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[Hat and Rehat]

Man, that auto correct eats me alive. This is a hat forum. Shouldn't it correct to Borsa? And why does it change naptha? Worse yet, why does it change hats to hat's?
There. Questions.

 

[BobHufford]

Naphtha seems to stick...

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

^^^dump auttoconnect.
Problem solved.
B

 

[Frunobulax]

^^^dump auttoconnect.
Problem solved.
B

Autocorrect is just another way The Man tries to keep us down.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

^^^dump auttoconnect.
Problem solved.
B

Love is!

 

[Hat and Rehat]

Bad spellers untie!

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Love is!

Just fer u Steve.
Good to see you.
B

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Autocorrect is just another way The Man tries to keep us down.

Brudda...and suck our brains.

This place much more fun than reading mask reviews and participant matter filtration of virions!!
B

 

[J Williams]

OK, I have a couple of naptha bath questions. I showed the very pristine except dirt Lee I happily picked up back in November. I was encouraged to share more of it. I did a quick surface cleaning and got some obvious stains out but it wasn't really ready to take the stage yet
I found a great chemical/solvent drum with a sealed lid and 15" diameter interior bottom. Better yet, about 8" up it widens to 17 or 18", so all but the widest Western brims will drop right in
My Amazon points even covered the purchase!
Ermatinger says soak light and dark hats separately,and that dark hat map the can be used indefinitely but light hats should get clean gas after either 3 or 5 runs. I don't remember. My first question is what about hats that are more medium than light or dark?
I feel the Lee falls into that category. I'm looking for other opinions because I don't want my used dark hat naptha to do damage to the Lee, but I also don't want it to contaminate my much cleaner gas and do damage to really light hats if I include them in the bath or in that gas later.
Is this a dark hat, or a light hat? View attachment 223894
Second question: Ermatinger suggests stripping hats for cleaning but then also says leaving dirty trim on is a good way to clean it and Loungers said I could also leave the leather in. I've now done it more than once with good results other than a little whitish tint to a couple of sweats.
My question is about paper tags. Will they survive the naptha with no degradation. I really would like to keep this one in the same condition I bought it, but clean. View attachment 223899

That's a very good question about whether it's light or dark. If it was me I would put it in with the light category. I've only done one gas bath on a silverbelly but none of the felt colour seemed to be left in the naptha - it doesn't have a tint just sediment which I strained out for re-use.

I left the size tag on the hat but took out the liner as it was an embroidered last drop. I probably could have just left that in as well. No ill effects on the sweat or size tag whatsoever - I did condition the leather both prior to and after the gas bath.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

That's a very good question about whether it's light or dark. If it was me I would put it in with the light category. I've only done one gas bath on a silverbelly but none of the felt colour seemed to be left in the naptha - it doesn't have a tint just sediment which I strained out for re-use.

I left the size tag on the hat but took out the liner as it was an embroidered last drop. I probably could have just left that in as well. No ill effects on the sweat or size tag whatsoever - I did condition the leather both prior to and after the gas bath.

I've dunked a few. The first time I stacked 3 silverbelly, a Silver Sand Stetson western, 2 light tan and a Pilgrim OR clone that is like a Silverbelly with a slight green cast. I stripped the leather but left the trim on for scrubbing. I used a Rubbermaid tote and taped the top with foil duct tape to seal it. Yikes! It was really difficult to reclaim my gas from a tote on its way to being jello.
I think it was Brent that told me leather was safe if it is sound so that's what I've done since with good results. Fake leather, not so much. A Bradmore, filthiest hat I ever bought, had the most convincing imitation leather I ever saw other than a stingy straw porkpie that must have had the same stuff. It's still in my sweatband box and still looks like leather but the stuff delaminated into layers. Strange. I also put a Champ in one bath without giving it any thought because every other Champ I own sports real leather. Not that one. The plastic surface started flaking off. Pretty convincing visually, even the back, but thin and a bit stiff. I have a Stetson 6 7/8 I pulled out of a less vintage 4XXXX that looks and feels suspiciously like the same stuff (what's the world coming to?)
Here's a trick I figured out to save Nathpa if I'm doing one hat:

I do it in two steps and it also involves a sheet of 1/4" plexiglass. I do the crown first in the bowl, with the hat inverted. The stainless steel is flat enough that the plexiglass gives a good seal with a can of paint on top. Then I put the plexiglass on the bottom, the chips and salsa server on that, the hat brim in it and the bowl on top weighted with the paint can. You can get by with 1 gallon of gas.
Back to my earlier question. The reorder tag is more what I was asking about. It is thinner paper with typing on it.
Thanks for the feedback though, Justin. I was leaning toward the light colors but was looking for reassurance. I strain my fuel too. The fuzz works pretty well for mending moth damage if you only clean one color at a time.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

Just fer u Steve.
Good to see you.
B

Thanks Bowen. I was in a pretty dark place for a while. It seemed like everything I touched was turning sour between cleaning bucoup accumulate crap out of my shop to make it into a hat shop and more accumulated crap out of my little barn shed to have a place for the good stuff that I wanted to save (having upwards of 500 hats and also a big inventory of thrifted stuff to sell on ebay didn't help) then my neighbor insisted I drag another bunch of accumulated crap out of a weird no man's land between her fence, which is 6' on her side of the lot line because of some trees that used to be there, and a second fence I built about a foot my side about 20' long to hide construction materials ( that would surely come in handy some day) from the city citation writer. This was all done before she lived there so we ended up in a lot line dispute along with my back yard looking like a tornado hit, twice. Then a friend died and grieving him triggered grieving for my sister which I hadn't really done when she passed last year. Don't ask me about my van.
The short of it is that my alcohol consumption hit new highs, better characterized as lows, and I went for a long swim at the bottom of the bottle from Thanksgiving to the first of the year. It was bad enough that I got the shakes three hours after my last drink, which scared me bad. I weaned myself down to 1/3 of what I had been drinking over about 2 1/2 weeks. I could have and should have stopped then but my wife kept stopping for beer for me and wine for her and I didn't tell her to stop. Toward mid Feb. I started to slide again and ended up back where withdrawal would be physically dangerous. After making a deal with the wife to stop together I checked into a Detox facility 3/10 and came home 3/16 sober and $1600 poorer. Ouch on the money, but my deductible is met so I better get a lot of other things checked out and/or fixed this year.
I'm feeling good, and strong. I'm just plugging away at one thing at a time instead of letting it overwhelm me. I don't miss getting drunk. I think it was time. We even tossed the grass, which was more her thing than mine. I liked my bourbon though and also had a taste for white whiskey triple run then proofed down to 90 --- the good Mule.
I'm going feel nostalgic for that first sip passing my lips but I know I have to leave it at that.
Leave it at nostalgia I meant, not a first sip.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

Autocorrect is just another way The Man tries to keep us down.

Chapeubonics?

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Thanks Bowen. I was in a pretty dark place for a while. It seemed like everything I touched was turning sour between cleaning bucoup accumulate crap out of my shop to make it into a hat shop and more accumulated crap out of my little barn shed to have a place for the good stuff that I wanted to save (having upwards of 500 hats and also a big inventory of thrifted stuff to sell on ebay didn't help) then my neighbor insisted I drag another bunch of accumulated crap out of a weird no man's land between her fence, which is 6' on her side of the lot line because of some trees that used to be there, and a second fence I built about a foot my side about 20' long to hide construction materials ( that would surely come in handy some day) from the city citation writer. This was all done before she lived there so we ended up in a lot line dispute along with my back yard looking like a tornado hit, twice. Then a friend died and grieving him triggered grieving for my sister which I hadn't really done when she passed last year. Don't ask me about my van.
The short of it is that my alcohol consumption hit new highs, better characterized as lows, and I went for a long swim at the bottom of the bottle from Thanksgiving to the first of the year. It was bad enough that I got the shakes three hours after my last drink, which scared me bad. I weaned myself down to 1/3 of what I had been drinking over about 2 1/2 weeks. I could have and should have stopped then but my wife kept stopping for beer for me and wine for her and I didn't tell her to stop. Toward mid Feb. I started to slide again and ended up back where withdrawal would be physically dangerous. After making a deal with the wife to stop together I checked into a Detox facility 3/10 and came home 3/16 sober and $1600 poorer. Ouch on the money, but my deductible is met so I better get a lot of other things checked out and/or fixed this year.
I'm feeling good, and strong. I'm just plugging away at one thing at a time instead of letting it overwhelm me. I don't miss getting drunk. I think it was time. We even tossed the grass, which was more her thing than mine. I liked my bourbon though and also had a taste for white whiskey triple run then proofed down to 90 --- the good Mule.
I'm going feel nostalgic for that first sip passing my lips but I know I have to leave it at that.
Leave it at nostalgia I meant, not a first sip.

Steve i gave your post a like for courage. First for admitting a problem to oneself then admitting it to others.
That takes courage and you have my admiration. I did that about 16 years ago and have not had one drop since. Except in dreams/nightmares which seemed real enough to make me remember i never wanted to go through that first stage of recovery again. NEVER again, nothing i mean nothing is worth that. Easy to say, i know, but it does get easier one day at a time...lots of times one second at a time. After stringing some days together you start stringing some weeks then months and if you work the program the years add up.
I did it but by the Grace of God, i know and so can you.
Not to preach but to encourage, i know myself and other’s will be there to support you. You are NOT alone in this as long as you don’t try and do it alone.
Thanks for sharing.
Bowen

 

[J Williams]

Thanks Bowen. I was in a pretty dark place for a while. It seemed like everything I touched was turning sour between cleaning bucoup accumulate crap out of my shop to make it into a hat shop and more accumulated crap out of my little barn shed to have a place for the good stuff that I wanted to save (having upwards of 500 hats and also a big inventory of thrifted stuff to sell on ebay didn't help) then my neighbor insisted I drag another bunch of accumulated crap out of a weird no man's land between her fence, which is 6' on her side of the lot line because of some trees that used to be there, and a second fence I built about a foot my side about 20' long to hide construction materials ( that would surely come in handy some day) from the city citation writer. This was all done before she lived there so we ended up in a lot line dispute along with my back yard looking like a tornado hit, twice. Then a friend died and grieving him triggered grieving for my sister which I hadn't really done when she passed last year. Don't ask me about my van.
The short of it is that my alcohol consumption hit new highs, better characterized as lows, and I went for a long swim at the bottom of the bottle from Thanksgiving to the first of the year. It was bad enough that I got the shakes three hours after my last drink, which scared me bad. I weaned myself down to 1/3 of what I had been drinking over about 2 1/2 weeks. I could have and should have stopped then but my wife kept stopping for beer for me and wine for her and I didn't tell her to stop. Toward mid Feb. I started to slide again and ended up back where withdrawal would be physically dangerous. After making a deal with the wife to stop together I checked into a Detox facility 3/10 and came home 3/16 sober and $1600 poorer. Ouch on the money, but my deductible is met so I better get a lot of other things checked out and/or fixed this year.
I'm feeling good, and strong. I'm just plugging away at one thing at a time instead of letting it overwhelm me. I don't miss getting drunk. I think it was time. We even tossed the grass, which was more her thing than mine. I liked my bourbon though and also had a taste for white whiskey triple run then proofed down to 90 --- the good Mule.
I'm going feel nostalgic for that first sip passing my lips but I know I have to leave it at that.
Leave it at nostalgia I meant, not a first sip.

Steve i gave your post a like for courage. First for admitting a problem to oneself then admitting it to others.
That takes courage and you have my admiration. I did that about 16 years ago and have not had one drop since. Except in dreams/nightmares which seemed real enough to make me remember i never wanted to go through that first stage of recovery again. NEVER again, nothing i mean nothing is worth that. Easy to say, i know, but it does get easier one day at a time...lots of times one second at a time. After stringing some days together you start stringing some weeks then months and if you work the program the years add up.
I did it but by the Grace of God, i know and so can you.
Not to preach but to encourage, i know myself and other’s will be there to support you. You are NOT alone in this as long as you don’t try and do it alone.
Thanks for sharing.
Bowen

It’s interesting I accidentally wound up in this conversation. I’ve been sober for 9 out of the last 10 years. Decided at about the 5 year mark my drinking ‘wasn’t that bad’ as drugs are what really took me down at a young age. One year later had me back in a detox facility licking my wounds. Now it’s been another 4 years, hell maybe even close to 5? It gets a whole hell of a lot easier with a bit of time, hard work and humility. The most important thing for me is to do that step 3 every day.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

Thanks for sharing, brothers.

 

[Hat and Rehat]

And don't worry about preachin', B. My first experience of the Tremens was the first Sunday of the year. My vision and hearing were both off. We take the Supper sitting in the pews and I spilled half of the little plastic cup of "the blood" all over the knees of my khakis because my hand was shaking so bad. Three days later I met with my Pastor at his house and laid it all out. I told him of my plan to try to wean myself off but said if it didn't work I'd go into Detox. He and the elders were praying for me.
I'm United Reformed and we're catechized throughout our lives, unlike the Lutheran church I was raised in where you did that as a young teen to get confirmed. The first question of the Hiedleburg Catechism Is about the purpose of man. The first part of the response is, to Glorify God.
I wasn't.
God's glory is my first motivation. I trust He will cary me through.
I feel like one of us needs to ask a question.
Do you have good snacks in your fellowship time at church?

 

[The Shoe]

My new to me hat arrived today. I was very happy with it except that it was too small (though 59cm is the same as my other Christys). It also has a bit of a fold in the ribbon on the bow.
My questions are these: I’ve heard that just a dab of water on the ribbon should be enough to fix it. Is that right? Any other advice re the ribbon?
I’ve also heard that the trilby is often worn further back on the head. It doesn’t feel bad if I wear it as per my last photo here. Any thoughts?

 

[The Shoe]

Further to my last question, does the position of the bulge towards the back of the crease also suggest this hat is designed to be worn further back on the head?

 

[Rmccamey]

Sorry to go on a tangent, but this is too good to keep to myself. There has been a truck crash this morning in the Dallas metro area. The truck was filled with toilet paper...on April Fools day!!!!

It's just so funny because it IS NOT a joke!

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/traffic...toilet-paper-across-i-20-in-hutchins/2343228/

 

[Hat and Rehat]

Further to my last question, does the position of the bulge towards the back of the crease also suggest this hat is designed to be worn further back on the head? View attachment 224137

Welcome, friend. How you wear it is a matter of personal preference. At one time everybody dapper wore their hat cocked, tilted slightly to the side. Mickey Rooney was his straw boaters tilted back but others flat on their head. A lot of people like their fedoras down in front over the eyes, but I picture Robert Redford in The Natural with it back. Watch a good hat movie. The Sting is one. See which style of wearing appeals to you.