Stetson Fur Felt Homburg Hat

[Terry "The Hat"]

I've been very interested in the Homburg style hat for a long time. I'm a Mason and as some of you may (or may not) know, the Worshipful Master of a lodge wears a hat of his choosing during all lodge meetings. I'll be the Worshipful Master at my lodge in a couple of years and I'm leaning towards this hat and wanted to get a little feedback on it from you experts! I wear a long oval and saw where DelMonico will size your hat to long oval for you. I also have a "Hat Jack" hat stretcher and have seen how you can size your own hat with a little steam. I've got a Stetson Weekender which is too round to fit properly so I'm going to try sizing it to a Long Oval with my Hat Jack and my wife's clothing steamer. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

[RBH]

Welcome brother!
I wore a regular fedora back in '96 when I was Master.
Wear what you like but a homburg may be a bit more formal, our Lodge was not formal at stated meetings so my hat 'seemed' proper.
Good luck going through the chairs, and post some photos when you can.

 

[fmw]

What Delmonico will do is reblock the hat. That means they will pull it over a new wooden form and steam it to hold the shape. That is much better than using a hat stretcher because the stretcher only works on the area around the brim while the block handles the entire crown. I'd take them up on the offer to reblock it in your shoes. You will get a nicer job.

 

[Terry "The Hat"]

Thanks RBH. I think the Homburg is just such a cool looking hat. I'm thinking of having Gus at Batsakes Hat Shop in Cincinnati make me a custom one but I haven't had a chance to stop in and talk to him about it yet. I live in Illinois but my family lives in Cincy so I try to stop in and see him at least once a year. What a great place. I'd love to have a hat with his name stamped in the leather sweat band. The Stetson has a modest price of $180 from DelMonico but Gus' would be in the three to four hundred range.

P.S. I'm Senior Deacon this year. We go kinda formal at Degree Work but regular meetings are informal. I have plenty of hats for all occasions-LOL

 

[RBH]

Get your post count up to 15 so I can PM you!!!!

 

[Terry "The Hat"]

I'm working on the post count-LOL. It's funny because I run the largest Harley Forum on the Internet and I'm the "Big Dog" there and I'm starting from scratch here. It's fun though and this is a great forum.

Hey FMW, thanks for the advice. I will take them up on it if I decide to get with them. If Gus makes me a custom hat he'll know exactly what to do. He measured my head last year and told me I was a 7 1/2 extra long oval.

 

[fmw]

A custom would be ideal. I like the looks of the homburg as well. I think we forum owners tend to hang at each others' sites. I run a cooking forum that is small but has a nice community and has been up for about 4 years.

Here's a shot of my one and only Homburg.

 

[Terry "The Hat"]

A custom would be ideal. I like the looks of the homburg as well. I think we forum owners tend to hang at each others' sites. I run a cooking forum that is small but has a nice community and has been up for about 4 years.

Here's a shot of my one and only Homburg.

That is a beautiful hat. Yeah, the custom hat would be great but I was pretty impressed with the Stetson (especially DelMonico's offer to reshape it).

 

[alanfgag]

Homburgs sell on ebay at very reasonable prices. As dressy hats, many were seldom worn and are often offered for sale in very fine condition.

Welcome to the lounge!

 

[Oldsarge]

Really? I'll need to spend more time surfing eBay,then. I really want a Homburg but since I have so little use for formal wear buying a good one new would be a complete waste of money. A pearl grey one is just the ticket to top off the men's formal daywear called a 'stroller'.

 

[Terry "The Hat"]

There ya go RBH. This is my 15th Post! I now have 16 posts and can't pm. I checked the Faq page and didn't see anything there. Does somebody have to upgrade my account or does it happen automatically?

 

[Terry "The Hat"]

A little update here (actually, not on the Stetson Homburg). I did not mention that I have a Stetson Weekender with the downturn brim in walnut I believe. It's a beautiful hat but I got tired of the look and hanging with you guys has made me want an old style fedora with a different crease, upturn brim on the back and the steep downturn front brim. I read and read here and looked up a couple Akubra Youtube videos on sizing to a long oval (which I needed) with steam and reshaping so I got my wife's steamer out and bing, bam, boom, I got a new hat. Great crease (taller in front) and bashed both sides. Curled up the back and now (after reshaping to long oval) I have a great fitting and great looking fedora instead of an unused weekender! Thanks for giving me the confidence to try something like that on a $150 hat-LOL! I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.