'm clueless about dating hats.

Great buy. I just paid 3 times that to get one on the previous page in Carhartt Brown.

 

[ScottF]

Great buy. I just paid 3 times that to get one on the previous page in Carhartt Brown.

Thanks, Bob - Your hat looks great. Mine matches my Carhartt jacket nicely, so I guess these two are about the same color.

 

[Bob Smalser]

Thanks, Bob - Your hat looks great. Mine matches my Carhartt jacket nicely, so I guess these two are about the same color.

There are also other steals out there to be had in Resistol:

$22.01 yesterday for what looks to be a perfect, 50’s-vintage 3X 7 ¼ with original box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300304210042

Beats the dickens out of paying three or four times that for a Stetson of no better quality, just for John B.'s name on the hat.

There have been others before this one, too:

$10.50 for an unworn, 50’s-vintage Beaver 100 in 6 7/8, later stretched to 7 1/8:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170293509388

$20.50 for a perfect, 70’s-vintage 3X in 7 ¼, later stretched to 7 3/8:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250353988083

I'm really coming to love the cattleman's crease. Not because I wear it, but because it seems to scare off so many fedora bidders.

 

[ScottF]

There are also other steals out there to be had:

$22.01 yesterday for what looks to be a perfect, 50’s-vintage 3X 7 ¼ with original box:

I'm really coming to love the cattleman's crease. Not because I wear it, but because it seems to scare off so many fedora bidders.

Nice - I missed that one (must tweak my searches )

I remember when I made that discovery - it applies to antique stores as well. I saw a beat-up, moth-eaten OR clone (didn't know what an Open Road was then) with a cattleman's crease. I figured it wouldn't hurt the beat-up thing to experiment, so I very quickly worked a bash into it and realized that I needed to start looking at 'Cowboy hats' with a different eye.

On a different note, I cleaned up the Portis this morning, put it on, and realized that this hat had not 'chosen my head' for it's new home. It's a beauty, and fits great, but just doesn't work. Not sure what it is, but I do like a thicker ribbon on this style - I especially don't think a silverbelly OR with a thin ribbon would take to my head too well. I need to get the remnants of the 60 yr-old crease out of it and try again.

I've searched high and low for info on cleaning the lining - best advice I found was to use a spray bottle of denatured alcohol and let it dry. Any other thoughts? The previous owner must have had some nasty hair wax.

 

[Bob Smalser]

I've searched high and low for info on cleaning the lining - best advice I found was to use a spray bottle of denatured alcohol and let it dry. Any other thoughts? The previous owner must have had some nasty hair wax.

I routinely remove the lining for cleaning and so I can better get at the sweatband to treat it with Peccard's Antique Leather Dressing and let that soak in for a few days.

Linings I gently hand wash in Woolite, hang to drip dry without wringing and carefully iron on the rayon setting. To reinstall I center the lining and baste them to the hat's flange, usually with a single thread unlike the doubled thread shown:

Hand washing in dry cleaning fluid (naptha, Home Depot paint section) is the other alternative. I find Woolite gets hair oil out better than naptha and results in a fresher lining.

 

[ScottF]

I routinely remove the lining for cleaning and so I can better get at the sweatband to treat it with Peccard's Antique Leather Dressing and let that soak in for a few days.

Linings I gently hand wash in Woolite, hang to drip dry without wringing and carefully iron on the rayon setting. To reinstall I center the lining and baste them to the hat's flange, usually with a single thread unlike the doubled thread shown:

Hand washing in dry cleaning fluid (naptha, Home Depot paint section) is the other alternative. I find Woolite gets hair oil out better than naptha and results in a fresher lining.

Thanks, I will try this and take 'before and after' pics.

 

[gtdean48]

...Linings I gently hand wash in Woolite, hang to drip dry without wringing and carefully iron on the rayon setting....

:arated: Any gentle detergent will work, just hand agitate. I had a thread on liner cleaining a month or so back...

 

[ScottF]

:arated: Any gentle detergent will work, just hand agitate. I had a thread on liner cleaining a month or so back...

Thanks for the cleaning 'solutions' lol

One more question - I'll be doing this to two hats. The Portis liner was actually glued in (little spots of glue). The other one was very loosely threaded to the felt at ribbon level, but thread is half out. What about just spot-glueing in both cases?

Digging around, I found this thread about glueing in liners:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=25980&page=4

 

[J.T.Marcus]

I'm really coming to love the cattleman's crease. Not because I wear it, but because it seems to scare off so many fedora bidders.

You could have gone all day without letting that cat out of the bag!

 

[J.T.Marcus]

:arated: Any gentle detergent will work, just hand agitate. I had a thread on liner cleaining a month or so back...

Spray-N-Wash stick will remove ballpoint pen ink!

 

[gtdean48]

...One more question - I'll be doing this to two hats. The Portis liner was actually glued in (little spots of glue). The other one was very loosely threaded to the felt at ribbon level, but thread is half out. What about just spot-glueing in both cases?

You can get a hot glue gun from the craft stores or dept in Wal-mart. A western hatter I know uses those for liners & ribbons. I usually just tuck them behind the sweatband so I can take them out for changing creases or when the weather is warmer. The liner holds a lot of head heat...

 

[jonbuilder]

I would like add the Lee Trail to the list from johnnyphi auction thread

 

[gtdean48]

The List...

Adam LBJ Style R
Adam Mainliner
Adam Texan
Akubra Campdraft
Bailey Beaver 20 ??
Beaver Brand River Runner
Biltmore Wilderness
Borsalino Alessandria
Champ Ranger
Churchill ???
Dobbs 20 ???
Dobbs Westward
Dobbs West Open Trail
Knox Westlite
LaSalle ???
Lee Corral (JCPenney Marathon, Towncraft, etc.)
Lee Trail
Mallory Dallas
Miller Douglas (Beaver Brand or Biltmore ?)
Penney Marathon
Portis Sterling
Resistol Saddler
Resistol San Antonio
Resistol The Wide Country
Shudde Bros ???
Stevens ??? (Imperial & DeLuxe)
Tanbark 1546
Wormser Texan
Various Store brands (ie Richman Bros, et al)

Thanks, Jonbuilder.