The Conversion Corral

[RJR]

Greeley Hat Co that was damaged.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I own... 7 or 8 Stagecoach hats... and I wish I could find a nice navy blue and a red one.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Would this 3X Charlie 1 Horse be a good candidate to convert to a fedora? It has a 3" brim with a teardrop crown. The color is called bone but goes from white to cream depending upon the lighting. I had to buy this to be in a wedding party (groom's selection) in the late 1990's & it has seen very little wear since. It's a 3X fur blend with plenty of stiffener.

 

[RJR]

Yep,Jack,it would be a good base,BUT Joao,will gry!

 

[RJR]

Here's a conversion I did,Jack.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

I forgot to mention the groom ordered these without the horseshoe brand up on the right front of the crown so that brand wouldn't be a problem if I decide to convert the hat.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Yep,Jack,it would be a good base,BUT Joao,will gry!

Being a 3" I really don't care.

If it's a good base? I don't know, I never owned a Charlie 1 Horse hat. But for what I see, it's a 3" brim so yes, a perfect candidate for a conversion.

 

[DOGMAN]

Looks like a great hat to convert.I was wondering about the horseshoe brand.I've never converted one because of the brand.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Most I see are straw or low X quality. I've read somewhere those were great hats but never appealed to me.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Looks like a great hat to convert.I was wondering about the horseshoe brand.I've never converted one because of the brand.

The groom special ordered 9-10 hats without the brand so it wouldn't be there and show up in pics of their wedding day. There were 6 groomsman, himself the groom plus his father & father-in-law, plus I seem to recall one of their grandfathers was present & so honored.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

I would have gone with my own hat.

 

[jswindle2]

Well, I finally got a hat block off of theBay. It's a 51 ( I know its not as good as a 52 for a straight,no taper crown but it's the best I could find and I'll start making my own block soon). It's not in the greatest shape so I'll probably have to do some repair. I recently saw a post or webpage that showed step by step restoration on a wooden block. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I've totally forgotten where it was. It looked very professional and in depth. Any help would be appreciated. I should have the block in useable nick by the time my next hat arrives in the mail for conversion. I'm planning on a black high crown fedora with a 2 3/8 brim or a early 20th century western/dress style hat I just saw on a Lounger's avatar. Hope everyone else's conversions are going well. I'm fully addicted now.

 

[humanshoes]

I've always used DAP Plastic Wood Solvent Professional Wood Filler to do the occasional repair on my blocks. I fill in the cracks or dents, let dry, sand, then seal with boiled linseed oil. It seems to have worked well and is supposed to be 3x stronger than the wood.

 

[jswindle2]

I re-worked this older conversion of mine this weekend. Originally this was a Resistol Stagecoach. It originally had a 6 1/4 inch open crown with fairly straight sides and a slight round top. I was unable to get the sharp and straight lines that I was looking for from the original crown shape, so I re-blocked it this weekend using my 1920's Lundstrom 6 inch tall block. Its the straightest block I have ever bought and ever seen for that matter. It gives that wonderful 20's/30's look. I also ironed the front of the brim a bit flatter and changed the flange a bit to reflect some of the 20's/30's hats that I love. The crown is now 6 inches open, but with a very flat top, and very straight sides. I actually love how this came out.

Here's the link to the original conversion.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?22306-The-Conversion-Corral/page82

Before:

After:

I was going for a hat that looked like the one in this ad.

Josh, what's the size of the ribbon?

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Joao, this might help to date your Stagecoach with the wide ribbon & binding you recently posted. These two pics are right out of the 1980 catalog. It was during that Urban Cowboy era when we saw plenty of wide ribbons & crocheted hat bands, hat pins & feathers.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Stagecoach hat line didn't live long. If I remember correctly, it started in 1978/79 and ended 1982/83 so dating those is not hard. The Turkey Creek Stagecoach appeared on a catalog. The page is burried on the new hats thread.

 

[jswindle2]

This is for the guys who made their own hat jack. The question is, Is the curved part in the front actually exactly circular or is it based on the curve of the hat crown? I made one today and I based it on the curve of my favorite hat crown. Is this right or should I remake it based on an actual circle? I haven't been able to use it on a hat yet but when I run it around the crown of a hat(without the Xacto blade)it appears that it will work. What do you guys think? I don't want to mess up my next project when I use it. Any help would be great. Thanks to everyone.

 

[DOGMAN]

I made mine so that when I was trimming the brim on the long part of the hat.The middle of the trimmer was touching the hat.So that all the way around the trimmer is touching the crown.That worked for me.

 

[jswindle2]

That's what I was thinking. I'm going to redo mine.Luckily. it's an easy and quick task. Thanks for the input.

 

[DOGMAN]

I don't know how other people do it.When I use my rounding jack I'll put a wood hat stretcher in the hat.That way when pressing against the felt it doesn't push in.The other thing I do is start the cut a hair further out on the brim.If cutting to 2 1/2",I'll start the cut just past that.If you understand what I mean.