How much rain can an Akubra take?

[Neophyte]

Last night, without checking the weather channel, my mother decided to go walk the dog around 9:00 at night. I went with her to make sure nothing happened to her or the dog. I brought my hat with me, and Akubra Fed IV, just trying to let it conform to my head. I've only hat this hat for about a month. It's gotten wet in several light rainstorms, but last night's thunderstorm was different.:eusa_doh:
We still had two miles to go when the rain started to hit, becoming progressively harder. I started to worry about my hat. When my mom, the dog and I were all soaking wet, I decided "enough was enough" and sprinted the last 3/4 mile back to the house to get the car to retrieve my mum. Running down an unlit road in heavy rain and lightning is dangerous, and I nearly fell to my death in one of the 7-feet-deep drainage creeks along the side of the road (not to mention a close call with some idiot driver. 4 cars passed me, soaking wet, and didn't even offer to pick me up. ).
Anyway, long story short (sort of), everyone got back safe, with the possible exception of my hat. The Fed IV got soaked enough that I was able to bang out a severely crisp and definded dent with sharp edges, something that I thought I woudn't be able to do (and the reason I'm about to buy a Campdraft. As my name implies, I'm new to everything "hat", and managed to get my Fed IV stuck in a very low "bash", which made the brim look too wide on my head.). This has worried me, because even after 8 hours in room temperature the hat is still moist, and doesn't seem to hold any kind of bash . It also seems to have developed a slight taper.
To those who are proud owners of Akubra hats, especially the Fed III or IV, my question is this: how much punishment (rain) can these hats take? Is my Fed IV a goner?

 

[MCrider]

Of course each hat is different, but from what I've experienced with my own Fed IV, I'd say let it dry and you'll see it's still serviceable. Pics submitted by others show them dripping wet, soaked clear through, piled high with snow and looking like they're ruined, but the Fed always seems to bounce back from such "abuse" so I wouldn't necessarily be worried. Now of course you'll have those nay sayers that will tell you that since there's some taper it's a goner, but you decide. Sometimes a good drenching gives the hat the character we want. So just let it dry on its own (no hairdryer!) and it should be fine.

 

[Neophyte]

Need to Clarify Something

Thank you for your reassuring words...

although, when I said that hat feels moist, I meant, specifically, the interior liner and the leather sweatband. The hat itself feels like some state of limbo between moist and dry. I can't really tell which it is, but it is buttery soft and the felt moves with the slightest touch. While that sensation feels great, it also won't shape too well right now.

I'll follow your advice and wait (and hope).
Also, my face is about mid-length and mid-with. I have very straight-sided cheeks and very manly flat chin with a cleft, with a slight taper in between...
My point is...taper doesn't look that good on me, but it looks GREAT on some.

 

[Blackthorn]

I think it will make a difference whether it's Heritage grade fur or not. Last summer I got my Fed IV Heritage grade totally soaked completely through (in a heavy rain storm), and the next day you couldn't tell it had ever been wet.

I also have a Fed IV Imperial grade fur lid, and although I have worn it in the rain, it didn't get the soaking the first one got.

 

[Lloyd]

A LOT

I can't speak to the Fed IV but I've had my campdraft literally soaking wet with no ill effects. If you have a stretcher put it in to keep the sweat the right size and you should be fine. The sweat and liner will always take longer to dry than the felt.

 

[Neophyte]

This is the standard Federation IV, so...it's Imperial grade. I'm thinking that, because it was in my room all night--drying--and since my room is kinda cold, it may have slowed the drying process. I will wait for a few hours and update this thread, because I'm worried (only because this is my first real hat of any kind, and I'm incredibly fond of it despite the screwup with the bash), though not too much, since I've enough cash to purchase a new hat.

 

[gtdean48]

If it is still damp, I'd put in on my head & let it dry there if at all possible. Your body heat escapes a great deal thru your noggin & that will help speed it up some. The sweatband will draw up as water dries & evaporates taking oils out of the leather with it. Having your head as a mold will help the hat conform to it. I'd get some condition on the sweatband after it dries. Usually when felt gets that wet & dries to a damp state is when I tweak the crease job to my liking. HTH

 

[Lloyd]

wear it until it's dry. This will keep the sweat from shrinking too much and will let you play with the bash as it dries. Also the heat from your head will accelerate the drying process (a little).
I see that gtdean48 beat me to the punch lol

 

[Neophyte]

.......what worries me most is the fact that I was able to knock out the creases of my bash. I had an EXTREMELY defined and sharp edged teardrop/diamond/shield hybrid. No matter how much steam or water I've applied to it so far (even in the shower), it would always fall right back into the shape. The bash was so low on my head that the bubble where the top of my head pushes up on the hat (the dome...whatever) is higher than most of the bash (with the exception of the very front). While I'm glad that I've the chance to redo the whole thing, it also worries me. We'll see what happens...I have some confidence that the hat is a LOT tougher than its soft, soft feel implies.

Thank you all so much for the advice and reassurance. I'm a 19 year old college student at home for the summer, so I don't have that much cash (though as I've stated, the Fed IV has inspired me to buy another hat as well), and it's great to hear that I probably won't have to worry about replacing my "Dark Brown Dress Hat" category (which I just made up right now)...

 

[gtdean48]

..........I have some confidence that the hat is a LOT tougher than its soft, soft feel implies.

It is & remember a little steam will reactivate the shellac thats there that water seems to weaken. Get to where you want it. Let it dry then put some steam to it to set it.

 

[Neophyte]

Here's the progress so far:

The top of the crown of the hat has dried sufficiently to hold a bash somewhat. However, the sides are completely soft and...the word I'm looking for is "limp". I guess due to convection that it makes sense that the rrown dries before the sides, so that's okay. They are straight however, so that's good. There is taper front and back, only noticeable when viewing from the side, but I can easily attribute that to my head shape and stretching. I don't mind it.

The hat FEELS dry to me, but I guess that there's still some moisture deep in the felt. I have a pot on the stove with a tin foil "volcano" ready to steam the hat once it's dry...

 

[FurFeltFedora]

A month or two back I got caught with my Fed IV (the one in my avatar) in a torrential downpour. It didn't lose it's shape, but it was soaked all the way through. I make sure I didn't have a funky dents in it and just let it dry naturally over the day. The only change was that it was even softer than before.

I think that if you let it dry out, perhaps wear it as it dries so that it keeps the shape to your head, then steam and re-shape when you're done you should be ok.

While you don't want to get your felt hats soaked, they wouldn't be much of a hat if they couldn't come back. Give it some time and try reshaping. Then let us know if you're still having issues.

 

[Neophyte]

Thank you FurFeltFedora...

While I wait for all this to dry and see what I can do with the hat, I'm gonna try and convince my Mom that she owes me a new hat . She knows nothing about hats, and she forced me to come out last night to "protect her and the dog" in the dark. As I said, I almost died last night falling into that deep ditch .
She is a doctor and taught us everything we know, including obvious manipulation . Let's see what happens.
Don't think bad of me for this. She'll see it coming a mile away and think I'm joking .

 

[djgo-cat-go]

I wouldn't worry too much.. My FedIV, imperial quality, got soaked a few times.. last time I decided to reblock the hat, I soaked it myself deliberately with a mist-sprayer and distilled water.. I pushed the hat over a hatshaper (a plastic block, straight edges) to reblock it into an open crown, and let it dry some.. then, after a few hours, I put in the diamond, side-dents, and pushed the dome up a little. Mind you,, the hat was still damp.. I let the hat completely dry and it holds the new bash very well. The felt got so soft after that, the hat turned out to be very comfortable. I have to say, I removed the liner completely, because it was glued in wrong, and I noticed after every wear that the moist from sweating took a long time to evaporate behind the plastic cover.. Without the liner it's even more comfortable, even on hot days..

Oh, and I never use any steam again, ever since I wetted my hats to shape them.. When a hat is wet, you can take your time to bash, bash, rebash, bash, rebash... The steam-treatment is for the pro's here on the lounge (I'm real clumsy with boiling water etc..)

 

[fenris]

Had a similar experience just a few hours ago while taking a tour of Intramuros; Manila's walled city (here in the Philippines).

As the tour ended, it began to rain really hard. Problem was the car was a couple of blocks away so me and my sister had to brave the elements and walk through the downpour. I was wearing my Fed IV Deluxe. I'm not very good at calculating distance, but I think it was about a kilometer or more.

Anyway, as I was walking in the rain, water beads started to trickle down the front of the brim... This made me worry that the felt might get soaked through and through. It was really wet!

Amazingly, the underside of the brim was dry! The water did not penetrate the felt's core. I wiped off all the excess water with a handkerchief. It seems to be fine right now, but I guess it still needs to dry off a bit.

All of this happened about 7hrs ago.

 

[Michaelson]

I spent and entire day in a frog drowning rainstorm helping move a daughter wearing a standard Fed III, and it was soaked clear through the liner.

I popped out the dents and hung it on my hall tree, allowing it to dry on it's own for a couple days. It was as soft as you mention yours was...but that's the effect water can have on the felt stiffner. After it completely dried, I just pushed the bash back into the hat, and it was as good as new.

No worries. The Feds are Akubra's first and foremost, and have always been an outsdoorman's hat.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Neophyte]

All these accounts are both fascinating and very assuring. I got started on hats after watching several TV shows and reading several of Dashiell Hammet's books. Before this, my fast growing hair (grows thick, not long) was my sun and rain protection. Ball caps are serviceable for paintball and ballgames, as an eccentric introvert loner I needed something more...eclectic. As I'm studying in college to go to med school, I've decided to reinvent my sarcastic and pessimistic loner image and become a more sociable and professional person. As fun as it was, you just can't go through life being an antisocial dillhole, no matter how much more competent you are than your peers. The hat is my first step on that path, so I don't like the thought of it being compromised with less than a month of wear...

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this: thank you all for responding so quicky and sharing your stories with me. I have some confidence that we can save him, that we have the technology. After all, this hat is not just a hat to me, it is a physical manifestation of my ambition . That ambition is pretty weak (I am very intelligent and talented, but a lack of willpower and ambition due to apathy have proved my "curse to counter the blessing" ), so it's important to me to have a constant, tangible, silky smooth reminder of what my goals are.......


......as well as providing me some shade and protection from the elements.

Thank you all...

 

[Neophyte]

Here's an update:

The hat is now completely dry, but completely limp. It stays in the dome shape of the open crown, but the felt is TOO pliable and will not hold any type of bash that I put in it...


...I may need to purchase some felt stiffener.

 

[Mr E Train]

Try steaming it with a teapot while it's in the open crown shape, then let it cool off for a while, and that should reactivate the stiffeners in the felt. Then shape it and steam it again to set it.

 

[FurFeltFedora]

I concur. A blast of steam from an open kettle, shape and then hold until the felt is cool again. That should help shape the hat again. Don't try to shape it all at once, work on the crown, the pinch, etcetera.