I'm really interested in the production processes of fur felt for hats. There is a lot of information throughout this forum on felt production such as the Winchester tour video and the old Stetson film that is I believe from the 1920's. A lot of the detailed processes can be fairly hard to find information on though. I thought it would be cool to start a thread to get as much of this info as possible in one place.
I'm thinking everything from the way the pelts are stretched and dried, to the carroting process (old and new), cutting the fur from the hides, the details about the blowing machines, the machine that forms the cone, all of the shrinking and felting processes, etc.
It would also be cool to see the differences between the old methods of bowing the fur and doing everything by hand compared to the more modern mechanized methods.
Not sure if other people find this kind of stuff as interesting as I do but I work in manufacturing and I've always been really fascinated with production processes. Let's see what you all can dig up. I'll post the YouTube link to the Winchester tour (not my video) to get things started.
I'm thinking everything from the way the pelts are stretched and dried, to the carroting process (old and new), cutting the fur from the hides, the details about the blowing machines, the machine that forms the cone, all of the shrinking and felting processes, etc.
It would also be cool to see the differences between the old methods of bowing the fur and doing everything by hand compared to the more modern mechanized methods.
Not sure if other people find this kind of stuff as interesting as I do but I work in manufacturing and I've always been really fascinated with production processes. Let's see what you all can dig up. I'll post the YouTube link to the Winchester tour (not my video) to get things started.
