My dad (jbucklin)and i took our Stetson Chathams and reshaped them to pork-pies. He left his crown taller, however I made mine much more squatty, in honor of Buster Keaton. In the following picture I am doing my best rendition of the Great Stone Face.
If I were going to do it I would mist it with distilled water, shape it, and let it dry in the pork-pie shape.
Gustin Vintage Heavyweight Sweatshirt - Natural Rainbow Nep - $119 Rugged 14oz cotton that gets better with every wear. 
Grant Stone Diesel Boot Dark Olive Chromexcel - #395 Goodyear welted, Horween Chromexcel, classic good looks. 
Himel Bros. - The Ross Mk. 1 Leather Jacket Classic D-pocket motorcycle/aviator style jacket.
My dad (jbucklin)and i took our Stetson Chathams and reshaped them to pork-pies. He left his crown taller, however I made mine much more squatty, in honor of Buster Keaton. In the following picture I am doing my best rendition of the Great Stone Face.
Thank you Joeffrey. First off, my dad has a straight sided dome hat shaper that we used to straighten the hat into an open-crown to get rid of that modern tapered look. From there, we just sprayed it with distilled water, and worked the crown into the pork-pie shape. As for Keaton using sugar water to stiffen it, we simply used an iron on the brim (with a hankercheif twixt the hat and iron to protect the felt) and it worked just fine! I heard Buster went through hundreds of hats per film, causing me to believe sugar water may not be ideal. Either way, i highly recommend converting it into a pork-pie. Though I must warn you, the squattier you make it, the harder it is to keep on your head! :O
