6x beaver

[ridjrunr]

Does anyone know the best way to lower the crown on a beaver felt hat.Thanx,ridjrunr

 

[Bountyhunter]

How Norte Tejas are you? If you are in the panhandle, take your hat to the Crazy House western store, east 54Hwy, in Liberal and have Preston steam it and re-shape it for you. There used to be a good Western store in Amarillo, on Georgia south of I-40. The last time I was by there, it was more like a hippy hangout. Dont know if they have anyone in there that is smart enough to reshape a hat or not. Joes Boots on the east side of Clovis is real good too. It takes a hat steamer to get the job done right, and then the felt is going to be hot and wet, and if you dont know what you are doing, you will scald your hands.

 

[ameling]

It is kind of hard to lower the crown of a hat by using heat/steam to "reshape" or mold the hat. You can ... re-shape ... the crown, but squishing it shorter will be very hard to do.

The only practical way would be to cut a section out of the crown and stitch it back togeter. Not an ... elegent ... solution, but workable. Measure up from the brim as high as you need to cut out to "lower" the crown, then mark/cut the side of the crown all the way around at that point. Then slide the crown down over what is left of the sides - so they overlap. Now stitch the edge down to the point where the crown and rim meet. And a little stitching inside on that other cut end helps hold it in place. A Hat Band around the outside and a sweatband/liner on the inside of this area will cover up that new stitched seam.

A little heat/steam will then allow you to adjust the size and true up the shape of the crown.

Hope this helps.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

I wouldn't ruin a good 6X beaver hat, I'd buy another hat that met my needs.

 

[mazo kid]

Mike gave a good way to lower the crown. I don't have a 6X beaver hat but do have a fair quality one that I want to do the same thing to. The book "Lighting Grandma's Fire" has step by step instructions. Emery

 

[Bountyhunter]

Just going from a standard Texas/New Mexico Crease or Montana Crease to a flat top with a roll can lower the crown by as much as one and a half inches. I dont like the crown rubbing my head, so I dont take them down like Zorro. Six X is a standard everyday hat in this area, but I sure wouldnt cut the crown down. Either reshape it or get another one that more closely suits your needs. You can resell the one you have for enough to buy two new ones. People who are buying the used hats are the same ones that pay $100 for used Levi's.

 

[ridjrunr]

Thanx for the input.I only have 25 in the hat and really like the rigidity of it.That is why I would rather work with the one I have.I wore it at my clubs voo a couple weeks ago and it was real comfy,just seems like it might be a bit too high. thanx again,ridjrunr

 

Ridge,

I depends on what time period you are aiming for, but there are 3 options:
1) Leave it rounded and tall. There's some evidence of taller crown hats back into the mid-1700s.
2) Shape it into a bell-crown hat which is a common pattern from 1820-50. Check Clearwater's page for examples, but you'll need to make a block to shape it that way and the block will have to come apart to get it out. I think one of our members (maybe Cooner54) did this some time back.
3) If you're set on a short crown hat, you'll have to buy one.

Sean