Post New Hats Here!

[drmaxtejeda]

Hey all!
Here"s a refurb project I've been working on.
Almost a year ago I saw this hat on Etsy. Marked only with 'Brandon' and 'Showerproof', it just had something to it that caught my eye and held my attention. Several weeks of wembling later, I bought it. Didn't get pics of it out of the box, as it was in need of some steam and love before it was presentable.
I did get some pics of the sweat and tags and liner.

View attachment 297426 View attachment 297427 View attachment 297429 View attachment 297430

Unfortunately, shortly after I took these pics, the stitching holding the unreeded sweatband to the felt disintegrated.
Bummer.
As my vision was not up to the task of sewing in a new sweat, I considered sending it out to one of the hatters here on the Lounge, and then the world went crazy. I decided to save my money for important things like TP and hand sanitizer. Oh yeah, all that rice and dry beans too...
So the hat sat on a shelf, gathering dust and more wrinkles.
Then, a couple months ago, I went in for an eye exam, and found out that my declining vision was due to cataracts, not from a worsening of my retinopathy as I had feared. I got one eye done, then the other a month later. I'm still blind from the previous damage done by the diabetes, but now have a lot more light and color in my life, and a bit more detail as well. With the help of a pair of magnifying eyeglasses I decided to try a sweatband replacement. Turned out the old ribbon was disintegrating from age as well, so a full refurb was in order.
My sewing machine kept jamming as I tried to do the sweatband seam, so it took a few tries. My worst seam ever, looks like someone pulled all the pins out of the dude from Hellraiser's face and strung a shoelace through some of the holes. But it held together. And, if I shoot it like this nobody knows.

View attachment 297439

Here's a few unblocked.

View attachment 297441 View attachment 297442 View attachment 297443

Closeup of the brim.

View attachment 297444

The brim is 2 1/2",the open crown a full 6. Originally 121g with the unreeded sweat. The thin, dense felt is 80g of the weight. Now 131g (or 118g 1without the liner, which is how I"m keeping it).
I haven't heard of Brandon as a hat maker, so I'm guessing it was a jobber hat. The tags, dimensions, brim treatment, unreeded sweat and general condition of the hat make me think pre-war, but as always opinions pro and con are welcome.
Head shot.

View attachment 297457

Excellent news, John!

 

[Blare]

So maybe my pre-war age estimate is fairly close!
Don't know what the felt blend is in this one but it aged very well. Compared with my Brent, it would seem to be the superior quality out of the two.

Probably a case here of age... manufacturing date affecting quality more so than “quality tier”. A 30’s/40s Dunderry or Brandon > 50s/60s Brent

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Knox Twenty:

More in the Knox thread.

 

[VansonRider]

Update!
I had FOUR pieces of foam in this hat to get it snug. I've worn it in some sleety snow, in some rain, and I've even worn it on a couple of.runs.
The result!
I've removed three of the four spacers! It's DEFINITELY getting smaller! Even if I end up having to keep that final sizer in the sweatband, I'm super pleased that this is working out. I didn't think the shrinking would happen so quickly, and I didn't want to force anything so I was prepared for the shrinking to take, maybe, a year?
I also discovered that the stampede string is a nasty plastic pleather, so I replaced it with some Paracord in "desert camo" I had lying around. I used some button thread to whip it in place. It was a bit long, and instead of cutting it, I wound the excess around the crown. I dig it! It's a bit odd but I like it
I'll chuck a picture up in a second.

I just got a cheap and cheerful crushable Stetson Ashley! I don't have a lot of hats, and most of mine are Western palm leaves I wear for hiking and bushcrafting. My "nicest" hat is an Akubra Coober Pedy I was gifted by a friend of a friend. One day I'll find something nice, but it's not today!
I wanted something for winter weather, to turn the rain and snow, and that had flip down earflaps. I know that the soft wool shrinks, so I bought it one size larger than I wear, and used some... Ok... I used some sticky foam that you seal doors with to size it down. But it seems to be working.
My plan is to let it get soaked and dry and weather itself down to the right size. I'm a little worried that it's to big, I thought the earflaps would take up more space than they seem to, but I know it'll only get smaller.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I just added this Optimo to the classifieds:

 

[BobHufford]

Feeling somewhat COVID safe (recently recovered and fully masked and sanitized) we ventured into an antique mall that we visited back before the pandemic started. We were the only people in there other than two employees. I spotted the same two hats I saw back in February. They still had the $40 price on each. I had offered $30 each on the first visit, but they countered at $35 and were firm (and my wife was giving me the stink-eye so I walked away). This time I offered $30 again and they took it (perhaps a bit too quickly ... doh!). The stink-eye came too late.

First up ... this Ryon Special (of Ryon's Saddle & Ranch Supply in Ft. Worth, Texas) Balibuntal western. Wire in the brim edge to aid in shaping. From the late 1970s (based on postage stampings on the two boxes that came with the hats).

 

[BobHufford]

More ...

 

[BobHufford]

The second hat is a Resistol Cashmere Beaver. Not sure where the model ranks for Resistol, but some Stetson Cashmere Beavers back a decade or so were listed as a 200X (when the 100X was pure beaver) -- and priced accordingly.

 

[BobHufford]

More ...

A little mothing (?).

 

[steur]

Wow! Nice one!
So what bait do you use to trap a rat like that?
Glad the leather responded well to the treatment.

I have a few of these rat gondins and they like to play with their mates! Didn't expect to catch such a big one though.

 

[steur]

Knox Twenty:

View attachment 298267 View attachment 298268

More in the Knox thread.

Looks great!

 

[steur]

More ...

View attachment 298756

View attachment 298757
View attachment 298758

View attachment 298759

View attachment 298760

A little mothing (?).

View attachment 298761

Very cool find, Bob. And in such a big size as well.

 

[BobHufford]

Very cool find, Bob. And in such a big size as well.

Thanks Stefan! If you're ready for your western just let me know. The small O'Farrell (in case you missed in the "Waiting For" thread) should arrive this week.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...waiting-for-today.81825/page-342#post-2756733

 

[Just A Hat Rack]

Feeling somewhat COVID safe (recently recovered and fully masked and sanitized) we ventured into an antique mall that we visited back before the pandemic started. We were the only people in there other than two employees. I spotted the same two hats I saw back in February. They still had the $40 price on each. I had offered $30 each on the first visit, but they countered at $35 and were firm (and my wife was giving me the stink-eye so I walked away). This time I offered $30 again and they took it (perhaps a bit too quickly ... doh!). The stink-eye came too late.

First up ... this Ryon Special (of Ryon's Saddle & Ranch Supply in Ft. Worth, Texas) Balibuntal western. Wire in the brim edge to aid in shaping. From the late 1970s (based on postage stampings on the two boxes that came with the hats).

View attachment 298726

View attachment 298727

View attachment 298728

View attachment 298729

View attachment 298730

View attachment 298736

View attachment 298730

View attachment 298732

View attachment 298733

View attachment 298734

View attachment 298735

Good get Bob. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

 

[BobHufford]

Good get Bob. Glad to hear you're feeling better.

Thanks Ryan!

 

[steur]

Thanks Stefan! If you're ready for your western just let me know. The small O'Farrell (in case you missed in the "Waiting For" thread) should arrive this week.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...waiting-for-today.81825/page-342#post-2756733

Looks promising, so who knows?

 

[steur]

Certainly not western style. Been looking for one of these for some time but the French sellers seem to think these are their equivalent of the Whippet Quite the coincidence as well; I managed to find not just this one, but a second one in the same week.
Willoughby Real Nutria homburg. Size 57 with the brim at 6cm and the crown at 11cm at the center dent. Came in a box dated 1937, which seems about right to me. The box mentions Ragon (Rat Gondin -nutria) but also mentions Madelios, which is another retailer with hats under their own brand. The box came wrapped in packing tape
Fantastic hand to the felt and shapes without any steam. Sold to me as black, but I'm very glad it's in fact a mid to dark grey. No label inside the hat. Some light mothing on the front, but more noticeable in the pics than in real life.

 

[steur]

And the second one.
Willoughby Prince IV G satin finish. Size 57 with the overwelt brim at 5cm and the crown at 11cm at the center dent. This one doesn't have "fabrique a Londres" on the liner, like the previous one has and it does have a label that says "made in France". This one does seem set in its ways and doesn't like to be creased. Very soft longhair felt and the hand is outstanding. Unreeded construction. Likely intended to be shaped brim up, but it does work as a regular fedora as well.
Probably older that it looks. Interesint is that I did find a very similar hat that was named "Prince III". Also found a WIlloughby hat made by Robert Heath, so it's highly likely taht Willoughby sourced their hats from various manufacturers.

 

[Rumad]

Certainly not western style. Been looking for one of these for some time but the French sellers seem to think these are their equivalent of the Whippet Quite the coincidence as well; I managed to find not just this one, but a second one in the same week.
Willoughby Real Nutria homburg. Size 57 with the brim at 6cm and the crown at 11cm at the center dent. Came in a box dated 1937, which seems about right to me. The box mentions Ragon (Rat Gondin -nutria) but also mentions Madelios, which is another retailer with hats under their own brand. The box came wrapped in packing tape
Fantastic hand to the felt and shapes without any steam. Sold to me as black, but I'm very glad it's in fact a mid to dark grey. No label inside the hat. Some light mothing on the front, but more noticeable in the pics than in real life.

View attachment 299169 View attachment 299170 View attachment 299171 View attachment 299172 View attachment 299173 View attachment 299174 View attachment 299175 View attachment 299176 View attachment 299177 View attachment 299178

I can see why they covet them. Smokin’.

 

[steur]

I can see why they covet them. Smokin’.

I can see it too, but I'm not going to tell them Thanks.