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Nathaniel Finley

A-List Customer
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The Stetson just had its first compliment from a random stranger standing in line at the supermarket.

Here is the final dent - I tightened the front pinch a bit.

Boy is this felt a true pleasure to work with once steam hits it!

E1346DF3-BFD5-465E-BB7F-374886914871.jpeg
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Cornshucker77

Call Me a Cab
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2,691
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Northeast Nebraska, USA
Melton homburg that was listed as a bowler. This was part of a warehouse clear out of new old stock (dead stock) from a defunct New York hat store.

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More listed under the Homburg Nation thread.


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I saw his hats on ebay. Very nice. He had a nice assortment but nothing in my size. :(
 

Cornshucker77

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Northeast Nebraska, USA

moontheloon

I'll Lock Up
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8,590
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NJ

Nathaniel Finley

A-List Customer
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328
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I would imagine that the stiffness of the felt and the amazing condition are related. It should soften up with wear and handling. A naptha bath won't remove the stiffener, which is most likely shellac. Alcohol will remove shellac, but can also ruin the leather so I'd avoid soaking it in alcohol. Now, soaking your innards in some good alcohol (responsibly of course) and wearing the hat to break it in might work better.:)

Thank you, Moehawk...

Your point about the protective qualities of stiffener is well-taken. I plan to wear this fellow a lot and I reckon I’ll keep the stiffener in.

Make mine a sarsaparilla! ;)
 

DOGMAN

One Too Many
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1,625
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Northeast Ohio

Nathaniel Finley

A-List Customer
Messages
328
Location
World wide
it looks like many of the 3 chord ribbon western style Stetsons you will see ... often with any given number of Xs

Oh yeah? That’s interesting to know and I was wondering about this exact information while deciding on the purchase. Google images doesn’t return many photos of Stetson 3X beavers that look like this one (especially this model with 3 ply ribbon), although there are some.

I’m hampered in my felt hat education by living in countries that don’t have much if any of a felt hat tradition.

My knowledge being only half-baked from interenet research and Fedora Lounge interaction, when I get back stateside it’s going to require some serious remedial tutorialship in as many quality haberdasheries, knowledgeable flea market stalls, etc. as I can muster.
 
Oh yeah? That’s interesting to know and I was wondering about this exact information while deciding on the purchase. Google images doesn’t return many photos of Stetson 3X beavers that look like this one (especially this model with 3 ply ribbon), although there are some.

I’m hampered in my felt hat education by living in countries that don’t have much if any of a felt hat tradition.

My knowledge being only half-baked from interenet research and Fedora Lounge interaction, when I get back stateside it’s going to require some serious remedial tutorialship in as many quality haberdasheries, knowledgeable flea market stalls, etc. as I can muster.

If you haven't already you might dig though the Miller-Stockman thread for a similar model in the catalogs.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/miller-stockman-catalogs.52929/

Love your hat BTW!
 

moehawk

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,671
Location
Northern California
Thank you, Moehawk...

Your point about the protective qualities of stiffener is well-taken. I plan to wear this fellow a lot and I reckon I’ll keep the stiffener in.

Make mine a sarsaparilla! ;)
I'm not sure how much protection the stiffener offers, I was alluding more to the stiffness new unbroken-in Western hats often have. The great condition of your hat suggests to me it was not handled much or rreated too roughly. The felt should lose some of that stiffness just with use.
I'm more of a root beer guy, but I hear ya! No more bug juice for me.
 
Messages
18,942
Location
Central California
I will. How do you like yours?

The fedora was great, except the sweat fell apart when I tried to manipulate it. It's now off to get a new sweatband. The homburg was just as I had hoped.

I will say that both are on the tight/small side but I don't blame the hats as a great many 7 5/8 hats, particularly standard ovals, don't fit me well. A couple of days in a hat stretcher usually makes them fit better and the homburg is getting that treatment now.
 
Messages
11,912
Location
Southern California
...1. I’m in Melbourne and I was at a shop yesterday with Akubra Campdrafts. This hat is EXACTLY like a campdraft in dimensions (or, rather, the campdraft is exactly the dimensions of this hat)...
You're probably already aware of this, but for several years Akubra made the Open Road (among other styles) for Stetson for the Australian market; I don't know the exact years during which this occurred. After their partnership dissolved Akubra continued to make the hat, renamed it Campdraft, and replaced the Stetson logo with their own. That's why they're virtually identical except for the logos--they're essentially the same hat.

By the way, yours is excellent! The light color might be a pain-in-the-you-know-what to keep clean, but it will probably be a bit cooler in direct sunlight during your travels than a darker color.

...I questioned the wisdom of purchasing a vintage hat in such fine condition knowing that my intention is to wear it hard. Then I thought, “Maybe this hat has been preserved by the fates for just this purpose...”
I believe we're of a similar mindset--there are no coincidences, everything happens for a reason. In the grand scheme of things a hat seems insignificant, but you never know.
 
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Cornshucker77

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,691
Location
Northeast Nebraska, USA
The fedora was great, except the sweat fell apart when I tried to manipulate it. It's now off to get a new sweatband. The homburg was just as I had hoped.

I will say that both are on the tight/small side but I don't blame the hats as a great many 7 5/8 hats, particularly standard ovals, don't fit me well. A couple of days in a hat stretcher usually makes them fit better and the homburg is getting that treatment now.
Good to hear. Thanks for the review.
 

Michael R.

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,889
Location
West Tennessee USA
The Stetson just had its first compliment from a random stranger standing in line at the supermarket.

Here is the final dent - I tightened the front pinch a bit.

Boy is this felt a true pleasure to work with once steam hits it!

View attachment 101185 View attachment 101186

It looks great Nathaniel . Are you in Australia now ? If so you check out the Campdrafting . Its a equine sport involving calves and poles that looks pretty tough . Its a combo of pole bending and penning it seems to me . Have fun down under .
 
Messages
17,916
Location
Nederland
Raiders hat by John Penman, a 25 year process...

from a leather “Australian style” hat I had as a kid pretending to be Indiana Jones (I didn’t know better, I was 10)... to a generic crushable felt fedora (I was on the right track, but still young, naive, and uninformed)... to an officially licensed fur indy hat (my first exposure to fur felt hats, but later came to learn how the shape was all wrong)... to an Akubra Federation IV (about as close as you can get with production hat, but around this time had become spoiled by vintage felt, and realized that it could be better...)

...and finally this one (I think my search for the perfect Indy hat is over :)

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Looks good to me!
 

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