Borsalino won! It has arived!!

[Cruiser]

Really unique and good-looking hat, and looks great on you. Nice job with the bash.

 

[The real Henry]

Looks very nice! Aren't you at COW, too? I'm asking, because Indy-fans always seem to do Raiders front pinches on their open-crowned hats!

...

(Me too! )

 

[WEEGEE]

Do you like the light weight felt ?

Nice lid...great find!!! I wonder if the felt your hat is made of is similar to

the felt body Fedora speaks about on another thread?

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=9947

most regards,

WeeGee

 

[Razzman]

Wow!!!

Magnifico! :eusa_clap
What a great vintage hat!
Nice job cleaning and shaping.
It looks great on you.

 

[Mojave Jack]

A Swell Lid!

Good find, DJ, and a nice job of bashing it. That's a really great color, too. I'm really quite jealous.

 

[jml90]

Dj with those pics it looks like you picked a great avatar!
And a great hat

 

[DanielJones]

Thanks gang, that is very appreciated. The shaping of the crown was fairly easy, about an hour working with the steam and it set in quite nicely. I love the light milk chocolate color of this lid. One thing though, even though it is quite thin, it is quite dense and so warm weather wearing is out of the question. I sweat something fierce in our 100 degree weather with it on my knoggin.
One thing I noticed is behind the sweat band is a thin sweat barrier similar to the one in my Adam Premier. But with age and heat it has sort of welded its self to the sweatband and the liner. I may have to do some careful steaming to seperate the parts. In being able to seperate one part I noticed the liner is sewn in. Some real great craftmanship went into this hat.
Yes Henry, I am over at COW as well, but my preference twords the tight pinch is more of a personal & practical one, more so than a grand love for the Indy bash & crease.
Thanks again for your kind comments. I hope that everyone here can get to have something like this, new or vintage. It is quite a treat.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[fedoralover]

It looks fantastic and couldn't have went to someone more deserving than you Daniel. Take Depps pic off of your avatar and put on yours wearing that hat. You got a heck of a deal, you can't find hats like that very often.

regards fedoralover

 

[Visigoth]

Serial Number?

Unless the sweatband is totally welded to the felt... could you look behind it to find the serial number? Should be on a piece of paper behind the leather sweat. Might give us some idea of the year of manufacture. (I have a hat on the way that may be similar -- hard to say -- and I'd love to compare dates.)

Lovely hat, btw; I'm hoping mine will be similar. And, by complete coincidence, I just put precisely the same bash into a thirties Borsalino.

 

[Benny Holiday]

That catch was meant to be

For the sake of 50 cents . . . That lid looks so good on you Dan, it was meant to be yours. With no cash lately, I haven't been torturing myself by looking on Ebay, but when I have funds again I'll be sure to bid hard should
a Borsalino like yours appear in a size 7. Congrats on a super win! :eusa_clap

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Your hat is great!!! Everything about it. Hope to see even more "action shots" of it!

Congratulations :eusa_clap

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That really is a beauty.

bk

 

[DanielJones]

Thank you gentlemen, it is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[DanielJones]

Old sweat barrier...

Just behind the sweat band there is a very thin sweat barrier (I guess that is what one would call it). It is reddish in color and seems to have sort of welded it self to the sweat band and the liner.
Would steam be a good tool to help loosen this bond so as not to tear the barrier? I had tried to tug at it a little but it leaves a small amount behind on the liner.
Has anyone encountered such a thing, and what methods did you use to loosen things up a bit? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks gang.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[jamespowers]

Just behind the sweat band there is a very thin sweat barrier (I guess that is what one would call it). It is reddish in color and seems to have sort of welded it self to the sweat band and the liner.
Would steam be a good tool to help loosen this bond so as not to tear the barrier? I had tried to tug at it a little but it leaves a small amount behind on the liner.
Has anyone encountered such a thing, and what methods did you use to loosen things up a bit? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks gang.

Cheers!

Dan

I can just tell you what worked for me.[huh]
I treated the part of the sweatband that was above it all the way around with Lexol. The preservative and oils got it to separate easily after it soaked into the leather. Just be careful and turn the sweatband out and treat it so it does not get on the felt.
I suppose the Lexol lubricates the sweat barrier and makes it easier to separate. This all depends on the condition of both parts though. A brittle barrier is tought to remove and should be left alone.

Regards,

J

 

[DanielJones]

Thanks James...

Yeah, it is pretty brittle. The leather is in excellent condition though. Maybe a little Lexol will loosen things enough and get a bit of lubrication going.
Do you happen to know what the old barriers were made of? It's not quite a mylar, a cellophane of sorts perhaps? I suppose if it is welded to the sweat band it's ok, but I'd like to release it from the liner to be able to fold down the sweatband and see what little tags are lurking under it to help date it.


Cheers!

Dan

 

[Visigoth]

Dying for that info myself. Mine arrived, and seems (according to the tag) to be 1933 -- I don't think the crown height is quite as tall, and it has a wide ribbon and no wind trolley, but is otherwise very similar.

The felt is amazing. Will post pictures soon.

 

[DanielJones]

Can't wait to see the pictures, sound great. What color is it?

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Visigoth]

It's dove grey, with a silver ribbon. AND: it came rolled up, in one of those triangular Traveler boxes! Not sure whether this means it's supposed to be a travelling hat -- it has a liner and all -- but I did notice that any crease or mark on the felt can be made to magically disappear just by holding it over a kettle for a few seconds (which is different from any other felt I've encountered). So I could probably roll it occasionally, and bring it back to life with a kettle.

What was your crown height, unblocked? (I have to check mine.)

 

[Visigoth]

Just checked: open crown, it's 5 inches tall. The brim is 2.5 inches. It also has that odd liner thing between the leather sweat and the felt.

I've managed to do a good hand blocking job -- the only thing I've failed to do is get small dimples out of the ribbon, where it's sewn to the felt. Any ideas?