Club Obi Wan

Is it possible that the way to get a ToD had would be to find a stetson cowboy hat in the same material and color, then just rebash it and trim the brim?

you'd have to find a rather tall cowboy hat to do that, and even after that i'd be skeptical......now if you do a reblock, then yes.

i've seen some folks turn old cowboy hats to indy hats and they looked great.....of course, they had to do an overhaul.

But lets say you found a hat with a five inch crown, couldnt you just steam it into a bowler shape ala the akubra, then just rebash it and trim the brim, and add a ribbon? Im asking because I kind of like the way the ToD had slopes inwardly on the front pinch.

Indiana Joyce wrote:But lets say you found a hat with a five inch crown, couldnt you just steam it into a bowler shape ala the akubra, then just rebash it and trim the brim, and add a ribbon? Im asking because I kind of like the way the ToD had slopes inwardly on the front pinch.

if you find a good cowboy hat with a nice open crowned shape/height....i don't see why not. just remember that western felt is thicker/heavier than dress felt.....so you'll need some extra elbow grease when playing with it

Sure that would work! Do you already have a hat picked out, or is there another reason you want to do this with a cowboy hat? I have a great Raiders fedora made from an old cowboy hat, but the reason I chose to do it was that it was the only hat I could find at the time with enough material to work with and close to the right color. It cost me $60.00.

A quality Stetson cowboy hat with a tall enough crown starts at $150.00. The best model for your project would probably be the Rancher, although I don't know if those come in brown anymore. I would only do this if I already had a hat in my hand, or could buy one for far less than I could shell out for a ready made fedora from one of the vendors here.

Weston

i think the easiest way to get a good TOD hat is to let a Raiders hat taper naturally.
I've got a Fed III with a Raiders bash that's seen a fair bit of rain. i haven't popped out the crown while it dried after the last few downpours, and the resulting slight taper looks very Temple to me.

I was just thinking if Im ever out at a flea market or a yard sale and I happen to find a cowboy hat that is made from the right kind of felt ie not wool, I could work with it. The color doesnt matter that much as I can bleach and dye it, then hit it with some sandpaper. Just always thinking about the future. Other people wont notice that its a TOD style hat but to me it will be.

I'd say if you want one, Todd's styling of his HJ is pretty good. It fits the poet more naturally than styling it the Raiders way.