ScottF
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,755
Forgotten Man said:Most if not all of the hats I’ve bought have good sweat bands… and if they seem to be on the dry side, I’ll treat them with a leather conditioner to rid its self of dryness and bring it back to soft comfortable leather… if it’s not cracked and rotting away that is.
I have passed on many hats… due to a bad sweat band or rotted out ribbon… and the felt is really dirty… but, if it’s an earlier hat from the 20s or 30s I’ll buy it to see what I can do with it.
Boxes aren’t worth much unless it has amazing graphics and design… only a few are worth keeping… but, if you want to save history and keep it around, enjoy the restoration! But don’t be heartbroken if it doesn’t come out as you’d like or if it falls apart in the process.
Oh and please post photos!
My Knox twenty had what looked like an 'okay' sweatband - minimal cracking. Apparently it actually was rotted, because a generous application of Lexol, rather than restoring the leather, seemed rather to complete the aging process. It was trashed when finished. It would be interesting to see some more 'before and after' pics of restored damaged sweatbands.