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deadlyhandsome · Oct 20, 2018

Rmccamey said:
Can someone describe (or give me a picture of) hats in Granite, Charcoal, and Steel to compare? Does the Steel tend to have a blue cast or is it just the limitations of cameras and pc screens when that happens? (ie, am I seeing colors that are not really there?)

I don’t have a charcoal, but here’s a granite and a steel. They are both Winchester beaver felt made by Gannon within three months of each other. I kept the steel on top and showed them in varying light conditions:

The granite has strong brown tones, but gray also comes out in certain light.

My steel hat has a “blue metal” ribbon so that helps bring out the blue tones. The granite hat has a charcoal ribbon. We all see color a bit differently, all monitors display color differently, and all cameras capture color differently. I find it best to not demand/expect an exact color and just enjoy what arrives.

Good luck.

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Scuttle · Oct 20, 2018

Rmccamey said:
Can someone describe (or give me a picture of) hats in Granite, Charcoal, and Steel to compare? Does the Steel tend to have a blue cast....

To my eye, Steel does keen blue? Which I welcome, loving blue.

(I also tend to wear blue, and have blue eyes, all of which may contribute to the impression.)

Here are Gannon hats in Granite and Steel, respectively, sporting the same ribbon. I remain fascinated by the interplay of the colors of felt and ribbon, varied lighting conditions, etc.

Subjective, but hopefully of some help.

~ S.

Woodtroll · Oct 20, 2018

deadlyhandsome said:
As long as you don’t need a dress weight felt, conversions make rugged hard wearing hats. If you want a raw edge it hardly matters if the brim gets trimmed down.

Good point, sir, I didn't think about the heavier weight of the Western felt. That might be a consideration if the OP was really wanting a dress-weight hat. I have only one dress-weight hat due to the crown and brim sizes I prefer, and I didn't even think of that angle.

deadlyhandsome · Oct 20, 2018

Woodtroll said:
Good point, sir, I didn't think about the heavier weight of the Western felt. That might be a consideration if the OP was really wanting a dress-weight hat. I have only one dress-weight hat due to the crown and brim sizes I prefer, and I didn't even think of that angle.

I’m sorry, did you just call me “sir?”

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Woodtroll · Oct 21, 2018

deadlyhandsome said:
I’m sorry, did you just call me “sir?”

In my part of the world, everyone is either a “Sir”, “Ma’am”, or “Miss”. In the last few years, I have occasionally been challenged to figure out which applies to the individual I am addressing, but that is another topic entirely

.

deadlyhandsome · Oct 21, 2018

Woodtroll said:
In my part of the world, everyone is either a “Sir”, “Ma’am”, or “Miss”. In the last few years, I have occasionally been challenged to figure out which applies to the individual I am addressing, but that is another topic entirely .

I supervise a bunch of younger guys and it takes me months to convince them they can call me Brent. I’ve gotten tired of being “sir” to my friends. I get the formality as show of respect until you become acquainted; let’s consider ourselves acquaintances. I don’t mind at all if you call me by my Christian name.

dutchman4 · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks for all the great ideas....I am looking for new, I didn't consider used because ....well....how would you know how clean hat is? Then, once you have it , how would you clean it well enough to want someone else's hat on your head? I like the idea of converting a western, how well can you get cattleman crease out?

Frunobulax · Oct 21, 2018

dutchman4 said:
Thanks for all the great ideas....I am looking for new, I didn't consider used because ....well....how would you know how clean hat is? Then, once you have it , how would you clean it well enough to want someone else's hat on your head? I like the idea of converting a western, how well can you get cattleman crease out?

Well, that's kind of why most of us are here - for those nasty old, used, vintage hats! The answers to your questions are found on the very site you are on.

Vintage >>> New

Hurricane Jack · Oct 21, 2018

Telemaster said:
Last time I flew over from the states...

My Rand Tom Horn I call Blackie has been out of country on 5 jobs in 3 different countries. During long flights I mostly wear it. With the seat reclined & some lumbar support the brim never touches the seat back. If I want a break I just let it ride on my knee for a bit.

Those trips are just some of the reasons this hat would top my "Untouchables" list.

Scuttle said:
Subjective, but hopefully of some help.

Glad to see you active again Scuttle. Always enjoy your input.

dutchman4 · Oct 21, 2018

I'm starting to learn that! I need to learn how to clean them ,I paid a hatter to clean my grandfather's vintage silverbelly open road in hopes of wearing it but it came back looking the same. That made me think you couldn't really get them clean if a 100 + year old hat shop couldn't. I see that many of you are doing great things with worse looking hats than mine....

Woodtroll · Oct 21, 2018

deadlyhandsome said:
I supervise a bunch of younger guys and it takes me months to convince them they can call me Brent. I’ve gotten tired of being “sir” to my friends. I get the formality as show of respect until you become acquainted; let’s consider ourselves acquaintances. I don’t mind at all if you call me by my Christian name.

Thank you, Brent, I appreciate that! I am in a similar situation at work, and understand your position. It's just part of how I was raised, and I do prefer to keep things on a first-name basis with my subordinates and peers. I do know that some folks with military background object to being a "sir" if they are not a commissioned officer, but lacking military experience I don't fully understand that situation. Bottom line is, the "sirs" and "ma'ams" that are a routine part of my conversational speech are meant to show respect, nothing more. (That's got to be better than "dude"!

) To keep from drifting this thread too far off base, I'll follow up with a private message later today.

Take care!
Regan

Woodtroll · Oct 21, 2018

dutchman4 said:
Thanks for all the great ideas....I am looking for new, I didn't consider used because ....well....how would you know how clean hat is? Then, once you have it , how would you clean it well enough to want someone else's hat on your head? I like the idea of converting a western, how well can you get cattleman crease out?

Dutchman, you can still find new or like-new hats on Ebay or elsewhere that are cheap, maybe dusty, but hardly worn. A lot of the real bargains are still left over from the "Urban Cowboy" era and have been sitting on closet shelves or in storage boxes for years. You can always tell them by the gaudy feather or macrame hatbands!

You can usually tell from the condition of the sweatband or liner how much real wear they've had; ask the seller for pictures specifically of these before you buy. I usually put a newly-acquired hat (even a brand new one) into the deep-freeze for a week to make sure I'm not bringing moth larvae into my house. Then I take out the liner (because I don't like them anyway, and I don't buy nice vintage hats), and if the hat is used I will wipe out the sweatband real well with rubbing alcohol and then treat it with leather conditioner. If you had other concerns you could always spray it with Lysol or something similar and seal it up in a plastic bag for a couple of days.

As far as the crease, it depends on the felt, but I have had pretty good luck working with steam, or even just wetting the hat with distilled water, and working by hand. I see on here that some folks will re-block the hat on a form to return them to a blank-slate "open crown" and then change the crease, but the hats I've dealt with have not required that much work to get them where I want them to be. Take a look at the "Conversion Corral" thread, and you will see some of the real masters we have here on the Lounge as they work a donor hat into what they want it to be.

Good luck!
Regan

dutchman4 · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks for the tips, I'm seeing this much differently now....lots of new possibilities! Any advice on stains in silver belly?

deadlyhandsome · Oct 21, 2018

dutchman4 said:
Thanks for the tips, I'm seeing this much differently now....lots of new possibilities! Any advice on stains in silver belly?

A good brushing and steaming is the first step. Try those orange hat cleaning sponges next. If that doesn’t work I’ll try to spot clean with water, but no soap or detergent. Next I’ll try to spot clean with white gas. If the results aren’t satisfactory or if the now clean spot is in stark contrast with the rest of the hat it gets a white gas soak. There are threads here on how to do all of this. Check the stickies under “Links to Important Hat Forum Threads.”

dutchman4 · Oct 21, 2018

Thank you

belfastboy · Oct 21, 2018

dutchman4 said:
Thanks for all the great ideas....I am looking for new, I didn't consider used because ....well....how would you know how clean hat is? Then, once you have it , how would you clean it well enough to want someone else's hat on your head? I like the idea of converting a western, how well can you get cattleman crease out?

Read the "naptha bath" thread. I have cleaned very dirty hats to like new. And naptha will kill any bacteria lurking in the felt. I have had success with the re block too. Sometimes the old crease will leave faint lines but never enough to be a deal breaker. And if you buy cheap and it does not work out......no big deal.

Rmccamey · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks to all of you for the info and feedback.

deadlyhandsome said:
I don’t have a charcoal, but here’s a granite and a steel. They are both Winchester beaver felt made by Gannon within three months of each other. I kept the steel on top and showed them in varying light conditions:

The granite has strong brown tones, but gray also comes out in certain light.

My steel hat has a “blue metal” ribbon so that helps bring out the blue tones. The granite hat has a charcoal ribbon. We all see color a bit differently, all monitors display color differently, and all cameras capture color differently. I find it best to not demand/expect an exact color and just enjoy what arrives.

Good luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Rmccamey · Oct 21, 2018

Thanks for the picgures. It helps to see them side by side in the same picture to get a sense of thr "colors" relative to each other.

scottyrocks said:
Unless they're all in the same photograph you're not going to get accurate representations one to another. Even if they're in the same photo they may be accurate to each other, but none of them may be accurate to real life.

These two are the same hat:

View attachment 140668 View attachment 140669

as are these:

View attachment 140670 View attachment 140671

deadlyhandsome · Oct 22, 2018

Anyone have a similar Beaver Brand? Curious if it’s a western and stiff or more of a fedora and softer.

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Short Balding Guy · Oct 22, 2018

Rmccamey said:
Can someone describe (or give me a picture of) hats in Granite, Charcoal, and Steel to compare? Does the Steel tend to have a blue cast or is it just the limitations of cameras and pc screens when that happens? (ie, am I seeing colors that are not really there?)

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/m-c-gannon-hat-company.83744/page-114#post-2303002

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/m-c-gannon-hat-company.83744/page-113#post-2300096

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/m-c-gannon-hat-company.83744/page-113#post-2299786

The above links should assist.

Best, Eric -

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