moehawk
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,700
- Location
- Northern California
Hey all!
A new hat, and a learning experience too. Saw this Borden on Etsy. The few pics weren't very sharp, couldn't quite tell if it was a Homburg or a fedora in need of a flanging (partly my eyes too). The seller didn't know a lot about hats, so rather than launch into an detailed description with 27 8X10 glossy color photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining what each one was, I just bought it 'cause it was cool, an unusual brand and not too expensive. Turns out it was a Homburg in need of a flanging.
So here's the learning experience part.
Not having a Homburg flange, I decided to correct the wonky brim by converting it to a fedora. Now the brim wasn't too bad, a little bent up and wonky in a couple spots, and maybe a bit lopsided. I shoulda just steamed it out and fixed it, but I had a great picture in my head of the finished product, so I went ahead and started flattening out the curl and reflanging it. Turns out it's not that simple. Got it most of the way there before I realized that the normally inconspicuous exposed stitch line for the brim binding was now very visible. That in and of itself wasn't so bad, but there was a prominent line of darker felt between that stitch line and the edge of the binding where the color had been shaded from the sun.
D'OH!
So, I began the process of recurling it by hand. And lots of steam. The end result is a little lumpy, but a lot better than I thought I could do without the proper flange.
Oops...forgot to iron rhe wrinkle out of the ribbon. Oh well, kinda goes with the lumpy brim.
The insides:
The sweat debossment in different light:
This fell out from behind the slightly dry sweat while applying Lexol.
Unfortunately it crumbled while trying to get good pics. I saw a small factory tag under the sweat, but it's mostly under the reed tape and I want to let the Lexol work it's magic and get a smaller camera than my tablet before I try for a pic.
The open crown is 5 3/4", the brim 2 1/2" 128g. The felt is soft, nicely finished, not overly stiffened. The fit is wonderful.
So, I am going to make a guess of early 50's on this one. Any thoughts and input always welcome.
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A new hat, and a learning experience too. Saw this Borden on Etsy. The few pics weren't very sharp, couldn't quite tell if it was a Homburg or a fedora in need of a flanging (partly my eyes too). The seller didn't know a lot about hats, so rather than launch into an detailed description with 27 8X10 glossy color photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining what each one was, I just bought it 'cause it was cool, an unusual brand and not too expensive. Turns out it was a Homburg in need of a flanging.
So here's the learning experience part.
Not having a Homburg flange, I decided to correct the wonky brim by converting it to a fedora. Now the brim wasn't too bad, a little bent up and wonky in a couple spots, and maybe a bit lopsided. I shoulda just steamed it out and fixed it, but I had a great picture in my head of the finished product, so I went ahead and started flattening out the curl and reflanging it. Turns out it's not that simple. Got it most of the way there before I realized that the normally inconspicuous exposed stitch line for the brim binding was now very visible. That in and of itself wasn't so bad, but there was a prominent line of darker felt between that stitch line and the edge of the binding where the color had been shaded from the sun.
D'OH!
So, I began the process of recurling it by hand. And lots of steam. The end result is a little lumpy, but a lot better than I thought I could do without the proper flange.
Oops...forgot to iron rhe wrinkle out of the ribbon. Oh well, kinda goes with the lumpy brim.
The insides:
The sweat debossment in different light:
This fell out from behind the slightly dry sweat while applying Lexol.
Unfortunately it crumbled while trying to get good pics. I saw a small factory tag under the sweat, but it's mostly under the reed tape and I want to let the Lexol work it's magic and get a smaller camera than my tablet before I try for a pic.
The open crown is 5 3/4", the brim 2 1/2" 128g. The felt is soft, nicely finished, not overly stiffened. The fit is wonderful.
So, I am going to make a guess of early 50's on this one. Any thoughts and input always welcome.
Powered by happy thoughts
