Both hats look good but the parabuntal is outstanding!
To be fair, it started that way. Even rolled up, it was awe inspiring. The real artist here probably was paid a nickel :-(
Both hats look good but the parabuntal is outstanding!
I put it in the flange and then put a size 7 stretcher in it - I don't have the proper tool. I left the stretcher a little up over the edge of the flange and ironed the brim right up to the edge of the stretcher. This was under a dampened flange cloth, btw - I try to never hot iron directly on a hat.
As I understand it, the trick with the stretcher is quite used - especially when using a flange on a body without sweatband sewn in. Don't feel sorry about that
When ironing felt with a modern iron with a coated sole, you rarely have to use a cloth. As long as you don't get beyond 200°F, you won't harm the felt. Beware of Rayon in bindings, though. It won't survive that high temperatures - cloth or no cloth. With plant-fibres it's a very different ballgame. There I would always use a cloth
Teaser:
A vintage Resistol Beaver 100 western that I'm converting to a Whippet style hat. This is blocked at 7 1/2. It has very soft felt - not nearly as lacquered or pressed as the Stetson 100's I've worked with.
This is a true rescue hat. It was a small sized western with a couple of deep moth bites in the outside of the crown just above the medium width hatband ribbon. I stripped it of all trim except for the brim binding, turned it inside out and re-blocked it. Unfortunately, that was just just the start.
It has taken a lot of work, including pouncing with very fine (1500 grit at the last step) sandpaper to get the unfinished inside of the crown (now the outside) to match the finished brim, and more work to get the bound brim well-flanged with a proper foot put in, but I'm considering it a qualified success at this point.
I say "qualified" because I might (God forbid) still goof this hat up before it's finished. If this hat comes out as I hope it will, however, I'll be putting it up for sale soon in the Classifieds thread.
The top side of the brim is still a little wet, incidentally...
Thanks for the comments guys. These western bodies are a lot of work as others here know but the results can be good sometimes , they also inadvertently teach much patience about sanding .