Making a Western hat by hand?

Yahoody said:

Ironed again last night. Wore it around and watched the brim "melt". Stuck my head block in and let it rest over night. Much better this morning. Burnt and vacuumed the top again for good measure. Smokey the Bear look







my foam "head" insert in place

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Greetings Yahoody et al:
Outstanding workshop and finished product to boot!!
So many tips and nuances presented professionaly.
Foam head insert. Great idea and cheap. I like.
Now if i could just figure out how to make the shape of my gourd i’d be good. Ha
Thanks again for the time and effort in your tutorial. Not many would or could.
Epic!!
Be well. Bowen
PS: Redband works to be sure. Good name for a hat too! Ha B

Cornshucker77 said:

Hey Yahoody, enjoying the trip, thanks again. I also bought the hat building book you mentioned. In the book the author uses a home made conformator(Sp ?) and makes a head shaped block from......redwood? Made of course to get the hat to take the shape of the head for a better fit. Have you ever tried something like that?

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The hard blue foam blocks are easy/cheap to make and are the same width as a sweat band. Easier to make. But if you are just making a hat for yourself you really don't need either if you don't mind steaming and re-steaming and putting the hat on your head over and over again A decent wooden hat stretcher will work as well. I cut one up some to better mimic my head shape that I got from Boot Barn and it gets me really close. Close enough to wear the hat for sure.

Yahoody said:

The hard blue foam blocks are easy/cheap to make and are the same width as a sweat band. Easier to make. But if you are just making a hat for yourself you really don't need either if you don't mind steaming and re-steaming and putting the hat on your head over and over again A decent wooden hat stretcher will work as well. I cut one up some to better mimic my head shape that I got from Boot Barn and it gets me really close. Close enough to wear the hat for sure.

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Thanks Yahoody.

AbbaDatDeHat said:

Foam head insert. Great idea and cheap. I like.
Now if i could just figure out how to make the shape of my gourd i’d be good....

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Start with a hat that fits you well. Trace out the size and reverse it, cut the foam. Foam comes in big sheets. Might take one or two "pies" to get them to fit your hats/head perfectly. Once you have one done right...others are easier

I use several foam blocks to keep my hats from shrinking while not in use. No way I could make a truly flat hat at home without the a proper fitting foam block to mimic my head shape.

Yahoody said:

Start with a hat that fits you well. Trace out the size and reverse it, cut the foam. Foam comes in big sheets. Might take one or two "pies" to get them to fit your hats/head perfectly. Once you have one done right...others are easier

I use several foam blocks to keep my hats from shrinking while not in use. No way I could make a truly flat hat at home without the a proper fitting foam block to mimic my head shape.

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Thanks man.
It amazes me how sometimes the simplest things just escape me. Prob just to keep me in line. Ha Thanks
Be well. Bowen

Cornshucker77 said:

......enjoying the trip, thanks again. I also bought the hat building book you mentioned....

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Glad you found some interest in the process the way I do it. I did find some good tidbits in the book. Couple of things surprised me though. Not right or wrong, just surprised. His sanding only goes to 320 if I remember correctly and he doesn't fire his hats. He has the same iron as I do (my wife's) and I use it a lot differently that he does. Only thing that actually gets ironed (or steamed with the iron ) on my hats is the brim. I use a lot of steam on the headband or while shaping he hat (brim or crown) but all that comes for a tea kettle.

Went back to Tandy and bought the next size up concho. Wanted to make a statement Pretty much just bragging on a open crown, flat hat. A hat with some real potential

Yahoody said:

Glad you found some interest in the process the way I do it. I did find some good tidbits in the book. Couple of things surprised me though. Not right or wrong, just surprised. His sanding only goes to 320 if I remember correctly and he doesn't fire his hats. He has the same iron as I do (my wife's) and I use it a lot differently that he does. Only thing that actually gets ironed (or steamed with the iron ) on my hats is the brim. I use a lot of steam on the headband or while shaping he hat (brim or crown) but all that comes for a tea kettle.

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Yea I thought it was good book. I will probably re-read it several times.

Yahoody said:

Went back to Tandy and bought the next size up concho. Wanted to make a statement Pretty much just bragging on a open crown, flat hat. A hat with some real potential

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I like the band and concho. That's a terrific hat. I always liked an open crown cowboy hat. There are so many photos of old west characters in open crown hats, so it was pretty popular. I just watched an old episode of Bonanza and we all know Hoss wore an open crown.

Haha! As a kid I always thought Hoss looked really out of place with that hat.


Others I have actually liked...

Wes Studi as Famous Shoes


sam sheppard



James Garnder



Sybil


TLJ






Ben Johnson




Bruce Cabot


Glenn Corbot



the Cowboys




Will Sonnet..aka Walter Brennen



these guys....


Bruce Johnson...nice coat too


and of course..Joe Kidd



close enough

Yahoody said:

Went back to Tandy and bought the next size up concho. Wanted to make a statement Pretty much just bragging on a open crown, flat hat. A hat with some real potential

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How long do your hats tend to last, for you? Can you show a picture of a similar hat at [what you consider] the end of its useful life?

Thx!

~ S.

Yahoody said:

Haha! As a kid I always thought Hoss looked really out of place with that hat.


Others I have actually liked...

Wes Studi as Famous Shoes

sam sheppard

James Garnder

Sybil

TLJ

Ben Johnson

Bruce Cabot

Glenn Corbot



the Cowboys

Will Sonnet..aka Walter Brennen

these guys....

Bruce Johnson...nice coat too

and of course..Joe Kidd

close enough

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I like this shot of Phil Spangenberger

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Scuttle said:

How long do your hats tend to last, for you? Can you show a picture of a similar hat at [what you consider] the end of its useful life?

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I've never worn a hat out. Seriously. My first felt a 4x Resistol (above) went from 3rd grade through many rebuilds/recrowns, reshapes, new sweat bands until stolen when I was a Senior in high school. Second hat? Another 4x Resistol, similar story. I gave that one away last Fall......still very useable with a new sweat band and liner in place, 40+ years later.

This is my oldest hat in the house. It is a 5x Bailey. Photo is from 25 years ago....hat was 3 or 4 years old here.



Same hat today. Color is fading from UV exposure. This was a black hat (pretty dusty right now) with a black bound edge and a dark brown ribbon. Recrowned but no rebuilds. It has been a really, really good hat. True colors in both photos..check out the comparison.



even the liner is in decent shape. Not a hat I wore much in 90+ temps obviously. And I had a lot of hair to protect the liner.



That said I generally wear a hat most days. I also change out hats on a regular basis as the whim hits me. When it get hot I wear a Sunbody straw hat. I will likely give a hat away or stick it in storage now long before I ever wear one out these days. Ratehr give them away and see them used though. Having the ability to rebuild them now pretty much eliminates a "dead hat" for me.

Here are 4 felt hats I have worn the most in the last 2 years. The silver belly beaver is the very first hat I built from scratch. I've put in a new liner and sweat band and re-blocked it just recently. As much use as I get from them these days one rebuild in 2 years is pretty good I think.

New... and proud


today it has some well earned character.



you can see my hand stitching just below the sweat band bead.


Prior to getting serious about making my own hats just recently I was buying Amish hats and replacing the sweat band and liners then reshaping them. Really tough fur felt but also really thick and heavy by comparison to a good beaver blank. The extra weight is notable in a comparison. Super warm hats though The Amish hats are a very common hat used here by the full time cowboys in my area. Really tough hats and a good bargain at $120 per hat. They come open crowned, flat brim, plastic sweat band and no liner. Head shape is round. For me to wear one they have to be rebuilt and reshaped.

My first one...on it's third sweat band (and why I buy natural leather bands now) and 3rd or forth liner. It is dirty but you can see the UV (we get lots of sun here) is getting at this one too. Common here to see these hats with the bound edge bleached white by the sun. Simple leather latigo hat bands make sizing adjustments easier. My horses and I have both beat the hell out of this one. It is getting a little long in the tooth cosmetically for me. And I wanted to get back to better/lighter weight hat bodies so this one is pretty much retired.

But no reason for it to be other than I wanted a better (newer?) looking hat.





same hat new....



Two below are my newest every day hats. It is still snowing here so the black one is getting the most use right now. Still trying to break/size both in to my head a little. I like them really tight so that takes some time but we are getting there. With these two new ones, I'd expect a normal person would never actually need another hat .





Since I don't have much claim on normal...I added the most recent flat hat. Likely more than you ever wanted to know about my hats .

Desert dog said:

I like this shot of Phil Spangenberger

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What a great photo..Thanks!

Yahoody said:

Make sure you use a cover of some type over the felt to iron on. I use the wife's kitchen towels. I move th towel around as I iron. But never any contact of iron to felt! Granite counters are a huge help as well. But anything flat that won't catch fire will work just as good. I've ironed hats on a sheet of plywood and big wood cutting boards prior. I'm not picky just need flat and smooth.

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Yahoody said:

The key here is keeping a layer of material between the iron and the hat. I use a fine cotton apron or a tea towel of my wife's.

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I like to use an old homemade potholder hotpad that is about 6"x6" square. I steam the brim but I also wet the hotpad with water from the boiler of an espresso machine. Being padded the hotpad will hold some water. I then iron on the hotpad as I move it around the brim. When the steam from ironing on the hotpad diminishes then it's time to wet it again. Works really well. As I've previously posted I sit with a glass plate from a microwave carousel in my lap & iron on that.

Yahoody said:

Bruce Cabot

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Not familiar with this one. What movie is this from?

Yahoody said:

Haha! As a kid I always thought Hoss looked really out of place with that hat.


Others I have actually liked...

Wes Studi as Famous Shoes

sam sheppard

James Garnder

Sybil

TLJ

Ben Johnson

Bruce Cabot

Glenn Corbot



the Cowboys

Will Sonnet..aka Walter Brennen

these guys....

Bruce Johnson...nice coat too

and of course..Joe Kidd

close enough

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I don't think anyone looked better in a hat than Ben Johnson. Maybe it was because he was a Cowboy. But he was a favorite of mine.

Desert dog said:

I like this shot of Phil Spangenberger

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I've always enjoyed Spangenberger's writing & think his style of hat looks great.

Hurricane Jack said:

Not familiar with this one. What movie is this from?

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Some really good hat making/working tip there Jack. Thank you. The movie is Big Jake.

Hurricane Jack said:

I've always enjoyed Spangenberger's writing & think his style of hat looks great.

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+1

Had to add Billy Jack



and the early Gus and Woodrow...