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I'm definitely a western hat addict, so I'll try to show some restraint in this thread. I'm gonna start off with a long-winded tale:
In the very early 90s, I bought a complete beater of a cowboy hat at a “Western Collectables/Flea Market” show in Grass Valley, CA. It was dirty, it was crumpled, it had no headband, no tags, and no lining. BUT, it was pretty decent quality felt, it fit my noggin (or would, with a new headband), and it was CHEAP. So it came home with me.
I immediately sent it off to David Johnson (D Bar J Hats) in Las Vegas, whom I’d dealt with before. David cleaned it, put in new lining and a new headband, bound the edge, and shaped it into a Oreana crown. He did a simply AMAZING job. The problem was, it didn’t look good on me. Something about the shape, just didn’t fit my face/head/whatever, at least in my opinion. I wore it off and on over the years to Cowboy Action Shooting matches, but never grew to love it. tried all kinds of re-shaping on my own, different hatbands, whatever I could think of, to no avail. Eventually, it ended up on a shelf in the garage.
A couple of weeks ago, just as I was about to put it in the car along with other clothing to take to a donation drop-off site, I decided to fiddle with it one last time. Somehow, whether through inspiration, or blind luck, I hit on a crown shape/brim curl, that I REALLY liked. I ordered a ribbon hatband for it, which came in several days later. Finally, after 30+ years of fussin’ and fiddlin’, I love this hat, even though it’s now more of a “western fedora” than a "cowboy" hat.
View attachment 573760
That looks fantastic