The Conversion Corral

[T Jones]

hatsRme, Joao, Ole, thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.

Charlie, Ole, well spoken in your responses. Try out new things and don't overthink it. Darn good advise, not just for hats either. I've stressed out quite a few times in my life over those two things.

 

[John Galt]

Remember Hank's old words: "No matter how I struggle and strive - I'll never get out of this world alive". We can just as well enjoy the journey and have a lot of fun, while it lasts

One of my favorites! I'm pleasantly surprised that it's traveled do far afield. I have an old Stetson 25 I got open crowned and creased after the hat old Hank (actually a young man at the time) wore on one of his album covers.

 

[John Galt]

Great job Terry!

 

[Landman]

Ole, thanks for the tip about Buckaroo and his ply ribbons.

T Jones, the hat looks great. I like the shortened ribbon tail. I have several of those Open Roads with the diamond liner made in the late 70's or 80's. The felt is softer but nothing like one from the mid 60's or earlier. Definitely a more pliable felt than the current production Open Roads though. I have thought about trying to rework one but have been hesitant because I didn't know how the felt would respond. Since I like a Cattleman's crease anyway I haven't been in a hurry to recrease any of them but now that I see how well yours turned out I'll have to give it a try on one of them just for kicks.

Edit: I might add that I do have one of those 70's Open Roads that the brim binding was damaged so I removed the binding and trimmed 1/8" of an inch off using a brim cutter. I had to trim the brim edge to remove the holes from the stitching. The result is a very pliable brim that can easily be turned up or down without the need for any steam. Not really a snap brim but much easier to manipulate than the original bound brim.

Here is the brim cutter that I use to work on my hats.

https://www.hawkeyetack.com/catalog/MF-Brim-Cutter-1002-p-2657.html

 

[T Jones]

Ole, thanks for the tip about Buckaroo and his ply ribbons.

T Jones, the hat looks great. I like the shortened ribbon tail. I have several of those Open Roads with the diamond liner made in the late 70's or 80's. The felt is softer but nothing like one from the mid 60's or earlier. Definitely a more pliable felt than the current production Open Roads though. I have thought about trying to rework one but have been hesitant because I didn't know how the felt would respond. Since I like a Cattleman's crease anyway I haven't been in a hurry to recrease any of them but now that I see how well yours turned out I'll have to give it a try on one of them just for kicks.

Edit: I might add that I do have one of those 70's Open Roads that the brim binding was damaged so I removed the binding and trimmed 1/8" of an inch off using a brim cutter. I had to trim the brim edge to remove the holes from the stitching. The result is a very pliable brim that can easily be turned up or down without the need for any steam. Not really a snap brim but much easier to manipulate than the original bound brim.

Here is the brim cutter that I use to work on my hats.

https://www.hawkeyetack.com/catalog/MF-Brim-Cutter-1002-p-2657.html

Thanks buddy. I appreciate your feedback. Definitely the felt of the ORs from the late '70s and into the '80s are not the quality of the earlier ORs. The materials were subpar as well. The liners in the later vintage ones are thin compared to the thicker and silky feeling liners of the earlier ORs. The sweats in the later vintage ORs are bonded leather. I have a few vintage OR style hats from the '50s. Those I wouldn't touch. But anything from the late '70s and upward I'll try to experiment around with, and even those from the mid to later '60s too. I believe that sometime in the later '70s or '80s Stetson started licensing other hat companies to make their ORs, Akubra, I believe, was one of them). I think after that, it seems the quality of the ORs just went downhill. So yeah, if you have a few of the more later vintages you want to experiment with, you should give it a try. A few of the guys here in the Conversion Corral are great to source if you need help and advice. Here's a few more ORs I messed around with. Hopefully it gives you few ideas for your conversion project....

Here's a 3X OR I did with a Center Dent and a Khaki colored mid-ribbon with a double bow

...and yet another 3X I did for something of a Wanderer theme with some influence from Indy's ROTLA and LC. This one is a C-crown with a contrasting brown mid-ribbon and double bow...probably my favorite of my conversion projects...

 

[RJR]

TJ,both conversions look really good!

 

[Joao Encarnado]

TJ,both conversions look really good!

+1

 

[1mach1]

Terry, you have become a master. Nice looking work, buddy!

 

[NewJack]

You gotta know I'm sitting' here drooling'...Great work!!

 

[Landman]

Great job on those too. The Khaki colored ribbon looks very good on that felt.

 

[T Jones]

RJR, Joao, Harv, NewJack, Landman, thanks guys. I really appreciate everyone's feedback.

 

[bond]

Here's a before and after of a felt I gave up on as ruined due to over sanding . Original color was steel grey beaver after much trial and error I finally was able to remove the color to its present state as seen here .Has the look and feel of a nice vintage felt now broken in and comfortable.
Burgundy crown ribbon and cream brim binding . Haven't chose a liner to make for it yet.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Now that is a completely color change! Could not say it was steel grey before!

 

[DOGMAN]

Cool bond,How did you remove the color?

 

[bond]

Well D man it was a lot of trial and error but to make a long story short the last thing I did was use Rit color remover (twice) to end up with this color .

 

[NewJack]

Wonderful transformation, Bond!

 

[1mach1]

+1

 

[DOGMAN]

Thanks for the info bond.I have a black hat that would be fun to experiment on.

 

[Geldoc]

Beautiful work, Bond.

 

[bond]

Thanks for the comments guys. Just wanted to clarify that in the sanding process of original color grey I got in to the "core of shellac"and that appeared in the color making it look splotchy . Sounds worse than it actually is but it's more about aesthetics than anything else. This had nothing to do with damaging the thickness of the felt. It actually turned out great with all of the washing and finishing time that I put into the hat to save the felt after losing the original color that's all.
Thanks again for all of the positive feedback