The School of Hard Knox

[billysmom]

"Comfit"???

I received this Knox Superfine Homburg today:

It has a corrugated feature at the back of the sweat:

and it's stamped: "Comfit" at the front of the sweat.

I did a search on this forum and came up blank.

Does anyone have any information about this feature?

Thanks,

Sue

 

[Dinerman]

Knox Comfit- Patent 2632175 - patented 1953.

Dobbs used the term Spring-aire and leisure flex

 

[billysmom]

Thanks, Dinerman!

Yup - it's got the foam thingy under the crinkly part of the sweat. It certainly feels nice...

Sue

 

[Shanghailander]

Interesting. And what was "Tom and Jerry" all about? I take it they didn't make felt out of cat and mouse fur...

Tom and Jerry were also a couple of fictional characters from Georgian or Regency England - I suspect the drink was named after them, as was the cat and mouse team. The hat may have been named after them as well.

 

[ScottF]

Knox Homburg

Any ideas as to the age of this hat? I had planned to remove the brim-binding and replace the ribbon with a thinner one, to end up with something similar to an old dress Western pencil curl, but the color is not what I expected - reddish-brown, almost burgundy, and it looks pretty old.

 

[DOUGLAS]

fantastic hat, Scott. The logo appears to be deeply embossed. Great color combination as well. You don't see that so often.

 

[Fletch]

Careful with that brim. I was told most homburg conversions fail (however, no reason was given).

 

[ScottF]

fantastic hat, Scott. The logo appears to be deeply embossed. Great color combination as well. You don't see that so often.

Thanks Douglas. Yes, logo is embossed nice and deep, but other than that one part, the sweatband is in very bad shape. The color is gorgeous!

Careful with that brim. I was told most homburg conversions fail (however, no reason was given).

Fletch - I wasn't going to convert it. I tried that once before, and it really doesn't work out well. All I planned to do was remove the brim binding (no flattening) and replace the ribbon with a thin one; however, even though I'm not a bound-brim guy, this hat is nice enough as-is, that I will probably look for another hat for my project. The color is wrong also.

 

[billysmom]

Fletch - I wasn't going to convert it. I tried that once before, and it really doesn't work out well. All I planned to do was remove the brim binding (no flattening) and replace the ribbon with a thin one; however, even though I'm not a bound-brim guy, this hat is nice enough as-is, that I will probably look for another hat for my project. The color is wrong also.

I am relieved that you don't plan to mess with it. Give it a new sweatband (keeping the old one for documentation) and wear it proudly!

Sue

 

[ScottF]

I am relieved that you don't plan to mess with it. Give it a new sweatband (keeping the old one for documentation) and wear it proudly!

Sue

I'm not a Homburg person - the '20s "pseudo-Homburg" look is growing on me, but these bound brims just look too glitzy with my PacNW attire.

BTW - I really like that superfine Homburg you posted above. Do you have a picture of the 'Knox' logos on it?

 

[billysmom]

I'm not a Homburg person - the '20s "pseudo-Homburg" look is growing on me, but these bound brims just look too glitzy with my PacNW attire.

BTW - I really like that superfine Homburg you posted above. Do you have a picture of the 'Knox' logos on it?

Probably from the 50's. I'm guessing that yours is considerably older.

Sue

 

[ScottF]

Probably from the 50's. I'm guessing that yours is considerably older.

Sue

I don't know. Dinerman posted a sweatband logo like yours, and Buler and Norton posted embossed stamps like mine (although theirs are 90 degrees rotated from mine), so maybe...

Dinerman can give us a date estimate on these two?

 

[Fletch]

Fletch - I wasn't going to convert it. I tried that once before, and it really doesn't work out well.

And you, too, appear sworn to secrecy about the reasons.

There are many things man was not meant to know, and a lot of them have to do with hats.

 

[ScottF]

And you, too, appear sworn to secrecy about the reasons.

There are many things man was not meant to know, and a lot of them have to do with hats.

Not at all. The project was well-documented at the time, and is still in the forum somewhere. If you dig around, you'll find plenty of discussions about converting Homburgs.

 

[ScottF]

Knox Custom Edge

Black sweatband, Cav edge (Custom Edge), 2 1/8" brim, cheaper-looking Knox sweatband logo, different printing of 'Custom Edge' than in my '40s and '50s Knox Twenty's, thin oilskin liner. High quality, very odd but cool color: dark, cross between brown and gray.

Early 1960's?

 

[jeffconnors]

I just got my first knox twenty (the pictures dont do it justice.) I have been collection hats now for about 4 months, I have a dobbs 20 and 15 (circa 1940) 2 modern dobbs(1970's and 1993) hats, 2 homburgs (stentson st regis and chap kasmir) a keith hat beaver blend , a malloy cravat and a adam majestic. Anyways.... I was focusing on collection dobbs but I think i may have to convert to knox:eusa_doh: . The thickness, softness and over all quality of the felt that my newly acquired knox hat has blown all the other hats in my collection out of the water! I love my new knox hat and will be on the hunt for some older wider brim models.

 

[Mario]

Knox Premier

Dark sage green Knox Premier with a fantastic tri-colored ribbon (which reminds me of Jimmy's amazing Knox Premier). The creased crown stands 5 1/2" tall, the brim comes in at 2 3/4". The felt is thin and soft yet still malleable. In person the color is a bit darker than what appears in the photos.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Oh, Momma! That hat blows me away, Mario! The ribbon is absolutely killer. Wow. Beautiful color felt, and a pleated ribbon with the Knox triple stripe treatment. Fabulous! And, you did a heckuva nice job creasing that one.

Really, really nice score, my friend! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

Any chance you could post some close-up shots of the ribbon?

Cheers,
JtL

 

[Mario]

Thanks a lot, Jimmy!

Yes, I forgot to include the ribbon in the photo layout, which I just corrected.

 

[CRH]

Dark sage green Knox Premier with a fantastic tri-colored ribbon (which reminds me of Jimmy's amazing Knox Premier)....

No kidding. This one has plenty of cat's meow in it, Mario!

:eusa_clap