Stetson Open Road vs Akubra Campdraft

mattmiller1973 said:

Isn’t the cattleman’s crease the whole point of an open Road? If you want a daimond bash and no tapers why wouldn’t you just get a stratoliner?

No offense intended, and ignorance here freely admitted.

But the point of an open Road, as I understand it, is to get a slightly dressier western look. Texas goes to the White House, so to speak. The daimond bash seems more Madison Avenue or maybe more Australian.

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Not really, no. The "City goes Country" aspect of ORs is more the dimensions, I think. The Or has a shorter brim than most westerns, for one thing. Also, the OR, like most vintage hats, was an open crown, hat, so the wearer could shape it as they pleased. There are many historical examples including in Stetson ads, that show an OR with a diamond or teardrop.

Strats generally have shorter brims and are flanged more dramatically, as well.

OR has a 2 3/4" Brim, Strat has a 2 1/2" Brim, CD has a 2 7/8" Brim. Make the Crown crease what you like.

Hurricane Jack said:

NH, you didn't say what color you ordered. As best as anyone can tell the softness of Akubra felt seems to vary by dye batch, not necessarily color. So all you can really hope for is that your's came from a softer batch. I have 6 CD's & by far the firmest felt of mine is the Moonstone in Heritage grade.

I have 3 currently creased as a Cattleman. One of the things I really like about the CD vs a modern OR is that with a 6" open crown the CD can be creased with a Cattleman & still end up with 5-1/2" at the front dip, more like an earlier vintage OR.

Mid-Brown CD
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Taupe Fawn CD
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Glen Gray CD (looking for a 13/16" ribbon)
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@Hurricane Jack I have a Silverbelly Campdraft on order. I really like the way you do the cattleman crease on your Campdrafts. In this post you say that the front dip can be 5 1/2 inches. When you say front dip do you mean the center of the edge of the center dent of the crease?

ETBass said:

@Hurricane Jack I have a Silverbelly Campdraft on order. I really like the way you do the cattleman crease on your Campdrafts. In this post you say that the front dip can be 5 1/2 inches. When you say front dip do you mean the center of the edge of the center dent of the crease?

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Thanks for the compliment! Yes, I'm talking about the depth of the center crease as measured from the front. A cattleman center crease will use anywhere from 1/2" to 1" depending on how you want the front & back to come out into the crown. Blocking factors in as well but since we are talking CD's & OR's then we know what that is (for the most part). Also the deeper you sink the center crease the more taper you will be pulling into the sides of the crown as seen from the front.

Hope this helps. Congratulations on a new hat coming.

Hurricane Jack said:

Thanks for the compliment! Yes, I'm talking about the depth of the center crease as measured from the front. A cattleman center crease will use anywhere from 1/2" to 1" depending on how you want the front & back to come out into the crown. Blocking factors in as well but since we are talking CD's & OR's then we know what that is (for the most part). Also the deeper you sink the center crease the more taper you will be pulling into the sides of the crown as seen from the front.

Hope this helps. Congratulations on a new hat coming.

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Thanks @Hurricane Jack. I am looking forward to getting this one.

ETBass said:

Thanks @Hurricane Jack. I am looking forward to getting this one.

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Just keep in mind when you venture to hats other than CD's, depending on what you want to do with it the original block is everything.

Here is an OR Twenty-five that was blocked with one of the block numbers being discussed in the OR thread now. This block makes the hat have so much taper it's only good for a tear drop. For any kind of center crease the crease needs to be wide & shallow to minimize taper. I usually have large elephant ears to hide the taper even more. It's definitely more of a fedora block.







Sometimes you have to go to more of a brick crease. The mule kick helps with the look, I think. Two Resistol BR-30 Fort Worth's & a Mallory by Stetson Little Dogie.