Barbisio Homburg wants to become Barbisio Fedora

[cookie]

Can anyone gove me some advice? There was a thread somewhere.[huh]

The fit is perfect and a Barbisio vintage to boot...but being a fan (but not a lot like) John Lee Hooker I may not use it a lot as a Homburg.

Should it go to the pros for the total metamorphosis or is there less radical surgery required?[huh]

 

[Flieger]

If I had known what plans you had for it I'd never...

/F

 

[Feraud]

Radical surgery is probably not required. MrH has a great looking homburg/fedora.
I guess you want something like this-

 

[J.T.Marcus]

It might be easier than you think. The pencil curl on your brim is not as pronounced as some. If there is not much stiffener in the hat, even better. The first thing to do is to put it on your head and turn the brim down in front.
If you like it, that's all you need to do. Try this, and post pictures of it, on your head, for us to see.

The next step for doing it yourself involves soaking (in cold water) and ironing. You have to do that carefully, over the course of several days. Even so, you run the risk of creating "break" lines in the felt of the brim. Before ironing, you might try turning the brim up a bit more on the sides, and pull it down just a bit in front (sort of like a cowboy hat). Let it dry in that shape for three days, and see how you like it.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Radical surgery is probably not required. MrH has a great looking homburg/fedora.
I guess you want something like this-

Feraud, You made your post, while I was typing mine. Thanks for including that great catalogue illustration.

 

[feltfan]

Why not buy a fedora? This hat is great as it is.

Maybe someone here would buy it from you as-is
and you can use the money to buy the fedora.

Personally, I am not impressed by the homburg
conversions I have seen.

 

[ScottyBlues]

No it doesn't!

Homburgs are great hats! If you knew you wanted a fedora, you should have bought a fedora. This kind of change seems a little like buying a Camero and melting it down to make a Mustang.

This seems particularly shameful on a nice vintage piece. As hard as it is to find nice vintage hats in many brands and models, it seems sad to reduce that population by one just to get a hat in a different style.

 

[Flitcraft]

Carefully put down the Homburg...

Step away from the Homburg now!

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Why would anybody want to turn a Homburg into a Fedora? As one who has tried it, I know of several reasons, any one of which could be motive enough.

1. The owner has only one hat, which was either given to him or was a bargain. But he prefers the front brim down, not up.
2. The owner has several hats, including Homburgs and Fedoras, but doesn't have a bound brim Fedora in that particular color and ribbon combination.
3. The owner is good with his hands, and sees this as another skill he might master.
4. The owner realizes (as has been stated many times) that Homburgs sell for lower prices than Fedoras. Selling the Homburg and buying a Fedora would therefore probably mean additional expense, as well as additional time.
5. The owner has learned, from experience, that it is fun to create a "work of art" with his own hands, especially when he doesn't have to spend any more money to do it.

The last time I discouraged somebody from doing a conversion (and I did, believe it or not), I offered him a Fedora in trade. If you guys really want to stop this gentleman, Make him an offer!

 

[bolthead]

Why not buy a fedora? This hat is great as it is.

Maybe someone here would buy it from you as-is
and you can use the money to buy the fedora.

Personally, I am not impressed by the homburg
conversions I have seen.

Have you seen the one that "Bud" did? Very nice.

If I'm not mistaken, JT also did one too.....by the way JT, very well put in your reply, if I may say so myself.

 

[cookie]

Mortification tru de FL Nayshon

Sackcloth and ashes appear to be my only way of seeking repentance.....

Thanks for the input guys....there is a hole somewheres with my name on it....

 

[epic610]

i agree with bolthead and scottyblues....

this seems the hat equivalent of genetic engineering. when i was a kid in the 1950's, i remeber hearing of parents of left-handed children tying their arms in a sling to make them right-handed. who would think of doing that?

eugenics has no place in the hat world!

 

[J.T.Marcus]

My genetic engineering project for today. It was raining when I left for work, this morning, so I turned the brim down all the way around, on my Resistol Black Momburg.

Coming home, I decided to turn it up in back, and put a pinch in front.

Before I hung it up, I returned it to its original crown and brim shape. The brim is straight across the front, a la "GODFATHER II." (This is my least favorite brim shape. I have three others I don't do this with, plus one more I have permanently altered.)

"No Homburg was harmed" in the making of these pictures. Even the fairly heavy rain, I got caught in, resulted in no damage.

 

[Dinerman]

I wouldn't.

 

[dhermann1]

Interesting issue here. I just got a hat on Ebay that was advertised as a fedora, but sure looks like a homburg to me (which was what I had wanted). I've been experimenting with different looks, including a Michael Collins bash. I think it would be possible to create a good look without fully and permanently altering the hat.
At any rate, Cookie, you seem to have the sanction of a man of the cloth who is also obviously a man of the felt. Why don't you experiment a little and show us the results?

 

[cookie]

Hat Eugenics and Ambidexterity

this seems the hat equivalent of genetic engineering. when i was a kid in the 1950's, i remeber hearing of parents of left-handed children tying their arms in a sling to make them right-handed. who would think of doing that?

eugenics has no place in the hat world!

Mu aunt (age 86) was "tortured" (effectively I might add) by the nuns to stop writing with her left hand. She then became a uni lecturer and was a source of constant amazement to the students when running out of space on the chalkboard she just changed hands from her right and started with the left hand instead!

Am I the equivalent of those nuns?

 

[dhermann1]

No, but it does make you ambitextrous! (Man, I'm, on fire tonight!)
BTW, that's happened to the Ol' Perfessor, Casey Stengel. When he was a kid back in Kansas City he used to get his knuckles rapped for writing with his left hand.