Hats

[Delmonico]

Nope Arcey, the Tombstone hat has a tell-er-scope crown in it like Little Joe the Cartwright.

(Jack Thorpe never told us what kind of hat Little Joe the Wrangler wore. )

[Arcey]

Brims the same, Del.

[Delmonico]

I can change that, let me turn on my steamer.

[Arcey]

Why, Johnny Ringo...........

Would ya do that?

[Delmonico]

I'll even put some stiffener on it to make sure it stays and clean it fer ya.

[Wymore Wrangler]

Now Del, I might just have to have ya re-do (again) one of my hats....

[LazyK Pejay]

If you can find the two disk set of Open Range, on disk #2 there are a number of videos. One is a series of black and white pictures of cowboys and cowgirls of the late 19th century. What is great about it is ine gets a good look of just how they dressed, especially hats.

LazyK Pejay

[Lawful Larry]

How does one go about reshaping one's hat?  Or should I take it to someone, like a professional?   

[Delmonico]

A profesional is just someone who gets paid for it.   Let me dig, there is a thread on it somewhere around here.

[Delmonico]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,8247.0.html

Read it, if I can help just hollor, I guess I'm a professional, I reshaped a couple today on the clock.

[Lawful Larry]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,8247.0.html

Read it, if I can help just hollor, I guess I'm a professional, I reshaped a couple today on the clock.

Thanks Delmonico, I will check it out.  If I have any problems or questions I give ya a holler. 

[Lucky Irish Tom]

Hey Larrry, in yer case it might be easier ta reshape yer haid! 

[Delmonico]

One note, the easiest hat to shap and a good one to practice on is a palm leaf.  Just toss it in water for 5-10 minutes shape how you want and let it dry.  It's easier than keeping a felt warm and damp.

[LazyK Pejay]

Golden Gate Western Wear is making a Nephew Tom hat also.

LazyK Pejay

[Delmonico]

I recently re-did a hat for a friend and customer.  The first picture is as it was when he bought it, I changed it to an open crown with a flat brim. 

[Pawnee Bill]

I recently re-did a hat for a friend and customer.  The first picture is as it was when he bought it, I changed it to an open crown with a flat brim. 

Now thats what I call making a "silk purse out of a sow's ear"  good job nice hat.
Cheers
Pawnee Bill

[Delmonico]

One thing I do when working that much with a crown is I remove the hat liner, the sweat band is in most cases all that holds it in.  simetimes they use a spot of glue.  One then can run the steam up to the inside.  When pushing out the dents with one hand, hold the crease from moving on out with the other, this will often take several steamings, work from the outside of the dent where it is shallow and work on to the deeper parts.  This is very similar to what the old time hammer and dolly body men did to remove a dent.

On the brim I used a plastic brim straghtner, just two pieces of plastic with one having a hole for the crown, then they are held together with velcro,  one could make one out of thin plywood.  After I had it as good as I could get it with the steam, I restiffend the hat with hat stiffner, never use hair spray like I've seen mentioned before.

After drying over night I touched up the crown and slightly wet the brim with a spray bottle of water and put it back in the brim straightner.  I then put boxes of horeshooe nails all around on the top of it.  Any simmilar weight will work, I just had them handy.  I let it dry over night, put the liner back in and shipped it.

[deucedaddyj]

How's the quailty of those River Junction hats? I've been wanting to buy a good quaility hat, but don't know of any good hat companies besides Stetson. Any recommendations?

[Delmonico]

I've never worked with one of Jim's hats so I don't have any idea.   A lot depends on how much you will wear it and in what kind of weather.   For someone like me that a hat is just part of getting dressed and going outside a good one is important.   I've looked at a lot of custom hats, both the sites and in person, in my opinion if you want the best you can't beat a Rand.

www.randhats.com 

I've been wearing one as my main hat for almost six years, one of his 10X which is the old standard of 100% beaver, it was worth every penny.   Although they are pricey a fellow employee brought in a pamplet from another company that I won't name, but their so called 10X just said beaver/fur blend, no % of which was which.  And they were twice the price of a Rand.  It just depends on how much you want to spend. 

[Pawnee Bill]

How's the quailty of those River Junction hats? I've been wanting to buy a good quaility hat, but don't know of any good hat companies besides Stetson. Any recommendations?

Well they carry a broad varity of hats in different prices and quality.
I bought a hat from Jim back in the 80's and it still is keepen on.
It was some patten felt called " Mysto Felt" and at the time was the only soft Cowboy hat I had ever seen.
The reason I like it is because of not being laquered it has that dead Toad on the Freeway look that the 19th century pictures have and for some really odd reason it slightly stiffens when damp rather than droop.
Cheers
Pawnee Bill