Smashed Hats and Nightmares!

[Alive'n'Amplified]

We have a lot of threads celebrating the beauty of our hats. What about a thread showcasing the hats that were treated badly during shipping? Or a nightmare renovation?? Or a hat that was torn apart by wolves??? If there is a thread point me in that direction. Otherwise, show off your 'smashed hats and nightmares'!

Here's a hat that I bought in Spring last year. It "was" a Bailey Suntino. I had a gift card to Amazon, so the hat ended up being around $15 out of pocket. Well, UPS had no idea how to handle a straw hat. Apparently, they must have thought the box was empty based on the weight, so for fun they probably dropped a small desk on to it. Anyhoo, Amazon was about to give me a 10 day processing bit, but then after I emailed the pics to their service dept. they gave me an immediate refund...

SMASHED!!!

 

[howardeye]

This is my favorite hat, a Dobbs Homburg Lords which I have posted. This is what it looked like when it returned from Black Sheep from an upgrade of the sweatband. The box was a pancake looking like it was run over by the mail truck. To my surprise the felt was such a great quality that it reshaped with my hands like soft butter!

Good as new!!!

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

Wow, I was just thinking about a thread like this! I think it was after reading a post of a hat being blown off and run over by a truck. I had an actual nightmare the other night, I was reshaping my Camp Draft after a rain soaking and the thing just started ripping apart like wet paper! Ahhh! I woke up and went straight for that hat and actually pet it!
As for something that really happened, I had a custom 100% beaver. My girlfriend thought it would be flirty?? To take it off my head and throw it in a lake. Yep. Ok, we were there to swim and at the time it was my only hat worthy of being seen in public, let alone by my new at the time girlfriend and it was a long walk to the lake. Anyway it shrank and tapered and I didn't realize at the time that I could send it to be reblocked. It's been out in my garden on top of my scarecrow for quite a long time now. Wish I could post a pic. It's a really cool looking scarecrow!!!

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

Howardeye, I love that hat! It caught my eye on the "hats on musical instruments" thread. Some sharp creases on that smashed brim! I would have been pretty angry! Glad it came out just fine.
Side question, how do you like that sweat? It looks great but can you feel those bumps? Does it leave any spot marks on your forehead? Sorry if this has been asked before.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

That sounded like a scary dream, alright!! I'm really sorry to hear about the lake incident. I hope she went in after it!

 

[howardeye]

Howardeye, I love that hat! It caught my eye on the "hats on musical instruments" thread. Some sharp creases on that smashed brim! I would have been pretty angry! Glad it came out just fine.
Side question, how do you like that sweat? It looks great but can you feel those bumps? Does it leave any spot marks on your forehead? Sorry if this has been asked before.

Was not mad about the hat. Bob at Black Sheep had a lot of insurance on the shipping so it would of been covered. I don't get too attached to things. The ostrich leather sweatband makes this hat the most comfortable I have and I have a lot of them. My head has been hit by pool cues, hammers, pipe wrenches, branches, and fists over the years so my head does not feel the bumps. They are quite soft. I have never looked at my forehead after removing the hat. I will have to look next time I wear it. I will be having some more installed when Bob is taking orders again.

 

[tonyb]

I use a black Sharpie to write "HAT INSIDE, PLEASE DO NOT CRUSH" on all four side panels of my shipping boxes. And I insure the shipments.

So far, so good.

 

[bowlerman]

Definitely have a few of these stories! Let me dig up some pics.

 

[TomS]

I sat on a vintage Disney once. Does that count?

 

[Dan Allen]

This thread is beginning to make me a little worried

 

[Edward]

Wow, I was just thinking about a thread like this! I think it was after reading a post of a hat being blown off and run over by a truck. I had an actual nightmare the other night, I was reshaping my Camp Draft after a rain soaking and the thing just started ripping apart like wet paper! Ahhh! I woke up and went straight for that hat and actually pet it!
As for something that really happened, I had a custom 100% beaver. My girlfriend thought it would be flirty?? To take it off my head and throw it in a lake. Yep. Ok, we were there to swim and at the time it was my only hat worthy of being seen in public, let alone by my new at the time girlfriend and it was a long walk to the lake. Anyway it shrank and tapered and I didn't realize at the time that I could send it to be reblocked. It's been out in my garden on top of my scarecrow for quite a long time now. Wish I could post a pic. It's a really cool looking scarecrow!!!

Jinkies, after that, with me she'd have been an ex-girlfriend in no short order. Especially if recently acquired.

Was not mad about the hat. Bob at Black Sheep had a lot of insurance on the shipping so it would of been covered. I don't get too attached to things. The ostrich leather sweatband makes this hat the most comfortable I have and I have a lot of them. My head has been hit by pool cues, hammers, pipe wrenches, branches, and fists over the years so my head does not feel the bumps. They are quite soft. I have never looked at my forehead after removing the hat. I will have to look next time I wear it. I will be having some more installed when Bob is taking orders again.

I pegged that for ostrich from the first shot - such a distinctive hide type. Do the little bumps (obviously from which feathers once sprouted) add anything to grip on the head?

 

[bowlerman]

First a Mallory torino quality derby in pristine condition that had a run-in with some ketchup and grease, not to mention a bit of dishwater...
This was a heartbreaker. I cleaned it multiple times, also steamed and sanded a bit, and now it's clean but slightly tapered and too round on top.
This is the same hat that had the sweatband ruined over a pan of steam while I went to let the dogs out.
A lot of careful stretching and it's back to full-size, even if a bit narrower in width and wrinkly... I tried.

Now:

(you can see bits of my husky and lhasa apso resting on the couch in this pic!)

 

[splintercellsz]

:eeek:

Oh my... oh... my! Great job on the fix up though!

 

[bowlerman]

Now this hat has an interesting story... I bought this cuenca subfino at a discount, unblocked with no sweatband, I think from Panama Hat Mall.

It was a project. I hand sewed a sweatband into it and tried a few different creases before I settled on one. For awhile i just tied a thin leather strap around the crown for a band, but then my wife bought this beaded native american band and I attached it with a few stitches.

While in California last summer, I had it placed on my usual spot on the dashboard and somewhere on the I-5 southbound (on the way to Anaheim, taking my family to Disneyland) it blew clear out the window! I watched it blow around the freeway and get run over by a mac truck.

At the totally surprising suggestion of my wife, we turned around a few miles later and got back on the 5 looking for it. She eventually saw it in a pile of dirt and rubbish just at the foot of an overpass, and we were able to pull over and quickly retrieve it. In retrospect, that was stupid. But here's the hat, post-incident and reworked, at the beach a few days later.

It was either Ventura or Zuma. Maybe even Leo Carrillo, but I can't remember exactly.

Brian, was this the story you were thinking of before? I hope there aren't too many others about trucks running over hats out there!

 

[randooch]

What a great story, Jeff! Thanks for the belly-laughs!

 

[hatophile]

About 2 years ago, my wife and I were stuck for several hours late at night in the Boston Airport. I had my Fed IV in a chair, and my wife was on the floor stretching. I had gone to the bathroom and when I returned my wife had jumped up into the chair smashing my hat because there were mice running all around the floors. The Fed actually returned to its shape without too much trouble. We had an entertaining time watching the mice run around looking for food.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

Jeff, that's a perfect fray for a beach hat. Looks native!

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

I sat on a vintage Disney once. Does that count?

If it got out of shape, then YES.

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

Jeff, that must have been the story I was thinking of. Didn't hear the whole story until now though. The hat looks just fine! Actually adds to the hat and you can share that story every time you wear it!

Edward, actually we are still together. I've never told her that the hat was ruined and she has no idea that the scarecrow out back is wearing a $500 hat. I don't blame her as she didn't know that the hat would be ruined or that it was so expensive. I shouldn't have been wearing the thing to a lake in the first place. Not to swim anyway. I was going to leave it on my towel so it wouldn't get wet. My luck the wind would have blown it into the lake anyway. I was upset but I figured it would be ok being pure beaver. These days I bring an Akubra when we go to that lake. They'd come out better than before if one went for a swim.

 

[Chepstow]

What a great story, Jeff! Thanks for the belly-laughs!

indeed!!