Show Us Your Moth Nips

[alanfgag]

Nobody wants 'em but everybody's got 'em. Are they the ultimate hat horror, or a badge of courage worn by felt that has survived and lived to tell the story. Perhaps posting images will help us to cope with the disappointment of buying a hat and discovering it is less than perfect. Maybe a close-up study will show them to be core samples, displaying characteristics unique to the felt they have been chewed from? Or perhaps we'll just enjoy them a little and look for familiar shapes as we do in the passing clouds.

This is not a thread for moth bite remedies... we have a lot of those. This is just for sharing your nips and any stories that go with them.

Here are a few of mine to start the ball rolling... let's see yours!

Paw print in a Stetson Real Nutria Fur western - dense but softly finished felt. The hat has quite a few bites, many like this with sharp edges and softer rounded bottoms.

Stetson Clear Beaver - very dense felt of the highest quality yields very high quality tiny moth bites, crisp and sharp as a fine swiss cheese.

Flanul Felt/ Dobbs Cross Country - is it the wool component of this firm, thin lightweight felt that allows the moths to through-bore readily? Only a couple of holes in this hat, but they let the daylight in.

 

[jlee562]

Thankfully only one of my vintage hats has any moth nips, the Resistol OR clone I picked up on Ebay for dirt cheap.

And one more divot on the left side of the hat which thankfully didn't go all the way through:

Still one of my favorite lids though!

 

[Jaguar66]

This is not a thread for moth bite remedies...

Everyone is aware it is not the moths doing the biting, but it is the moth's larvae eating the cloth fibers. Nasty little buggers.
[video=youtube;l1QTlK71zvc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1QTlK71zvc&feature=related[/video]

 

[rlk]

Apparently not Knoxious to moths

 

[jimmy the lid]

The title of this thread makes me want to reach for a pair of moth pasties.........

But, maybe that's just me.....:eeek: :eeek: :eeek:

 

[alanfgag]

That's scarier than the larvae movie. :eeek:

 

[Rick Blaine]

The title of this thread makes me want to reach for a pair of moth pasties.........

But, maybe that's just me.....:eeek: :eeek: :eeek:

...all she'll let me show ya'll.

 

[buler]

The title of this thread makes me want to reach for a pair of moth pasties.........

But, maybe that's just me.....:eeek: :eeek: :eeek:

:eusa_doh:



Robert needs to get out the Wormser (I think thats what it was) that he found and bought on our way to Texas. I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw the moth damage to that hat.

Or was it this Knox you've already posted.

B

 

[Aureliano]

This one make me itchy, man. Crazy!

 

[EggHead]

Sorry, none.

 

[Matt Deckard]

This thread needs to be shut down. I'm disgusted.

 

[Aureliano]

This thread needs to be shut down.

nah, it's gross but fun, let it live. My only moth bite is on my new-to-me stratoliner: very tiny under the brim.

 

[Historyteach24]

Im not showin nips im a gentleman

 

[rlk]

:eusa_doh:

Robert needs to get out the Wormser (I think thats what it was) that he found and bought on our way to Texas. I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw the moth damage to that hat.

Or was it this Knox you've already posted.

B

Might be a great hat.....

.....but :eeek::Cry:

 

[alanfgag]

That one at the flange goes all the way through?... they seem to like beautiful light hats with wide bindings.

 

[buler]

That one at the flange goes all the way through?... they seem to like beautiful light hats with wide bindings.

Thats the one! When he first opened the box his face lit up. Wow, this is going to be good. Then he pulled it out and saw all the moth damage. He looked like someone punched him in the gut. After some more time passed we both felt like crying. The hat was so incredible, yet so destroyed. This was also after opening maybe a dozen hat boxes. Most were empty or with something other than a hat in them.

B

 

[jkingrph]

I have a couple of old Dobbs Tyrol style hats about 30 years old that I bought new. On one I noticed some moth tracks so I put them in a big plastic bag with some moth balls. Now when I put my felts away for the hot season, I place some moth balls in the hat boxes as a preventative measure. So far I have not seen any signs of damage.

 

[Jaguar66]

This thread needs to be shut down. I'm disgusted.

Agreed. It's almost as bad a "show us your tumor".

 

[alanfgag]

Two early hats that have hosted insects show similar markings. Both have a very dense felt with outer surface finished to a fine peach fuzz. The tracks are numerous and very shallow.

campaign trails from a Stetson No. 1 quality early to mid 1930s:

Stetson Real Nutria Quality/ late 1920s - mid 1930s:

 

[rlk]

Not suitable for more sensitive viewers

Beautiful Stetson No. 1 Quality perhaps never worn...

You may want to look away now...