The Conversion Corral

[Randall Renshaw]

Ps.
I utilized an existing tool that was perfect for a “pusher downer”, Terry.
A typical table spoon. Worked beautifully if you turn the concave toward the crown.

 

[T Jones]

Finally went with Terry’s recommendations and bought a Randal Alan composite hat block. $135 including extra base, and a matching composite flanger $165, which hasn’t yet arrived. It should be here in a few days.
I couldn’t wait, so I’ve started with the crown on this 50s Dalton.
It was a great fedora, but the crown was super short and badly tapered.
Because the original dark blue ribbon was faded in spots from sweat I’ll need to sew on a new grosgrain hatband, if I’m enable to re-die the blue ribbon and bow that was on it. Though it may not, I hope the die job works.
If, if this hat turns out looking better, I’ll add the before and after pics later.
View attachment 255581
It was a 7 1/8 hat with 2 3/4 brim, so I knew, by earlier posts from Terry, that I’d lose some brim width, so it was terribly hard to keep from losing too much. However, with much toil, it ended up with a 2 1/2 width all around. Good enough. I’m learning some great methodology on the cuff, as this is only my 3rd attempt on the block.
Tough to keep the brim’s width the same in the process of stretching the very wet crown over the block, but in the end, I was the victor. Learning a good technique toward the end, next time won’t be so hard.

My two first attempts went well and ended up with vertical sides and very square crowns. Well worth all the trouble if you’re one to care about that feature...to borderline OCD levels.

Looks great buddy! The blocking is really nice. Can't wait to see the finished product! Gotta love those Randall Alan blocks.

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Looks great buddy! The blocking is really nice. Can't wait to see the finished product! Gotta love those Randall Alan blocks.

Thanks, Terry!
Right now, I’ve got the Pecard oil soaked original 1/8 sweat in a turnbuckle wood stretcher and it’s successfully becoming a 7 1/4.
The plan was to sell the Dalton for serious profit, but I imagine it’ll become another fedora in my growing collection, since I am currently Daltonless.

 

[T Jones]

Hot diggity damn! I got me a Resistol Western with a Fancy Dan Feather Band! I'm kind of wanting to leave it Western but it's a size 7 with a 3 1/2 brim. I'll be blocking it up to a 7 1/4, in addition to changing the open crown shape, so it's going to lose some width. I don't know how much, though. Either way, Western or fedora, it's going to make a nice project.

 

[Tukwila]

Hot diggity damn! I got me a Resistol Western with a Fancy Dan Feather Band! I'm kind of wanting to leave it Western but it's a size 7 with a 3 1/2 brim. I'll be blocking it up to a 7 1/4, in addition to changing the open crown shape, so it's going to lose some width. I don't know how much, though. Either way, Western or fedora, it's going to make a nice project.

Can't wait to see what you create with this one!

Do the stiff brims of the westerns ever give you trouble? Is there a way to soften them up, maybe with spirits or something?

 

[Randall Renshaw]

Hot diggity damn! I got me a Resistol Western with a Fancy Dan Feather Band! I'm kind of wanting to leave it Western but it's a size 7 with a 3 1/2 brim. I'll be blocking it up to a 7 1/4, in addition to changing the open crown shape, so it's going to lose some width. I don't know how much, though. Either way, Western or fedora, it's going to make a nice project.

I don’t know, stretch it and maybe just add some LED lights?

Looking forward to seeing it finished, T.

 

[T Jones]

Can't wait to see what you create with this one!

Do the stiff brims of the westerns ever give you trouble? Is there a way to soften them up, maybe with spirits or something?

Well, they're stiff for sure. Can't say the stiffness ever gave me trouble. They flange easy enough, in my experience. Once they're flanged and snapped down they definitely keep their shape. With that said, I think I'd definitely prefer softer. I've been so used to stiff brims that I really didn't pay much attention to it. I can say this much, the wind took one of my Stagecoach conversions off my head and blew it across the parking lot at Lowe's. When I finally caught up with it my hat was a crushed up mess. I popped it back out and it went right back into shape like nothing ever happened to it.

 

[T Jones]

I don’t know, stretch it and maybe just add some LED lights?

Looking forward to seeing it finished, T.

LED lights definitely sounds like the ticket for an added touch!

 

[belfastboy]

Hot diggity damn! I got me a Resistol Western with a Fancy Dan Feather Band! I'm kind of wanting to leave it Western but it's a size 7 with a 3 1/2 brim. I'll be blocking it up to a 7 1/4, in addition to changing the open crown shape, so it's going to lose some width. I don't know how much, though. Either way, Western or fedora, it's going to make a nice project.

I had one of these in a blue felt. The moths got it and I tossed the feather band.

 

[T Jones]

Where can I get a venting punch like this. I have a conversion idea for the Resistol I got yesterday.

 

[Tukwila]

Where can I get a venting punch like this. I have a conversion idea for the Resistol I got yesterday.

Mike Miller told me he punches those holes one at a time! Wow...

 

[Yamahana]

Where can I get a venting punch like this. I have a conversion idea for the Resistol I got yesterday.

I had the same idea for one of mine awhile back, found this thread,,,
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/snowflake-star-vent-hole-template.82749/

 

[T Jones]

Mike Miller told me he punches those holes one at a time! Wow...

That's some work! He probably uses a template for that, I would think.

 

[T Jones]

I had the same idea for one of mine awhile back, found this thread,,,
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/snowflake-star-vent-hole-template.82749/

Thanks buddy. Looks interesting. I also found this one for some ideas too.
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/now-forming-the-campaign-hat-corps.16998/

 

[T Jones]

Rebuilding my recently acquired Resistol BR20 Western. I'm sizing this up from a size 7 to a 7 1/4 on my trusty straight sided custom RA block. This hat started out with a 6 1/2 open crown height but is now lowered to a 5 3/4 open crown height. 5 3/4 is still more than plenty tall for a fedora or for an OR style cattleman crease.

Straight and tall with a rounded top... even though I've lowered the crown height I'll still be losing a little brim width since I'm blocking this hat up two sizes bigger and completely changing out the open crown shape.

 

[T Jones]

I'm thinking of doing something like this, a 1902 style campaign hat, but with some of my own touches. For one, I'll probably do a cattleman crease rather than the tightly squeezed crease and tapered up crowns that I've seen on these hats in images from the era. I have to say, I'm not a fan of those squeezed up and tapered crowns. But, should I go this route, this would serve only as inspiration rather than being a copy....and since I don't have a ply ribbon, I'll have to substitute that too, but still do the same bow style.

 

[BobHufford]

I'm thinking of doing something like this, a 1902 style campaign hat, but with some of my own touches. For one, I'll probably do a cattleman crease rather than the tightly squeezed crease and tapered up crowns that I've seen on these hats in images from the era. I have to say, I'm not a fan of those squeezed up and tapered crowns. But, should I go this route, this would serve only as inspiration rather than being a copy....and since I don't have a ply ribbon, I'll have to substitute that too, but still do the same bow style.

That's gonna be a cool hat! I think Tim (Alley Cat / Purebeaver) had a variety of ply ribbon. Although I don't know if there is a minimum to purchase.

 

[T Jones]

That's gonna be a cool hat! I think Tim (Alley Cat / Purebeaver) had a variety of ply ribbon. Although I don't know if there is a minimum to purchase.

Thanks Bob! I didn't think about Tim. I follow him on Instagram so I'll definitely check him out and see what he has.

 

[T Jones]

Update on my version of a 1902 Campaign Hat conversion. It's off the the block. After going through some old pictures of these hats I didn't realize how individualistic some of those soldiers of yesteryear were in creasing their hats and shaping their brims. The various creases and brim shapes were all over the place. I was also surprised that the brim widths on some of those hats were 2 3/4 inches and under, and that open crown heights varied from 5 1/2 to 6 inches. Anyway, my version sports a 5 3/4 open crown with a 3 inch brim width. I did a couple of dry runs on some of the various creases that I saw in some pictures of the era and I'm kind of leaning toward something like this. I dunno yet. I still gotta ways to with this project to see if I can collect some things I need for it...

This is just a dry crease based off a couple that I saw in some old pictures of these hats. Brim is not yet shaped...

This is just a quick and loose dry crease to give me an idea of what I'm going for. I've got it popped back out to its open crown for now until I decide on something definite...

Heston's movie version. "55 Days At Peking"

Evidently it doesn't seem that there was any uniform mandate on how these hats were supposed to be worn at the time
https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/now-forming-the-campaign-hat-corps.16998/page-4

 

[T Jones]

Gotta 3X Beaver Longhorn Western off the block. It's still sitting until I figure out what I want to do with it, this hat is really, really, orange!

It started out as a size 7 1/8 and I blocked it up to a size 7 1/4 on my special made custom RA block. The sides on this hat are completely vertical all around after blocking with an open crown height of 5 3/4 inches...

Before:

Stripped down and ready for the block:

On the RA block:

Off the block, brim ironed and trimmed and ready to be put together:

As far as my assessment of the quality of Longhorn hats, they're really not much different than any other Western hat maker of its era. They're pretty much what one would expect, stiff and thick felted, although the sweat on this one was pretty cheesy, and like other hat manufacturers of its era, it's nowhere near the quality of older vintage hats, ('50s and pre '50s). Basically, if you come across one of these at a decent price, I wouldn't be afraid to buy one, (at a decent price, that is).
In my opinion, when it comes to Western hats of this era, (and I've worked on quite a few), Resistols are of better quality than the rest, and that includes Stetson not being equal in quality to Resistol.