Witch Hazel Stretches Sweatbands?!?!

[johnnyphi]

As I mentioned on another thread, I recently made friends with a local hatter (Vincent Corvelli) who was trained by his Italian father who was trained in the "old country".

Mr. Corvelli told me that he has always used Witch Hazel to loosen the sweatband before stretching a hat. He doesn't believe in using leather conditioners, such as Lexol because they can damage the felt.

He recommended using the standard Witch Hazel which can be purchased at your local CVS.

I have tried it, and it does seem to gently loosen the sweatband, especially for hats that are a bit "snug".

I haven't seen any discussion of this method on the Lounge.

Is Mr. Corvelli correct? Art, Besdor, Dinerman? Has anyone heard of the Witch Hazel approach?

 

[Mike in Seattle]

If he's got experience and says it works, I'd say give it a try...but not on a valued or treasured hat first.

Witchazel's an astringent so it's normally used to remove oils from the surface of your skin & closes the pores. To my mind, that wouldn't be something to aim for on a sweatband since you don't want them to lose their oils and dry out and crack...but maybe he knows something I don't know. The idea in using Lexol and similar is to put oil into the leather and rehydrate so they'll stretch more instead of tear.

But I won't argue with something that works! In the words of Oscar Wilde, I'm too old to know everything.

 

[johnnyphi]

Interesting...

If he's got experience and says it works, I'd say give it a try...but not on a valued or treasured hat first.

Witchazel's an astringent so it's normally used to remove oils from the surface of your skin & closes the pores. To my mind, that wouldn't be something to aim for on a sweatband since you don't want them to lose their oils and dry out and crack...but maybe he knows something I don't know. The idea in using Lexol and similar is to put oil into the leather and rehydrate so they'll stretch more instead of tear.

But I won't argue with something that works! In the words of Oscar Wilde, I'm too old to know everything.

I'm not a scientician, but I wonder if there is a difference between used sweatbands and "new" sweatbands. Maybe Mr. Corvelli is used to working on new hats, rather than attempting to save older, used sweatbands. I think he would normally just replace a worn/dry sweatband, rather than trying to save the old sweatband. (In fact, when he showed me his workshop, he was in the process of installing a new sweatband on a vintage Borsalino, and he didn't seem bothered by the fact that he had to scrap the old sweatband. )

Could an unworn sweatband withstand the astringent side of witch hazel, if there were some other benefit to counteract the drying action? Meaning, is it possible that witch hazel could enhance stretching, as long as the sweatband is strong enough to accept stretching?

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

Dunno, but I read recently that Witch Hazel is good as a cleaner for removing ink from leather - so I'd be careful around the imprinting on the sweatband.

 

[johnnyphi]

Myth Busted?

So, is this myth busted?

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=8062

 

[randooch]

witch hazel

i'll try it on a 7 3/8 (shrunken) i just got that is too tight to wear. i need another 1/4, and the sweatband looks nigh brittle, so what the heck.

 

[Jerekson]

It would be equally useful if it stretched OR shrunk sweatbands. We'll need to find out witch (no pun intended)!

 

[johnnyphi]

Any luck?

How did your test go?

i'll try it on a 7 3/8 (shrunken) i just got that is too tight to wear. i need another 1/4, and the sweatband looks nigh brittle, so what the heck.