New member intro and question

[HarpPlayerGene]

Hello,
I'm new to posting here (or any forum site for that matter) but have been reading, enjoying and learning from you folks for a few weeks now. Great stuff. I'm a caricature artist by trade, a harmonica player for fun and a hat head all my adult life. Love the whole era when men wore brims. I've recently taken the plunge into some vintage fedoras (Knox, Stetson, Borsalino, Dobbs) and they are great lids. Now, these are fur felt blends. My question is; can some of you educate me on the "X" rating system for beaver fur hats. I've seen 3X to 200X and am curious how this designation should be interpreted.
Thx! Gene

 

[RBH]

Welcome Harp, glad you joined us.:eusa_clap

The X system is relative to the hat maker, a search here should bring you the info you are wanting.

 

[riccardo]

Welcome Harp,enjoy this forum.
Hey, RBH, are you ok? Do you have any problem, you don't see so good in your avatar!? lol [huh]

 

[tandmark]

Hiya,

The short answer is that the more Xs the better the quality of the fur used to make the felt. But almost every hat brand uses a different scale of comparison. So one maker's 10X will be another maker's 2X.

For proof that the concept is in danger of becoming meaningless, consider that some companies these days will slap an X-scale quality rating onto their Panama (straw! non-felt! furless!) hats.

Older threads have lots of discussion of all the facets of how to calculate the value of X. Guess this proves that we should have been listening back in Algebra class, huh?

Cheers,
Mark

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

The X Factor

Well thanks folks. Great info. I guess I'm just safest not gettin' too preoccupied with those things rated "X". I'll be setting up a Photobucket deal in a day or so and will put some pix of hats and artwork for all to see (and perhaps mock). All the best...