Felt hat basics

[Bourne ID]

Thanks Matt, this is why we come to the Lounge! I really appreciate all the knowledge that you share here. I find myself digging through threads looking for your posts, always something to be gained.

 

[fmw]

Counter clockwise in the same direction (your left) as a clock when you look at it. Note that the underside of the brim needs to go clockwise.

Here's a link to a hat sponge. http://www.sheplers.com/hats/hat_accessories_care/101392.html

 

[T Rick]

Thanks Matt, great video (and cool socks!). What hat is that you're using for the demo?

 

[Matt Deckard]

Thanks for the compliments... Videos were John In Covina's idea. I've just finally got around to doing one.
The hat is a prototype I had made up, same one as in my current avatar.

 

[EggHead]

Thanks Matt, good video and I liked the hat!

 

[danofarlington]

Thanks for the video! You're a natural in front of the camera, Matt. I really enjoyed it.

Off-topic: Do you happen to be in SF or the SF Bay Area in March or early April? I'd very much like to bespeak a suit.

If you were afraid of a custom-made suit, would you be "bespooked?'' Just an idle question.

 

[scottyrocks]

If you were afraid of a custom-made suit, would you be "bespooked?'' Just an idle question.

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

Thanks Matt, good video and I liked the hat!

:arated:

 

[furfeltfettish]

hat cleaning and refurb

After looking a various websites and reading a book on Stetson hat making, I decided to try a method suggested but not often spoken of. Pardon me, if this offends the purists on here, but this worked well for me. I occasionally purchase felt hats that have deep moth bites or bad stains and smudges, and you can only do so much with a hat brush and sponge. I decided to try this method on my old stetson 3x fedora that is far from mint, a daily driver. There was a bad moth bite on the front of the crown that was really bugging me--no pun intended. So I got the finest grain of sand paper that I could find, and stroking with the knap as I would with a brush, I went over the bite taking off a very thin layer of felt. The bite is now barely noticable and the felt looks normal, not sanded. I have used this method on stubborn stains with great success as well, often with just a few light strokes necessary to remove the offending mark.
have any of you tried this?

 

[Aureliano]

I have. I think sanding is a well known process around here.

 

[Alan-Eby]

I had a couple old western hats given to me by a friend of my grandfather, they were pretty beat up and dirty so not knowing anything about anything I asked my Mum how to clean felt. My Mum doesn't know about hats, but has made a lot of stuff out of felt. She said sand it, so I did. Those old hats now look like new hats and get many compliments.

 

[scottyrocks]

Sanding, in hat parlance, is called pouncing. Every fur felt hat goes through it during creation, and sometimes after that, as you have done.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Thanks for the compliments... Videos were John In Covina's idea. I've just finally got around to doing one.
The hat is a prototype I had made up, same one as in my current avatar.

The basic point of the video is simple enough -- namely, rest a soft fedora on its brim and not the crown. Meanwhile, throughout the video, you continuously commit a huge hat crime by handling the fedora by the crown -- specifically, by the pinch. Over time, that takes more of a toll on a hat than storing it on its crown...

 

[Bourne ID]

The basic point of the video is simple enough -- namely, rest a soft fedora on its brim and not the crown. Meanwhile, throughout the video, you continuously commit a huge hat crime by handling the fedora by the crown -- specifically, by the pinch. Over time, that takes more of a toll on a hat than storing it on its crown...

you know...I was thinking about that handling method. I'll bet you any amount that this is exactly how we got the pinched front, top creased fedora that we all know so well. Think about it..the derby and bowler came first but removing a hat by the brim doesn't work so well and so men reached for the crown. Every time they grabbed it they creased it and one day a gentleman said to himself "that looks mighty fine just like that". And there you go..the fedora was born. Or maybe it was the stetson cowboy hats with the extra wide brim that would have made it even harder to remove so the boys reached up for the crown. I do try to remember to not pinch my crown but it is easier to get the hat off that way. I've ruined a few straws that way though.

 

[DRB]

Using two hands to place and displace your hat is the least stressful method on the hat.

 

[Yeps]

you know...I was thinking about that handling method. I'll bet you any amount that this is exactly how we got the pinched front, top creased fedora that we all know so well. Think about it..the derby and bowler came first but removing a hat by the brim doesn't work so well and so men reached for the crown....

Well, I really doubt it came from the derby, since those are stiff hats, and grabbing them by the crown just won't work. However, I tend to agree with you on the general idea. Maybe it came from people grabbing center creased hats by the crown.

 

[danofarlington]

I buy cans of air at Staples and use one in each hand to gently blow the hat off my head.

 

[T Rick]

I buy cans of air at Staples and use one in each hand to gently blow the hat off my head.

So do you catch it by the brim, or the crown?

 

[danofarlington]

So do you catch it by the brim, or the crown?

Only the brim. My crowns are far too delicate to be blustered about by gusts of air.

 

[DRB]

Dano: I'll have to try that method.