How I cleaned and reshaped it

[Joseph Casazza]

If you are interested, and especially if you have any comments and/or advice, here is what I did to clean and reshape that Stetson "Open Road."

I did start with a pretty soft bit of felt. First I cleaned the marks off the hat with white vinegar and plain white paper towels for some light rubbing, counter-clockwise. I never soaked the hat, but it did get fairly wet in the worst spots. I had to do this three of four times to get the worst stains out. I also wiped the hat gently with vinegar all over to get any dirt off that wasn't obvious. Then I let it dry. You really have to let it dry to see what effect your cleaning has had. I filled a non-whistling teakettle with water and let it boil. You want the steam to be leaving the spout at a pretty good rate. And watch your hands. Ask me how I know. I worked on a section at a time - front, one side, the other side, back, one side of the brim, other side of the brim. I held the hat over the steaming spout, only an inch or two above the kettle, and got the felt nice and wet and hot, but not soaked, and just worked out the old dents with my fingers, mostly from inside, trying not to stretch the felt as I went. It might be helpful to have something rounded and sort ot the right circumference to help keep odd finger dents out of the felt. I never found what I needed, but my wife suggested maybe the cut off bottom of an empty vinegar jug. I worked the crown into its open crown shape, let everything cool and dry, repeated the process a couple of times for the most stubborn wrinkles, and then redented it. A little more steam might help set the new dents, but I didn't find it necessary. The brim, by the way, just needed a bit of straightening. I've heard of ironing it, but I didn't try that. It seemed to me that I could very easily take out the snap to the brim. As I said, there are a few small ripples where the old dents were, but they are not very obvious, and I am currently satisifed, until the hat needs a complete reblocking.