The Conversion Corral

[T Jones]

Another excellent conversion, Terry. I really like these different finished ones. Great colours on this one too.

Thank you, steur!

 

[T Jones]

I'll see if I can find it.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I tried to search it but I couldn't come up with anything.

 

[bond]

T.Jones . Glad to see you stick with the conversions I’ve seen the improvement in your work over time. If you need any vintage ribbon let me know as I have a few rolls to clear out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Desert dog]

I can't seem to save the photo, but it is on etsy. Listed as "Resistol Cowboy hat 7 1/4 open road style 6x beaver. Vendor is Viscous Vintage. If it were only 7 3/8!

I tried to search it but I couldn't come up with anything.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[T Jones]

I can't seem to save the photo, but it is on etsy. Listed as "Resistol Cowboy hat 7 1/4 open road style 6x beaver. Vendor is Viscous Vintage. If it were only 7 3/8!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I'll check that out. Thanks

 

[T Jones]

Here's an update on my scratch finish experiment project. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get good and accurate pictures of the hat, (to be). Anyway, the scratch finish came out really nice. The color's richer and the finish is very smooth and soft. The only draw back is that it leaves prints on the finish every time you touch it. But, a little brushing solves that issue. I'll try to put it together sometime this weekend. I think this time I'm going to do something different with the hat and go with something similar to a ToD Indy style, with my own touches. (Yeah, I'm one of those few who actually like the ToD!).

 

[Winston Carter]

My 2 Pecan Stetsons. They had different bands, both were open crowns. I left 1 open crown and added feather. The other I creased to teardrop pinch front. Both have a 2.5 gold edge brim with snap up curve all the way around.

 

[bond]

Stetson #1 circa 1960s . Been searching for a back up wide brim in this silver belly for a long time and stumbled upon this in one of my somnambulist moments. Although it was a 7 3/8 and with 1/8 cord ribbon I needed it to be 7 1/2 in case I liked how it turned out. The brim is a whopping 3 3/4 and one of the biggest I’ve tried wearing and I am liking it . (My other main hat is only at 3”)
I digress. To begin with after stripping it down
I washed the hat in the washing machine for a quick soap wash to get the dirt out and freshen up the felt. I followed up with a robust reblocking on a #52 straight profile block and left the height at 5 1/2.
After a couple of days on the block coaxing the old mule kick out of the back of the crown. I ironed the brim heartedly for better part of 2 days trying to flatten it out to its current state. Lastly I sanded the beautiful fur felt to get some of the light moth tracks out and to smooth the felt to match what I had ironed on the brim before... much work at this point but by now I was certain I was going to keep it and I didn’t feel the need to finish it so i just took my time enjoying and creating it as I went.
Fur felt by the way is super nice and has the stiffness like a 7x or just like a really good quality #1 the likes which I haven’t seen in quite some time.
I opted to add a fully vented naked taupe sweat band as I was imagining to wear this hat in warmer weather or perhaps not. The Silk liner is in a Matt Silver and is from some nice Silk machine made shantung which I can’t find anymore of unfortunately and seems to be going the way of vinegar ribbon too.
Anyway the crown ribbon is also one of last colors I had only enough to do just this hat with.
Hope you all enjoy the hat as much as I enjoyed converting it to something that matched more of my tastes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RJR]

Stetson #1 circa 1960s . Been searching for a back up wide brim in this silver belly for a long time and stumbled upon this in one of my somnambulist moments. Although it was a 7 3/8 and with 1/8 cord ribbon I needed it to be 7 1/2 in case I liked how it turned out. The brim is a whopping 3 3/4 and one of the biggest I’ve tried wearing and I am liking it . (My other main hat is only at 3”)
I digress. To begin with after stripping it down
I washed the hat in the washing machine for a quick soap wash to get the dirt out and freshen up the felt. I followed up with a robust reblocking on a #52 straight profile block and left the height at 5 1/2.
After a couple of days on the block coaxing the old mule kick out of the back of the crown. I ironed the brim heartedly for better part of 2 days trying to flatten it out to its current state. Lastly I sanded the beautiful fur felt to get some of the light moth tracks out and to smooth the felt to match what I had ironed on the brim before... much work at this point but by now I was certain I was going to keep it and I didn’t feel the need to finish it so i just took my time enjoying and creating it as I went.
Fur felt by the way is super nice and has the stiffness like a 7x or just like a really good quality #1 the likes which I haven’t seen in quite some time.
I opted to add a fully vented naked taupe sweat band as I was imagining to wear this hat in warmer weather or perhaps not. The Silk liner is in a Matt Silver and is from some nice Silk machine made shantung which I can’t find anymore of unfortunately and seems to be going the way of vinegar ribbon too.
Anyway the crown ribbon is also one of last colors I had only enough to do just this hat with.
Hope you all enjoy the hat as much as I enjoyed converting it to something that matched more of my tastes.
View attachment 131668 View attachment 131669 View attachment 131670 View attachment 131671 View attachment 131672




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice job,Scott.

 

[Winston Carter]

Seems like in the fedora world if you want a pencil roll edged brim you are out of luck. Wait... Modify a homburg. 2.5 flat brim, 4.5 teardrop crown, and add a feather for a little swag.

 

[Winston Carter]

 

[bond]

Nice job,Scott.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bond]

Here’s a better shot indoors.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Winston Carter]

Here’s a better shot indoors.
View attachment 132220


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice crown !!

 

[bond]

Thanks Winston after a few years I can say I finally know how I like my hat to sit on my head and this is the first one I’ve re imagined and had that realization with while making it and blocking it. The felt I might add was like working with clay and it was really accommodating that way. I’ve discovered that the best crown ,open ,for me is 5 1/2 as it sits neither too high or too low depending how I wear the hat. At the same time have managed to make this one so it hits perfectly at the front and sides with the same amount of pressure and I like that, finally feels like s good fit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woodtroll]

Inspired by Terry's many successful conversions, I tried my hand at converting a Resistol Stagecoach in "Chestnut" color. I'm fond of medium browns, and they are hard to come by in new felt. 7-3/4 fedoras are hard to come by, too. So I started with this hat from eBay at a great price:



and cut the brim to 3-1/4", bashed in a 5" tall teardrop crown, sewed in a new sweatband, and made a ribbon out of a piece of vintage (supposedly) grosgrain ribbon in "redwood" color. Not perfect, but I learned a lot, and I may tweak it a little more yet. I may end up cutting another 1/4" off the brim but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to try it. I'm a big, tall, broad guy and this hat looks pretty proportional on me (I think!).





It ended up looking suspiciously like an "Indy" hat, even though that was not my intention, and at least this one "fits" me proportionally. Oh well, I guess I'll take the jokes; can I help it I like brown fedoras?

Y'all take care,
Regan

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Inspired by Terry's many successful conversions, I tried my hand at converting a Resistol Stagecoach in "Chestnut" color. I'm fond of medium browns, and they are hard to come by in new felt. 7-3/4 fedoras are hard to come by, too. So I started with this hat from eBay at a great price:



and cut the brim to 3-1/4", bashed in a 5" tall teardrop crown, sewed in a new sweatband, and made a ribbon out of a piece of vintage (supposedly) grosgrain ribbon in "redwood" color. Not perfect, but I learned a lot, and I may tweak it a little more yet. I may end up cutting another 1/4" off the brim but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to try it. I'm a big, tall, broad guy and this hat looks pretty proportional on me (I think!).





It ended up looking suspiciously like an "Indy" hat, even though that was not my intention, and at least this one "fits" me proportionally. Oh well, I guess I'll take the jokes; can I help it I like brown fedoras?

Y'all take care,
Regan

Killer conversion! I like to leave my western conversions with big brims too and consider them more of an “adventure” hat than a fedora that can be dressed up. I also don’t own flanges so I can’t give them a snap brim that I think fedoras require. I’ve sort of settled on the 3.0”-3.25” brim width but 3.5 works too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woodtroll]

Thanks, Brent. Yes, I guess being this big and snapped down in back it is not a true "fedora"; I like your "adventure hat" tag for it. Rick Walker just finished a custom for me that's dimensionally identical to this one, and he has dubbed it a "Trekker" hat because it is intended for outdoor use rather than dress. Because your hat size is so similar to mine I know you can relate - when I bought my first couple of hats that I thought looked great on other folks, they ended up looking like a stingy brim on me because my head is so big! Its pretty hard to find something that is proportional to those good looking 7 or 7-1/4 hats, in size 7-3/4. So I'm stuck with experimenting with cut-down westerns and considering custom hats, but so far I have learned a LOT and it has been fun.

 

[T Jones]

Inspired by Terry's many successful conversions, I tried my hand at converting a Resistol Stagecoach in "Chestnut" color. I'm fond of medium browns, and they are hard to come by in new felt. 7-3/4 fedoras are hard to come by, too. So I started with this hat from eBay at a great price:



and cut the brim to 3-1/4", bashed in a 5" tall teardrop crown, sewed in a new sweatband, and made a ribbon out of a piece of vintage (supposedly) grosgrain ribbon in "redwood" color. Not perfect, but I learned a lot, and I may tweak it a little more yet. I may end up cutting another 1/4" off the brim but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to try it. I'm a big, tall, broad guy and this hat looks pretty proportional on me (I think!).





It ended up looking suspiciously like an "Indy" hat, even though that was not my intention, and at least this one "fits" me proportionally. Oh well, I guess I'll take the jokes; can I help it I like brown fedoras?

Y'all take care,
Regan

Buddy, I'm flattered by the shout out. If you enjoy doing conversions, stick with it and keep up the good work.

 

[humanshoes]

Inspired by Terry's many successful conversions, I tried my hand at converting a Resistol Stagecoach in "Chestnut" color. I'm fond of medium browns, and they are hard to come by in new felt. 7-3/4 fedoras are hard to come by, too. So I started with this hat from eBay at a great price:



and cut the brim to 3-1/4", bashed in a 5" tall teardrop crown, sewed in a new sweatband, and made a ribbon out of a piece of vintage (supposedly) grosgrain ribbon in "redwood" color. Not perfect, but I learned a lot, and I may tweak it a little more yet. I may end up cutting another 1/4" off the brim but I'm having a hard time bringing myself to try it. I'm a big, tall, broad guy and this hat looks pretty proportional on me (I think!).





It ended up looking suspiciously like an "Indy" hat, even though that was not my intention, and at least this one "fits" me proportionally. Oh well, I guess I'll take the jokes; can I help it I like brown fedoras?

Y'all take care,
Regan

Excellent conversion Regan!