Ok thanks for the info. I would definitely be interested in those in the future. Might need to find someone who wants to split an order since I don't do much quantity.
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Hat making?? Learning Millinery..
T Jones
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 6,795
- Location
- Central Ohio
I sew all of my brim bindings by hand. Like Robert said, it takes a good level of patience and it's slow and back breaking work. Magnifying hobby glasses really help, and you have more control over where you put your stitches. With that said, I do have a nice sewing machine and if I was better at using one I would switch out the hand sewing for the machine.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
These are light weight 120gr dress felts so it might not work for your clientele.
Yes sir. I am mostly interested in western hats but I would like to get my hands on some light weight felts for some fedoras.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
The FEPSA 120gr Rabbit felts are nice to work with and make for a nice vintage feel hat. Good colour selection as well.
Darrell2688
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 400
- Location
- Piner, Kentucky
The FEPSA 120G Rabbit and the 95G Beaver are nice to work with , the beaver has a soft silky feel and the hat is so comfortable to wear, you will forget that you are wearing a hat. I have a FEPSA Beaver in the Brown Sugar color with a dark brown hat band, Indiana Jones Raiders Style in size 7 3/8" on Ebay for sale and I may just keep the hat for myself then sell a Indy Raiders Style hat in chocolate color rabbit in 7 3/8" that I have not posted for sale yet. I purchased my rabbit and beaver from Pure Beaver after Robert told me about Pure Beaver, they also have Western weight felts in stock.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
If I understand its operation....you need to stand there, hold and direct the iron? It is not automated? What do you see is the advantage to this over hand pouncing/ironing? Is it the time factor alone?
You are correct, this is a manual iron without automatic feed. It's definitely not a new idea. There were manual crown irons back in the day you just don't see too many surviving examples. The biggest advantage I see in this setup over hand pouncing and ironing is just speed and consistency. Obviously a fine job can also be done by hand by someone who knows what they're doing. This is just another tool that some people prefer.
One way to think of it if you compare this to woodworking is a hand molding plane versus a router versus an industrial wood shaper with power feed to make molding. The hand molding plane would compare to hand ironing and pouncing, the router would compare to my manual iron, and the power feed industrial wood shaper would compare to the full automatic crown iron. The same result can be had from all three methods but it's basically just a matter of skill level, speed required and preference. Always more than one way to skin a cat!
One way to think of it if you compare this to woodworking is a hand molding plane versus a router versus an industrial wood shaper with power feed to make molding. The hand molding plane would compare to hand ironing and pouncing, the router would compare to my manual iron, and the power feed industrial wood shaper would compare to the full automatic crown iron. The same result can be had from all three methods but it's basically just a matter of skill level, speed required and preference. Always more than one way to skin a cat!
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Darrell2688
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 400
- Location
- Piner, Kentucky
How fast does the hat block and felt spin? Pouncing by hand with a spinning blocked felt would make the pouncing work a little faster.
This one has a max speed of 135 RPM. I think right around 60 RPM is a good speed for ironing. I have another spinner that runs up to 270 RPM and I like that one for finish sanding crowns. Here's a link to a crappy video of the crown iron in action.
Darrell2688
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 400
- Location
- Piner, Kentucky
I think that you have a nice setup, it may not be fully automatic, but all you have to do is turn on the power and control the speed through the rheostat switch, let the iron get hot, spray the felt and then swing the arm around and move the iron from the top of the crown and down onto the side. That is really a great idea, I don't know if you can use the same machine for the pouncing, but if you can use that machine for both operations, that is a really nice setup. I think that will cut down on the time for pouncing and ironing. I can see that you know how to solve a problem. I don't know how much the automatic setups cost, I haven't checked because I don't have the money for the automatic machines or the work space, so I do things by hand.
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Thanks. The same setup can definitely be used for pouncing. The 135 RPM speed is plenty for most people. I never checked myself, because I knew they would be out of my price range, but I was told the automatic ones are north of $10,000. I can't remember the exact number.
Also, I'm not trying to push mine for sale on here. I just was excited to get it put together and tested. I wanted to share with some people who might think it's cool and know what the heck I'm even talking about when I say I made a crown iron since this thread is where I've learned most of what I know about hat making from.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
Mike at Buckaroo hatters sells the not automatic ones. There is a used one on IG right now, asking price is $6500US. I think the vintage fully automatic ones are like unicorns. Fixing them when they go on the blink is apparently a bitch.
I wish I had time to swing by Mike's place when I was driving through Tennessee a couple of months ago. I haven't seen his hats in person but I've heard that they are top notch. It's cool that he makes some hat making equipment too.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
It was this time last year I was in TN, totally forgot about Buckaroo otherwise would have dropped in. I did get a chance to visit Winchester......that was one of the highlights of the entire trip.
I assume you had scheduled a tour with Winchester ahead of time? I didn't think about it before my trip but I went right by there. I assumed they didn't want people just dropping in so I didn't stop by but now I kind of wish I had tried. I did get a tour of the Hatco factory in Garland, TX on my way home though and that was pretty cool to see.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
I didn't plan that far ahead. I phoned them from Nashville and asked if I could pop my head in and see the factory .....giving them two days notice. We did it as a day trip out of Nashville.
JWcustomhats
New in Town
- Messages
- 24
We've got extra's available in various quantities if your still looking. Would love to help.
- Messages
- 10,855
- Location
- vancouver, canada
It seems like forever ago since we shot the raw footage....but the final edited cut of my instructional video covering the A to Z of hat making is very close to release. It will be marketed by HatCourses.com. A week's worth of footage, edited down to about 4 hours (to save you from watching me sew!), presented in Modules and indexed will be released very soon. I am excited as I think it is a great product.
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