I think I can make one of these 2 work? (Hats)

[sadhill]

Two vintage Stetsons...with a little modifications.......

[dave jenkins]

You have these in your possession?

[sadhill]

Yes, both mine. I also have an Akubra hat that is close.

[cigar joe]

Cool

[Cusser]

See https://www.straightlinecollectibles.com/

And I don't know if Clint still has the original hat; he has the other parts of the costume such as the poncho and pistol, saw them at the Leone Exhibit in Los Angeles, cannot remember if the hat was included (no photography was allowed).

See this too  https://www.themanwithnoname.info/the-hat/the-original-hat

Carmel parade a few years ago, can see the holes in the poncho from "A Fistful of Dollars".  In the two later films, sometimes they forgot to reverse the poncho and the bullet holes are present and sewn-up.  there's a thread on this somewhere on this site.

[noodles_leone]

Yes, both mine. I also have an Akrubra hat that is close.

Which Akubra? The pastoralist?
https://www.cityhatters.com.au/products/akubra-pastoralist-hat?variant=41620544159927

I own their Snowy River. Unkillable hats, they're really worthy of their legend.

[sadhill]

Probably only matters to us here who detail this character but the hat is very important. Anyone else will think any hat looks correct  but not me as I have been looking for a better hat. The straightline one doesn't look correct to me.

Here is the Akubra I have..... says made "MADE ESPRESSLY FOR OUTBACK TRADING CO PA"
I really need a hatters pencil roll tool for the rim. I will try a clothes steamer, any suggestions to get the edge up correct?

I think the first Stetson above has the look if I can get the rim flat and the edge correct

[noodles_leone]

It seems to me your Stetson has a higher crown than Clint's one... but that's also where costume replicas reach their limitation: IMO you need to find the right balance between guenuine and "fits YOUR body". There are rules about how a hat is supposed to fit your head and shoulders so what fits Eastwood may never look right on you if your head and body shape aren't eastwoodian enough. The best argument for my case: check out all the people who are after the perfect Indiana Jones hat (there are hundreds of them on YouTube only). No matter how exact their replicas are, they rarely look great on them because they just aren?t Harrison Ford, and those hats were made for Ford.

Anyway, back to your Stetson:
- the crown seems too high
- I cannot tell from the pic but are you sure the brim, once flattened, will be perfectly round (as I think Eastwood's brim is)? Some hats, especially fedoras and cowboy hats, can sometimes have dimensional brims (such as Indiana Jones' hat, which is longer front and back than left and right).

I have never seriously tried to reshape my hats myself but yeah, usually you'd need to get them wet (usually a steamer, but an akubra can sustain TONS OF WATER), and slowly work them while keeping them wet. If you go to fast and/or don't put enough steam/water, you'll end up with wrinkles. Since you really want to flatten the brim, i'd try to iron it (maybe put some cloth between the iron and the hat). Once again I'm no expert. There are tons of videos on YouTube to inspire you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3TOIvFrXec
Also be careful with the sweatband if your hats have one. If it gets wet, it can shrink, which can make the hat too smll for you to wear it. Especially leather sweatbands.

[sadhill]

You are so correct in that the hat must fit/match the person whos wearing it, so that is why I am trying several to balance "the look" with what looks good on me. Eastwood did wear different hats in the films, one with a higher crown, one lower. I'm looking for the GBU look. My stetson can be rolled down a bit from the top to make the top of the crown deeper and the height shorter.

The darker stetson flattened  brim is 3.5" north/south/east/west
the lighter is 3" north/east/west and 3.25 south
my akubra is 3" all around






thanks for the input and tips/links

[sadhill]

Getting there, found an old small clothes steamer and slowly but surely.......

[noodles_leone]

Man than looks good. How did you do the rim of the brim? Also, can you show it from above?
Last, I just noticed Eastwood's hat had a stitched brim. But when it comes to brims I'm all for raw edges. Stitched brims have a "city" look that I usually don't love (doesn't help that most wool hats nowadays have stuctched brims, so a raw brim automatically screams "fur felt" or "leather").

[cigar joe]

Agree looks really good.

[sadhill]

I have tried to find an appropriate hat with a gosgrain ribbon edged brim (from what I've read) but can't find one. The pencil curl I created by steaming the edge and bending it around a AAA battery of all things and also by hand forming. Very easy to do if you have the proper steamer and a good felt/beaver hat. I had an old Norleco steamer just like this one pictured I found around the house. If you're trying to modify a hat  something like this steamer is highly recommended. I haven't used the steamer on my Akubra hat I posted earlier above so I'm sure the edge will look much better.  I still have some steaming tweaks to do, the edge, raising up the center of the hat a bit in the middle on top and making the top rim a bit more deeper and crisper/sharper. The hat band came with this Stetson, I didn't cut is yet, just folded it downwards to make it thinner. I might go for a more exacting one as replica are being offered. I wish this was a bit darker/more brown but I have the other Stetson to work on yet but this one fits me better.  I have the gun but I don't have the guts to shoot some bullet holes in it yet!