steaming a hat...

[huntnmuleys]

ok, how do ya do it.  i have a Filson hat that i just adore. its not a soft wool one more a bit sturdier material.  anyway, ive heard i can "steam" it to reshape it, and its got a couple funny creases in it.  can i fix this or do i need to find a new, wool, crushable hat?

[ethan]

If it's wool you can't really reshape it.  It probably won't hold. If it's felt you can easily re-shape it with steam.  It doesn't take much, you could use a regular old tea kettle.  Once it gets some good steam coming out just let it hit the hat for a bit.  You'll feel it get soft and plyable (sp?) and shape it however you want. In just a few seconds it will cool and feel normal again.  Simple!

[Frank V]

I've steamed a lot of felt hats, but I'm not sure what yours is made of.   :confused:   Is it one of the waxed fabric hats? If it's a waxed cotton fabric hat you probably shouldn't steam it at all. You might use a hair dryer to warm it & change the shape.
Good luck.
Frank

[huntnmuleys]

im actually not sure what it is, but im betting waxed cotton.  and, since i have no hair i dont have a hair dryer.  might have to borrow one.

[Uncle Buck]

If you have a real Hat store in your area they should be able to reblock it for you. By a real hat store, I mean one that sells mens hats as their primary business.

[PowDuck]

Or a western store that sells cowboy hats. They're usually good at reshaping hats.

[Paul Shirek]

I have steamed many hats back into shape. I use a steam iron with the steam button held down. Use more steam than pressure but a little pressure from the iron will not hurt as long as there is a lot of steam coming out. You can shape it back to it's original form real easy but if you want to change it's shape it will take more work. If you hat is a mess now, what can it hurt to try? And it will cost you nothing.

[reddogge]

Beaver felt hats can be steamed and reshaped fairly easy. I don't know about cotton.

[huntnmuleys]

i went to work with the steam last night and it is a lot better. my guess is this hat is a hard canvas maybe?  anyway, it does look a lot sharper, but of course there is the still the hard brim issue, and id prefer something crushable so im going to go hat shopping today.

[PrarrieDog]

Brad, Next time you come to Casper, throw it in the truck and go to Lou Tauberts. They do a good job of reshaping.

[mrjsl]

Fur felt hats can be steamed/shaped again and again. I have a Resistol Black Gold 20x hat that is 22 years old, and still going strong.

Wool felt hats are the el cheapos of cowboy hats. They may hold up to it once, but not multiple times. In the cowboy hat world, wool felt hats are for tourists, basically.

[centaur]

Personally, I like it when my hat (s) get some aging and character, but like PDog says, if you are in Casper, Taubert's can do all sorts of stuff with hat shaping.