From my great uncle, this hat was made in calgary around 100 years ago and it’s done the chilkoot trail, paddled to dawson city, has surely been stomped into cow shit before, etc
Yes my uncle killed that bear with his bare fists
Have you considered changing the size of your head with experimental surgery?
Take it to a western wear store that has a hat section. One of the guys there would probably do it for the story
“So this guy came in and I stretched his hat.”
Maybe take it to a pro, I wouldn’t trust myself to do it 😅
How much of a stretch? With steam you might be able to add a few(!) centimeters to the hat size, but no miracles. Overstretching will rip it.
This is a job for professionals with the right equipment, BTW.
I imagine (as in I’m not sure) that if you try to do it yourself you might tear it around the area where it looks like some dirt has soaked in and provided a foothold for mould to grow from. I suspect that area is very fragile rn.
Personally, given it’s age, I would ask for advice from a museum on the best ways to clean and care for it and ask them if it’s possible for it to be reshaped to fit you.
I think they use steam but I would take it to a professional.
Take it to Cavender’s or somewhere similar and see if they can stretch it for you. l
Slowly. They make hat stretchers. Probably want to make sure the material is well hydrated. I’d do it carefully over several weeks or months, maybe misting it with some water.
Steam.
