Cowboy Hat Shapers

[Riot Earp]

For you Western hat fans out there ...

I ordered a "cowboy" hat shaper from http://cowboyoutfitters.com/cohatsh.html. It arrived yesterday and is pretty neat. I got the "Rancher" model for my Akubra Lawson, which is on backorder at NogginTops. You saturate the brim with hot or cold water, spritz with stiffener if desired, and place on the bottom half of the shaper. The final step is to velcro the top half onto the bottom half. Then, you wait.

Seems pretty simple, but for large hat sizes you must remove the hat band first, as the top half of the shaper will not fit over the band. I am replacing the band anyway, so this isn't an inconvenience.

The hat can be stored in the shaper to preserve the shape.

 

[portolan]

I have never seen one of those.....

That is very cool. I could sure use it with all my western hats!

 

[frussell]

What about for fedoras?

I could really use something like this for fedora brims. At my big head size, finding old flanges seems impossible. I'm in between a 7 3/4 and 7 7/8, and I've never seen a flanger in that range. Pretty cool idea. Frank

 

[Sam Craig]

Cowboy hat care

I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with the country swing performers "Riders in the Sky" on a couple of occasions a few years ago, even got to eat dinner with them a couple of times.

Very nice guys who know very, and I do mean VERY, nice cowboy hats.

They also travel more in a year than most professionals do in a lifetime, so I was wondering if they had special luggage for their lids.

I expected something elaborate, but Ranger Doug confided that they wear them.

They found years ago the safest way to keep their hats on the airlines was to keep them on their heads.

Makes sense.

 

[Riot Earp]

Wearing your hat makes sense. But those wild upcurls that many "cowboy" hats are known for don't fare well in heavy rains, unless they're 100% beaver, but I've even seen beaver brims sag when wet. That's where the shapers come in handy. You just pop your wet hat into the shaper, and the next morning ... voila!