Western, anyone?

[randooch]

Tom, did that Rex Allen come with the band shown? It's awesome.

 

[suitedcboy]

I assumed it was Rex Allen Sr or Jr's hat. I have never heard of a Bailey hat model called the Rex Allen.
One of the local stations shows old westerns and they are showing Frontier Doctor with Rex Allen Sr and he wears a Damn sharp bound edge hat that is an odd style.
Looks to be 3 inch brim with semi wide edge binding and a brim roll that is not so rolled as a Homburg or pencil roll. Center dent no bashes. Silver belly color as best I can tell in black n white.
Always loved Rex Sr's narration of all those great Disney episodes in the 60's and 70's on the Disney Sunday evening show.

 

[julie-tom]

Rex Sr handed me a "silver" bullet at the Humbolt Co fair, back in the later 1950s. Ma put it away for safe keeping and I never saw it again.... dang.
My dad brain-tanned that buckskin and I rolled and cut that hatband myself.

 

[MikePotts]

Here's a great photo from Shorpy's, Hats, leather jacket, boots & neckties!
http://www.shorpy.com/node/182?size=_original


MP

 

[msm007]

Nice one

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Just curious, what in blazes is a "Belgian Chapeau Vimernet"? I know "chapeau" is "hat" to about 40% of the Belgians, and I suspect the rest refers to the color. I don't know about "Vimernet" though. I'm asking all this because I'm Belgian, and into cowboy hats some of the times, mostly fedoras though and in summer panama hats. Nice hat, by the way. Like the eye!

 

[Yeps]

Just curious, what in blazes is a "Belgian Chapeau Vimernet"? I know "chapeau" is "hat" to about 40% of the Belgians, and I suspect the rest refers to the color. I don't know about "Vimernet" though. I'm asking all this because I'm Belgian, and into cowboy hats some of the times, mostly fedoras though and in summer panama hats. Nice hat, by the way. Like the eye!

I did some sleuthing, and found out that "vimernet" was a typo of "vimenet" the name of a town in France and also a relatively common last name. Therefore it is the name of the store/hat company in Brussels: Chapeau Vimenet Bruxelles.

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

I did some sleuthing, and found out that "vimernet" was a typo of "vimenet" the name of a town in France and also a relatively common last name. Therefore it is the name of the store/hat company in Brussels: Chapeau Vimenet Bruxelles.

Ok; ok Yeps, thanks: Vimenot is the name. Mind you, I got that information from http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?4686-I-m-a-hat-IGNORAMUS because I found nothing beyond that on the web, neither have I ever heard of "Vimenot" which, given it was way before I was born, is not surprising. Unfortunately, Belgium is not so much a "hat country" these actual times, whereas on the other hand, Belgium was at some time in the past famous for the quality of its rabbit fur.
There is one famous Belgian hat designer nowadays, his name is Christophe Coppens, he's supplied some famous people (99% ladies) with stylish hats indeed, but I consider that to be less the pure "hatter" (meaning felt and leather) than the "stylist" branch of the hatmakers' art http://www.christophecoppens.com/ and that's not really my thing, and certainly not "western"...

 

[Yeps]

Ok; ok Yeps, thanks: Vimenot is the name. Mind you, I got that information from http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?4686-I-m-a-hat-IGNORAMUS because I found nothing beyond that on the web, neither have I ever heard of "Vimenot" which, given it was way before I was born, is not surprising. Unfortunately, Belgium is not so much a "hat country" these actual times, whereas on the other hand, Belgium was at some time in the past famous for the quality of its rabbit fur.
There is one famous Belgian hat designer nowadays, his name is Christophe Coppens, he's supplied some famous people (99% ladies) with stylish hats indeed, but I consider that to be less the pure "hatter" (meaning felt and leather) than the "stylist" branch of the hatmakers' art http://www.christophecoppens.com/ and that's not really my thing, and certainly not "western"...

Glad I could help, even if not much. By the way, I think I found the hat you were referring to. I would say it is more like the Open Road or the Borsalino Alessandria than a cowboy hat, but those do have a western feel to them.


Anyway, changing the subject. I have a used Akubra Cattleman on the way as we speak (I know, outback is different from western). It has been reverted more or less to an open crown, although there are still crease marks in it. Given that I will be working on the crown already to make it look nice again, I was thinking that I would give it a new bash. Any suggestions for style? I was thinking of telescoping it, to look kinda Clint Eastwood style, but I am not sure.

 

[gtdean48]

Here's a Cattleman with a Gus crease...

 

[Yeps]

I saw that earlier, and it does look great. That is actually part of the reason I thought it might be possible to get a little creative with the cattleman. Thanks.

 

[monbla256]

Glad I could help, even if not much. By the way, I think I found the hat you were referring to. I would say it is more like the Open Road or the Borsalino Alessandria than a cowboy hat, but those do have a western feel to them.


Anyway, changing the subject. I have a used Akubra Cattleman on the way as we speak (I know, outback is different from western). It has been reverted more or less to an open crown, although there are still crease marks in it. Given that I will be working on the crown already to make it look nice again, I was thinking that I would give it a new bash. Any suggestions for style? I was thinking of telescoping it, to look kinda Clint Eastwood style, but I am not sure.

Since the Aussie style of Cattleman crease is based on a sort of telescoped crown with front pinches you should have no problem getting a good flat Telescope style of crease. Just be liberal with the steam and you might want to remove the liner while shaping it to allow you to steam the inside as well. Post some before/after pics when youre done

 

[Yeps]

Since the Aussie style of Cattleman crease is based on a sort of telescoped crown with front pinches you should have no problem getting a good flat Telescope style of crease. Just be liberal with the steam and you might want to remove the liner while shaping it to allow you to steam the inside as well. Post some before/after pics when youre done

I will do so as soon as the hat actually arrives. Right now I am actually going back through the archives of this thread for inspiration. I forgot how many good pics Neo dredged up for reference (and others pulled up in the discussion). I am definitely leaning towards a telescope, although that shallow gus is fun.

 

[Neophyte]

I may have deleted a majority of those. Good luck on your search.

 

[Yeps]

You did delete a lot, but there were plenty to see.

 

[Neophyte]

Sorry !

Here's a few I remember:

Lounger "Lamar"'s project hat, modeled after Clint Eastwood's hat in Joe Kidd.

Here are two westerns acquired by member "Fatdutchman":

Some hats that I like:

 

[Neophyte]

Found this in another thread, posted by RLK...I think. Can't remember the subject of the thread, but there were several VERY interesting catalogue pages. The one that caught my eye is this one, because the top left entry pretty much embodies my idea for a custom western.

 

[bowlerman]

+1 on that BOP in your previous post, Neo, as well as the top left from the catalogue page!

 

[TCMfan25]

I saw a 3XXX Beaver Stetson County Sheriff's hat on my antique run today, too small for me...

If anyone is near Mullica Hill NJ check out their antique malls, I went to a three floored one, the had the 3XXX, and a Black Homburg in great condition... again too small, I think they were the in the ballpark of 7.

They also had a WW1 American "State Trooper/Forest Ranger" style army hat, and a couple of WWII USAF uniforms... I picked up a great vintage shoe shine kit and two great pipes ( 1 Yellowbowl paneled mahogany coloured Billiard called Yellowbowl Nova , and an Italian Bulldawg/Rhodesian tanish/caramel colour with a great birdseye grain).

Happy hunting if interested!

 

[Yeps]

Alright, so I got the Cattleman today, and it was most definitely not open crowned.

However, I really like shaping my own hats, and this felt was pretty soft, so I decided to give it a go anyway and spritzed the thing down to try a couple different shapes.

First, naturally, here it is open crowned. Unless I was doing reenacting, I don't think this would be the best look.

And here are some various western creases.

These were just sloppy bashes, and right now it is drying open crowned for tinkering with later.
Thoughts, preferences or suggestions?