Sam Craig
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,356
- Location
- Great Bend, Kansas
Mike,
All I can tell you is that the Duke, late in life, acknowledged that his cav hat was over creased.
His sons, Pat and Michael both, have commented that the old hat was pretty well shot when their dad stopped wearing it.
To be fair, the hat had been used a lot and John Wayne himself noted that his buddies in the Rat Pack didn't help matters when they kept pullin it down over Sammy Davis Jr.'s head when he wore the hat in Sgts Three ... Seeing the abuse the hat suffered in that loan out, the Duke allegedly commented "I should have had it bronzed."
I'm sure we have all experienced the damage we do to a good felt hat when we crease it too much.
On the other hand, when you look at close ups of the John Ford cav hats, it's clear you could not get that look without very sharp creases and that is going to stress the felt.
But they were trying to achieve a certain look, not longevity.
You see the same thing with the Raiders fedoras.
If you want a long-lasting fure felt fedora then you DON'T want to do what it takes to make it look just like the Streets of Cairo hat.
The two are mutually exclusive.
Having noted all that ... Jack knows what he is doing. Wichita Hat Works isn't going to do anything that will hurt your hat. There certainly ARE ways to give a hat character without destroying it. But it's good that you are working with experts!
Sam
All I can tell you is that the Duke, late in life, acknowledged that his cav hat was over creased.
His sons, Pat and Michael both, have commented that the old hat was pretty well shot when their dad stopped wearing it.
To be fair, the hat had been used a lot and John Wayne himself noted that his buddies in the Rat Pack didn't help matters when they kept pullin it down over Sammy Davis Jr.'s head when he wore the hat in Sgts Three ... Seeing the abuse the hat suffered in that loan out, the Duke allegedly commented "I should have had it bronzed."
I'm sure we have all experienced the damage we do to a good felt hat when we crease it too much.
On the other hand, when you look at close ups of the John Ford cav hats, it's clear you could not get that look without very sharp creases and that is going to stress the felt.
But they were trying to achieve a certain look, not longevity.
You see the same thing with the Raiders fedoras.
If you want a long-lasting fure felt fedora then you DON'T want to do what it takes to make it look just like the Streets of Cairo hat.
The two are mutually exclusive.
Having noted all that ... Jack knows what he is doing. Wichita Hat Works isn't going to do anything that will hurt your hat. There certainly ARE ways to give a hat character without destroying it. But it's good that you are working with experts!
Sam
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