Open Roads

[BigSleep]

Hi Guys.

I have two ORs.
Both have (had) a brown sweatband.
One is really soft and light. I like it for hot days.
The other is rather hard.

My question:
Is this the difference between the two a change in the manufacturing over the years?

Or might my soft one have had some stiffener removed at one time?

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Even both have the brown sweatband, they could be different ages. One could have been cleaned, steamed and softened that way.

 

[John in Covina]

Stiff one!

Western hats often use a type of shellac to stiffen the felt and hold their shape. Cleaning and handling will soften them, but it may be possible to soak and then rinse the shellac out with wood alcohol.

Allow to dry before smoking.

 

[Mojave Jack]

What's wood alcohol, John? How do you rinse a hat using it? I might like to soften this OR of mine up a bit, too. What are the risks?

 

[John in Covina]

Wood Al-key-haul

Drinkable alcohol is Ethyl Alcohol like vodka or in the denatured form the alcohol at the pharmacy, that the doc swabs your arm with before giving you a needle.

Wood alcohol was made by steaming and distilling wood pulp and is METHYL alcohol which you cannot drink, but is used as a disolving solution for the shellacs. Originally shellac was bought as a powder and mixed with the methyl or wood type of alcohol in specific ratios. Later premixed shellac mentioned the ratio as a 3 pound cut or such. Methyl alcohol is in the paint store or paint department.

Anyway. alcohol, the wood type will disolve set up shellac and if the stiffener is shellac it will disolve and rinse it out of the hat. Alcohol is also a degreasing agent so the leather sweat band may get dried out if soaked a long time. If so I wonder if some leather preserver like for leather jackets would bring it back?

I believe Art did some work with this a while back. He used a big bucket for the whole hat. I think you could use a bowl and dip the crown and brim in repeatedly.

 

[BigSleep]

Thanks guys.
Woder if Naptha helps.

 

[John in Covina]

Wood Alcohol

Thanks guys. Wonder if Naptha helps.

I don't think so, the naptha wash is a form of dry cleaning and was used by the hat cleaner guys for along time. Shellac as a stiffener in Western hats has been used for a long time, and I don't recall anyone saying that they needed to put more stiffener in after a naptha cleaning.

I don't think naptha disolves shellac well. Actually in wetern hats they will re-apply stiffener after the hat has been worn and handled A lot!

Shellac in the hat must be like a hard shell but inside the felt and as it gets moved around or banged up it shatters apart like the safety glass windshields with the plastic inside. The glass shatters (like the shellac) and the plastic holds it together like the felt, but instead of being firm like a windshield should it's floppy.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

"Denatured Alcohol"

What's wood alcohol, John? How do you rinse a hat using it? I might like to soften this OR of mine up a bit, too. What are the risks?

You can use "Denatured Alcohol" it will take out some of the stiffner and it won't hurt the felt...

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

You can use "Denatured Alcohol" it will take out some of the stiffner and it won't hurt the felt...

What about the leather?

 

[John in Covina]

Dunkin'

What about the leather?

Don't dunk the whole thing. Just the crown and the brim.

 

[John in Covina]

If denatured works you can sometimes find good deals at the pharmacy, although maybe a pharmecutical supply house could do some bulk deal.

As long as the Feds don't come looking for the Meth Lab!

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Learn something new everyday. I have bought a couple of quarts from a discount shop here in town for 2.50 each. I may invest in a couple more before it gets pulled off the shelf.

 

[Dinerman]

and here I am working a wet hat with my hands to get the stiffener out like an idiot. I'll try that next stiff hat I get.

 

[Mojave Jack]

Will it hurt the liner at all, particularly the plastic shield in the crown? I suppose I could just pull the liner inside out. The liner in my OR is glued in. Will the wood or denatured alcohol dissolve that? I'd really like to soften this sucker up a bit. I've tried putting in a c-crown, but it just doesn't like it! Too stiff.

Bud, what kind of discount shop was that? Like a dollar store or something?

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Take your liner out...

 

[John in Covina]

Try a test spot on the liner etc.
The 99-cent store has denatured Al often.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Take your liner out...

From what I have been told ( by a very reputable source) break the hat completely down. Felt only. It takes days soaking for the core to give up the shellac that was introduced in the felting process originally.

 

[BigSleep]

Tried something else.

Got the hat to soften up by simply working it with my hands. Rolling the brim back and forth. I was very careful because it felt like cardboard at first. But slowly it softened up. It isnt as soft as my other one, but is is a lot nicer than it was. I'll keep working it.

I don't mind a hat with SOME stiffness just dont want one with an edge like "Odd-Job's"

 

[astaire]

soft crown, stiff brim

I guess this is a problem that many of us have had in the past: Soft crown, but really stiff brim.

I would imagine the felt should be almost evenly soft throughout the hat. But i would say that the brim is ten times stiffer than the crown. Does the stiff brim mean that it was treated with shellac at one time?

What other stiffener did they use other than shellac, if any?

Thanks everyone.