Working very carefully, drawing on the expertise of people here and elsewhere, I successfully stretched my beaver/rabbit blend fur hat with a leather sweat band using a vintage wooden hat stretcher about 1/8". It did not distort the hat, nor damage the sweat band. It took several days of slowly...

Well, I can't seem to figure out how to embed pix in a post, so I'll just have to describe what I did. I followed the sage advice of Michaelson and Bending Oak. To begin, I turned the leather sweatband inside out, wet it with a damp sponge just enough to moisten the suede-like back of the leather, t...

Here's the vintage hat stretcher I bought. http://s1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa363/newjerseyjones/hat%20stretcher/?action=view&current=T2eC16RHJIQE9qUHsjdPBQTS3n7g60_57-1_zps890b31d9.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It has size markings on the brass sliders between ...

I just get a cup of water, wet my finger then rub it around the inside of the sweat to where I can see the leather darken, showing some water has ben absorbed. I then install my stretcher, tighten to the right size and let it dry. Easy. Regards! Michaelson What kind of stretcher do you use? Did you...

Been thinking about doing a little stretching on one of my hats. It's just slightly tight. This is the only place I've seen anyone suggest wetting the hatband. Even David Morgan's video on YouTube has him steaming the hat from the outside then placing a hat jack in it. Just how wet should one get th...

Puppetboy wrote:I should market underwear with padded butts for all us old guys.

-Todd

http://www.bottomsup.ca/forMen.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I, too, found them more spacious than I expected. Not just at the waist, but the whole seat, including my thighs. I am going to exchange mine for a smaller waist, and hope they fit better overall. If you look at the photos of Ford wearing his, they are not pulled up high, they are sitting at his wai...

Gosh, my thread has been christened by the All-knowing, All-seeing Michaelson - I feel honored and slightly nauseous - I mean, humbled. ;) The boxes Steve sent them in were fine - it's just the hats. Obviously they were not stored in the boxes in which they were sent. Yep, I'll be airing these out f...

Sorry if I confused anyone - I thought I was pretty clear. The hats that smell smoky are the two vintage ones I bought from Steve. One is a greenish tan Borsalino rabbit fur, and the other is a grey/tan HJ which I'm pretty sure is beaver. Neither the AB nor the Penman have any pronounced odor. I bou...

... the Penman and AB I bought (both secondhand, BTW, so I have no idea how old they are) don't have a pronounced odor. I was at my shop again today, where the hats are. The AB and Penman really have no odor at all. The Penman has been out on a hat stand, but the AB has been in a box. The vintage h...

The felt has died? :shock: What does that mean? I have other vintage (1970's) fur felt hats that don't smell like that, and as I've said, the AB and Penman don't smell like the vintage fedoras I bought from Steve. The odor is strong enough to smell when I'm wearing them, especially the greenish tan ...

Well, see, that's my issue and why I started this thread. As I said earlier, they've been sitting out for some time without any noticeable decrease in odor, so airing them out doesn't seem to be cutting it. And the Penman and AB I bought (both secondhand, BTW, so I have no idea how old they are) don...

My hat has no nose.

How does it smell?

Terrible!

Rick

Many thanks for all the input. BTW, I was not trying to cast aspersions, or anything. I suppose I should have left Steve's name out of the equation and just said that I have three smelly hats! And who knows, perhaps the vintage hats smelled of smoke when Steve bought them. So I apologize if it sound...

Thanks for the replies. And mods, sorry I posted in the wrong forum. :oops: I'm pretty sure it's cigarette smoke. My dad was a big-time smoker, and my wife is a former social smoker, so I'm pretty familiar with that smell. I will try a bit of Febreeze on the hat I care least about (is there one?) an...

Hey, folks. I can't seem to find anything about this posted anywhere, so I decided to start a thread. I am a big fan of Steve Delk. Bought a beaver Raiders Adventurebilt, and two vintage fedoras from him in the Cairo Bazaar that he had lying around that were just nice hats. But I'm guessing he's a s...

PS - Overall, I like my whip from Gus. I don't know what a "wet noodle" whip would feel like, but mine cracks well and handles easily. It is an 8' 8 plait, in the natural RAIDERS color, which I thankfully got before he (like everyone else) raised his prices. I prefer the more numerous plai...

As of June 13 his website says wait time is 6 weeks.

Rick

Hi, all. Very first post from a newbie here. I received my size Large Todd's shirt today, and here is my take on the sizing: I am 6'2", about 180 lbs, with a slim build. The shirt is, as others have noted, fitted, meaning it tapers at the waist. If you are thick in the middle, this cut will not...