Cattlemans crease

[job]

Did anyone find it hard for their cattlemans creased hat to hold the new crease and pinch. I would think that the hat would really want to stay as is or show signs of the original crease.

 

[zetwal]

Did anyone find it hard for their cattlemans creased hat to hold the new crease and pinch. I would think that the hat would really want to stay as is or show signs of the original crease.

I'm not sure that I fully understand your question. In general terms, I would say that the ease with which any given hat takes and holds a new crown shape depends on the hat in question.

What sort of hat are you dealing with? Can you post pictures of your dilemma?

 

[job]

I may get a old open road like hat soon and it has a factory installed crease that is maybe 50 yrs old. Just curious how hard it was for people with open roads etc. to lose the cattleman's crease.

 

[jkingrph]

I got one off e bay a couple of months ago, excellent shape but a little dirty, showing on top of creases mostly. I had planned on rebashing to a teardrop but It just did not look good, so returned to cattlemans crease.

Last week I read here about cleaning and picked up both some Coleman fuel and some regular naphta and proceeded to clean it. I only used the Coleman fuel and it worked great, looks a lot brighter and no subtle soil lines on crease.

Now my wife says she likes it, so I will leave the crease as is, and am thinking about another, probably a slightly larger version, like the Peters bros Shady Oak. I may get a new Campdraft or have Art make me one, I have a couple of e mails out inquiring.

 

[barrowjh]

The ability to move beyond the cattleman crease is dependent on a couple of factors 1) how damaged are the crease lines themselves in terms of grease, abrasion, and 2) whether it was machine creased. I think #1 is already understood, so I will just speak a moment on #2 - machine-creased hats are difficult to re-bash because the machine-creasing actually s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the felt over the crease just a bit in most cases, so there is almost a permanent lump of extra felt there now along the crease line. Using steam and your fingers (do NOT steam your fingers!) you might be able to smooth the crown back to open-crown with no crease lump lines showing, or maybe not, but often you can smooth it out enough that an aggressive re-bash will pull that extra felt into the new crown shape (especially if you were able to clean away any problems from item #1 above). It is a challenge, and the steam re-shaping part will consume some time, have patience with it. Try to get reasonably happy with a smooth looking open crown before you embark on the new bash.

 

[WesternHatWearer]

I only wear hats with cattleman creases. It is a personal choice. I do not personally care for the look of other modern creases. I suppose I am just set in my ways and very picky. Hahaha

 

[The Good]

I only wear hats with cattleman creases. It is a personal choice. I do not personally care for the look of other modern creases. I suppose I am just set in my ways and very picky. Hahaha

That's fine. There is nothing wrong with a cattleman's crease, and it could be dressed up, like the most common variations today of the Stetson Open Road hats, or dressed down more like a regular wider brimmed cowboy hat. A cattleman's crease could also look fine on fedoras and homburgs, not only western hats. I do have one cattleman's crease hat, a modern Stetson Open Road. I treat that one as a dress hat, mostly, but still wear it while taking walks.

 

[WesternHatWearer]

That's fine. There is nothing wrong with a cattleman's crease, and it could be dressed up, like the most common variations today of the Stetson Open Road hats, or dressed down more like a regular wider brimmed cowboy hat. A cattleman's crease could also look fine on fedoras and homburgs, not only western hats. I do have one cattleman's crease hat, a modern Stetson Open Road. I treat that one as a dress hat, mostly, but still wear it while taking walks.

I have not yet ventured into the brim widths below 4 inches. I own only Westerns/ Cowboy hats. I have looked at a good number of fedoras. I have even tried a few on but I have not seen one that just speaks to me, if that makes sense. There are a lot of westerns/cowboy hats I pass by as well.
I am a full hat supporter, though. If I see an individual with a fedora on while I am out, I try to stop and chat a bit. Perhaps they may lead me to another little hat haven.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Not much into the cattleman crease, that is why I have a lot of hats. Some with cattleman crease, C crease, telescope crease, gus crease...

 

[Doc Glockster]

I seldom find a hat with a cattleman's crease that fits me. I usually go telescope or pinch front teardrop.

The cattleman's crease just doesn't fit my head most of the time. I'd never order a hat over the net with a cattleman's crease because 9 times out of 10 it won't fit.

 

[rclark]

Living in Texas, if you see a guy wearing a hat, 90% of the time it has a cattleman's crease or a variant thereof. That being said, I like the look on me, but find that it gives me a terrible case of hat head, much more so than hats with any type of fedora crease. LOL.

 

[gtdean48]

I tweak all my hats especially factory creased cattleman hats. They look too sterile in that pressed-in state.
Mostly, I tighten the front pinch a bit & maybe raise the back some, more like the arena crease.
I have westerns in Montana slope (aka Gus), tycoon, cutter, arena, & adjusted alpine/cattleman.
To me, a hand-done cattleman looks so much better than the pristine presssed-in factory ones.

Montana Slope in Resistol Stagecoach...

Diamond in Resistol for Calvary slouch look...

Hand-done Cattleman...

 

[rclark]

^^^ +1!

 

[RJR]

Absolutey agree.

 

[g.durand]

I'm with everybody else on this, too. I like creases to show signs of the hand that made them. I recently got a Stetson 100 which was creased in what I would call a semi-cattleman's or semi-Alpine if you travel in certain circles. It combines part of a full cattleman's and part of a center dent/front pinch. The center dent widens toward the back of the hat, and the front pinch is centered about 1/3 of the way back from the front of the crown, leaving a wide pinch.

Here are some shots of three hats with variations on the theme. Clockwise from top left, early to mid-'50s Resistol OR-style, mid-'50s Stetson 100, late '40s-early '50s Resistol 10. I've reshaped the Resistol OR several times and it varies between wearings from a full and somewhat symmetrical cattleman's to the combination crease I'm talking about. It can be dry-creased easily. The 100 was hand-creased at some point and it's not symmetrical either. After several creases I wound up giving the Resistol 10 the modified cattleman's, too.

Here is a shot of the top of the Resistol 10 showing the modified cattleman's, and a head shot.

 

[RJR]

Wow,nice trio and interesting modified crease!

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Nice trio!

 

[rclark]

I'm with everybody else on this, too. I like creases to show signs of the hand that made them. I recently got a Stetson 100 which was creased in what I would call a semi-cattleman's or semi-Alpine if you travel in certain circles. It combines part of a full cattleman's and part of a center dent/front pinch. The center dent widens toward the back of the hat, and the front pinch is centered about 1/3 of the way back from the front of the crown, leaving a wide pinch.

Here are some shots of three hats with variations on the theme. Clockwise from top left, early to mid-'50s Resistol OR-style, mid-'50s Stetson 100, late '40s-early '50s Resistol 10. I've reshaped the Resistol OR several times and it varies between wearings from a full and somewhat symmetrical cattleman's to the combination crease I'm talking about. It can be dry-creased easily. The 100 was hand-creased at some point and it's not symmetrical either. After several creases I wound up giving the Resistol 10 the modified cattleman's, too.

Here is a shot of the top of the Resistol 10 showing the modified cattleman's, and a head shot.

Michael, I really like the look of that modified cattleman's!

 

[g.durand]

Thanks, Rick. I feel like it makes the hat look a little less boxy.

 

[tommyK]

I'm a +1 with Rick. Well done!

I dig your "modified cattleman", G.Durand (thanks for the link to this, great thread). I sort of did it with my Bushman and I think I may try it on some more thin ribbons following your fine examples. For some reason I've never liked the narrow factory cattleman crease but this wider, looser obvious hand done version I really like.

Really digging Gtdean's Diamond Calvary slouch as well.