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Antinomy

Familiar Face
Messages
52
Hi all, im keep on to learn different hatmaking technics, does anyone knows how some hatmakers make some dust effects on the hats, if its non a big secret)
 

Coup de Tete

New in Town
Messages
6
Location
Toronto
Does anyone out there know how Fepsa (well their sister company) bleaches Beaver Fur? I know that the bleached rabbit fur bales come from Ukraine and both Fepsa and Winchester orders this but the only place that successfully seems to bleach out beaver fur is in Portugal. Im interested if anyone knows the process?
 
Messages
10,855
Location
vancouver, canada
Does anyone out there know how Fepsa (well their sister company) bleaches Beaver Fur? I know that the bleached rabbit fur bales come from Ukraine and both Fepsa and Winchester orders this but the only place that successfully seems to bleach out beaver fur is in Portugal. Im interested if anyone knows the process?
Do you want to bleach the unprocessed fur or do you want to bleach a beaver capeline?
 

Coup de Tete

New in Town
Messages
6
Location
Toronto
Do you want to bleach the unprocessed fur or do you want to bleach a beaver capeline?
Unprocessed to then be made into a capeline. There currently seems to be only one spot that does this (Fepsa’s second company) and I have recently made a connection that hasn’t cracked the code for bleaching and if I can sort it we may have a new pipeline for 100x and 50x felts in the mix. They have the felting down pat but have struggled in the bleaching department so can’t currently offer pastels
 

Bill Hughes

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,165
Location
North Texas
I was billed $2800 for an MRI here in Oregon. The same quality MRI services were performed in Guayaquil, Ecuador, for around $278.... and they charged me an additional $50 over the usual price as I wasn't a citizen.
My daughter works for an imaging service. Someone will come in for a MRI and be told “you haven’t met your deductible so the cost is $1,900.” If they inquire about the cost without insurance it’s $365. Often they just go without filing insurance to save money. I’m fortunate, since she works there all my imaging services are at no cost. With my back this last year I’ve had MRIs, XRays, and CatScans. All at no cost.
 

Tukwila

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,382
Location
SW of Antifa Central (PDX)
My daughter works for an imaging service. Someone will come in for a MRI and be told “you haven’t met your deductible so the cost is $1,900.” If they inquire about the cost without insurance it’s $365. Often they just go without filing insurance to save money. I’m fortunate, since she works there all my imaging services are at no cost. With my back this last year I’ve had MRIs, XRays, and CatScans. All at no cost.
Even my surgeon at the hospital told me the MRIs should be around $200-$300. He retired this year. I hope his replacement is as good as he was.

My MRI this past week came back unchanged, so good news on the pituitary adenoma front (benign tumor removed as it was pressing against the optic chiasm).
 
Messages
10,855
Location
vancouver, canada
My daughter works for an imaging service. Someone will come in for a MRI and be told “you haven’t met your deductible so the cost is $1,900.” If they inquire about the cost without insurance it’s $365. Often they just go without filing insurance to save money. I’m fortunate, since she works there all my imaging services are at no cost. With my back this last year I’ve had MRIs, XRays, and CatScans. All at no cost.
Here in Canada they try to keep medical costs in check by rationing services. My very elderly mother needed an MRI as they suspected cancer but it was a 6-8 month wait to get one. I inquired about travelling an hour south, just across the border in WA state and paying for one at a private hospital. I could get the MRI the next day for $700. When I told my mother's doctor of our plans somehow he miraculously found a cancellation spot for two weeks hence. We decided we could handle the two week wait.
 
Messages
11,714
Even my surgeon at the hospital told me the MRIs should be around $200-$300. He retired this year. I hope his replacement is as good as he was.

My MRI this past week came back unchanged, so good news on the pituitary adenoma front (benign tumor removed as it was pressing against the optic chiasm).
Good news!
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
Over the past several weeks, my Instagram feed has been showing me Garrahan Hats updates. The hats look pretty nice, but I can't find any additional details, such as prices, etc. Their Facebook page has plenty of photos, but there doesn't seem to be a website or any way to get any information.

Does anybody know any more?


Supposedly, their website goes live tomorrow. Still waiting for them to create a thread here like they said they would. I might start one and send them the link so they can add to it.

Edit:
https://www.garrahanhatco.com/password
 
Last edited:

K5MOW

Familiar Face
Messages
64
Good evening everyone

I have several fur felt fedoras. On a regular basis I use packing tape to clean my hats. Then I use my hat steamer and steam the hat from approximately 15 inches from the steam just getting a light mist. I also use a hat brush to brush the hat while steaming. It works beautifully to keep them clean. My question is. I have one wool felt Fedora that I really like. Can you clean the wool felt with a brush and steam like I do my fur felt hats.

Thank you Roger
 
Messages
10,855
Location
vancouver, canada
Good evening everyone

I have several fur felt fedoras. On a regular basis I use packing tape to clean my hats. Then I use my hat steamer and steam the hat from approximately 15 inches from the steam just getting a light mist. I also use a hat brush to brush the hat while steaming. It works beautifully to keep them clean. My question is. I have one wool felt Fedora that I really like. Can you clean the wool felt with a brush and steam like I do my fur felt hats.

Thank you Roger
I don't see why not. I would be careful not to saturate the wool with the steam but at 15" distance it should be fine. I use a hand steamer on my wool blazers, pants & sweaters etc. to remove wrinkles to no ill effect.
 

ILB Frank

One of the Regulars
Messages
205
I just put in an order with Gannon hats for a western pure beaver in either whiskey or natural. So I have 2 questions.
1) To those in the know - is Gannon's natural dyed or undyed?
2) I have a Stetson Catera in "Bark" (tan hint but mostly slants to a green hue). For my 2nd fur felt hat - should I go with the whiskey or the natural?

I appreciate your thoughts and help.
 
Messages
19,001
Location
Central California
I just put in an order with Gannon hats for a western pure beaver in either whiskey or natural. So I have 2 questions.
1) To those in the know - is Gannon's natural dyed or undyed?
2) I have a Stetson Catera in "Bark" (tan hint but mostly slants to a green hue). For my 2nd fur felt hat - should I go with the whiskey or the natural?

I appreciate your thoughts and help.


If you didn’t specify something else, Gannon uses Winchester felt. I have a couple of Winchester’s hats in natural beaver, but I can’t say if there is any dye. I suspect it is dyed in order to get a solid and consistent color. It’s a great color…maybe my favorite. Whiskey is another nice color too. Good luck.
 
Messages
10,855
Location
vancouver, canada
If you didn’t specify something else, Gannon uses Winchester felt. I have a couple of Winchester’s hats in natural beaver, but I can’t say if there is any dye. I suspect it is dyed in order to get a solid and consistent color. It’s a great color…maybe my favorite. Whiskey is another nice color too. Good luck.
Both are great colours. The Natural (which I think is dyed) is a more neutral colour and can be worn with a broader spectrum of clothing. The Whisky is a very brown colour with a fair bit of yellow undertones and tend to wear it with other earth toned colours while the Natural I will wear with more things...
 

AbridgedPause

One of the Regulars
Messages
141
Location
Montreal, Canada
Have any of you ever tried sanding a heavily sun-faded felt to see if it's in better condition a layer or two down?

I'm trying to find an affordable (free) alternative to sending one out to get flipped inside out. But I don't want to ruin the felt/thin it out if someone's already tried it with no result.
 
Messages
10,855
Location
vancouver, canada
Have any of you ever tried sanding a heavily sun-faded felt to see if it's in better condition a layer or two down?

I'm trying to find an affordable (free) alternative to sending one out to get flipped inside out. But I don't want to ruin the felt/thin it out if someone's already tried it with no result.
I have not had great success with this but I don't see the harm in trying. Use a very fine grit - 1000 or 1200 - with a very light touch and see what you get. I have successfully repaired light mothing by using sanding to even out the nibbles or even scraping with an Xacto blade.
 

glider

A-List Customer
Messages
389
Here's one for the historians among us. At one time Levine hat company had a big hat factory in St Louis, Bee hat company and King Bee were also manufactured in St Louis pretty close to where the Levine factory would have been. Does anyone know if these were 3 separate companies or the same company with 3 separate brands ? Levine still has a store pretty close to where the factory would have been, I believe it is still in the same family. Nice people and a fun place to go.
 

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