What hat are you waiting for today?

[Scuttle]

~ S.

 

[Yahoody]

Firing (spraying with alcohol and lighting on fire) a good felt is one of the steps to building a hat.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Gannon in natural with slate ribbon shipped today. It's going to be a long three days.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Frunobulax]

Firing (spraying with alcohol and lighting on fire) a good felt is one of the steps to building a hat.

In your view is it a necessary step, or one that gives you a little extra in the finish. How do you perceive the results? Softer finish?

I've never done this, as my hat work has been limited to rebuilding old bodies, and I haven't yet created one from scratch. This and luring intrigues me greatly. It seems to be two steps that separate the men from the boys.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Gannon in natural with slate ribbon shipped today. It's going to be a long three days.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I can see you will be getting some extra exercise pacing the floor while waiting for that one to arrive....super nice hat!

 

[LuvMyMan]

In your view is it a necessary step, or one that gives you a little extra in the finish. How do you perceive the results? Softer finish?

I've never done this, as my hat work has been limited to rebuilding old bodies, and I haven't yet created one from scratch. This and luring intrigues me greatly. It seems to be two steps that separate the men from the boys.

I think this is done to rid the felt body of any tid bits to help make the surface smoother...(my limited intel on that)...but I am sure everyone making a hat does this (if they know what they are doing that is making a completely new hat). I don't think it would need to be done 2 times (as when a hat is being converted)....

 

[LuvMyMan]

Won't be waiting long Once she has cooled I'll be sewing in the sweat band tonight!
100% beaver, 800 grit sand, 5 3/8" brim, 5" crown.




Life is too short to wait long for a full custom hat!

Where are the Marshmallows?

 

[LuvMyMan]

I just gave Staker Custom Hats the go-ahead for a new hat. It will be my first from this company better known for their western hats. I found this hat at their Etsy store. They also have a website:
https://www.stakerhats.com

I specified a 6" open crown to go with its 3" brim. I don't have anything quite like it. I chose the rabbit fur felt as his beaver and blend hats don't look like a good value to me.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Normally a hat with a super large brim does not appeal to us here in our home..but that just seems to be a super nice looking hat, has a great profile look to it.

 

[Yahoody]

"In your view is it a necessary step, or one that gives you a little extra in the finish. How do you perceive the results? Softer finish?"

Everyone will have an opinion. Here is mind, worth what you paid for it

On a new 100% beaver blank no question it is needed. Some do fire several times. I am still learning and no one I know or have talked too has all the answers. But I can tell you from my personal experience playing with felt the last 50 odd years there are very few...."master hatters" out there even if they do claim the title as a sales gimmick.

The reason I say it is needed on a 100% beaver blank is good felt once blocked and pounced is supper soft with little body. I fire to improve the hand and stiffen the hat. Firing them will also shrink the hat some in every direction...some times more than you would like on size, shape or brim width. Lighting the felt on fire re-aligns the fur fibers from pouncing. No question it makes a stronger hat. That is the reason I do it. The results are notable. Some guys do it a couple of times to burn off the fuzz and get a better/smoother finish pouncing. I've done it both ways. Both work. Not convinced it adds anything good to the finish as a burn will make a super soft body rather hard in hand and so you start over on the pounce to get soft again. Some say you should never fire a hat more than once. I'd disagree on that because no burn and the resulting heat is exactly the same. I've fired a hat that never got hot enough and had to do it again. But never fired one that left an burnt unusable body either. Although I do suspect it could happen. Some hat bodies will get a lot worse if fired some will take a couple of efforts to get them right. I fired my most recent hat 3 for sure (may be 4) times. But I was going for something special. Clean up, with a vaccum, and different brushes and pouncing again as needed is mandatory. I like a velvety smooth finish so I go to 800grit paper. Some go to 600 or 1000. I build my own hats to work as tools in outdoors. They need to do everything from keep the sun off me to literally keeping a horse off me and everything in between. I can water my horse with one of my hats if I need to because they have the "body" to hold their shape and are pretty water tight from firing and the extra time I take pouncing the hat. Notthat I would use a good hat a water bucket but nice to know I could. Obviously using the best beaver hat body you can get to start with is the foundation of anything you build that you want to have lasting value.

I have no clue how a rabbit hair or blended fur/hair hat body would react to being fired. But I'd guess it won't get the same results you get from 100% beaver. I have fired beaver hats that were a decade old when rebuilding them. Same results as new beaver...adds stiffness and body while not effecting the finish much. I would caution you however...the effort to get a silver belly clean compared to a black hat after firing them can be substantial. A really strong vaccum really helps there. But ya gotta love the smell of a freshly fired hat

 

[Yahoody]

"Normally a hat with a super large brim does not appeal to us"


You consider a 3" brim "super large" ? Really? Even a 6" crown can get mighty short if you add any shape.


Guess everything depends on head size My wife has a 4" crown, 5" brim hat (6 1/2 LO) that is great out doors...mighty big indoors! At a very cute 125# and 5'4" she still gets compliments on that hat all the time. I some times suspect it might not always be the hat.

 

[Scuttle]

Firing (spraying with alcohol and lighting on fire) a good felt is one of the steps to building a hat.

Thank you for your response. I have never heard of such, let alone seen it pictured!

(Yeah, I'm new.)

Fascinating.

~ S.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Won't be waiting long Once she has cooled I'll be sewing in the sweat band tonight!
100% beaver, 800 grit sand, 5 3/8" brim, 5" crown.




Life is too short to wait long for a full custom hat!

Greetings Yahoody:
What exactly does firing accomplish and is that just a thing for Westerns? Does it “firm up” or stiffen the felt? Interesting. Makes for cool pics for sure!
Also, welcome to the lounge. Your posts and threads are very refreshing and a whole new perspective in many ways. I appreciate all of them. Makes me feel kinda there man. Thanks
Be well. Bowen

 

[BobHufford]

Stumbled across this one on an obscure classifieds site while not even looking (was following a posted link for a vintage bicycle). An esteemed Lounge member is facilitating. Hat people are the best!

 

[Yahoody]

Greetings Yahoody:
What exactly does firing accomplish and is that just a thing for Westerns? Does it “firm up” or stiffen the felt? Interesting....

Hi Bowen. And thanks so much for the welcome. Glad you are enjoying the posts! I sure do like my hats (and everyone else's as well!) so it is really fun for me to talk hats and show pictures with such a great community. I learn new things every day here.

I tried to explain most of what I know/think/think i know, of firing hats, 5 posts back (#3751). But yes it does stiffen a beaver blank up substantially. Which is the main reason I do it. Some folks claim it helps get a better quality final finish as well. I have used it for both but think honestly more elbow grease and a finer grit sand paper will get you a better finish than firing ever will. I'm not much of a Fedora guy or anything but 100% beaver for material. So no clue what others do. But I don't think I'd want to fire a really nice 100% beaver Fedora. I like them super soft and "crushable". Firing a hat pretty much "kills" the felt short term. You don't want to be folding up any of my hats as you'd wreck them by breaking the felt. It takes a healthy amount of steam (some times water again, as I wet block) and patience to just form the brim and crown on a correctly fired hat . I've also dry blocked similar hats. It is a faster way to built by hand, but I've never been happy with the quality or end result long term. "“Cheap, Fast, or High Quality: Pick Any Two." Relates to hats as I know them just like it does to most hand crafted items. Stay frosty my friend


This is the hat I was working on and fired last night. Put it to work today.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Hi Bowen. And thanks so much for the welcome. Glad you are enjoying the posts! I sure do like my hats (and everyone else's as well!) so it is really fun for me to talk hats and show pictures with such a great community. I learn new things every day here.

I tried to explain most of what I know/think/think i know, of firing hats, 5 posts back (#3751). But yes it does stiffen a beaver blank up substantially. Which is the main reason I do it. Some folks claim it helps get a better quality final finish as well. I have used it for both but think honestly more elbow grease and a finer grit sand paper will get you a better finish than firing ever will. I'm not much of a Fedora guy or anything but 100% beaver for material. So no clue what others do. But I don't think I'd want to fire a really nice 100% beaver Fedora. I like them super soft and "crushable". Firing a hat pretty much "kills" the felt short term. You don't want to be folding up any of my hats as you'd wreck them by breaking the felt. It takes a healthy amount of steam (some times water again, as I wet block) and patience to just form the brim and crown on a correctly fired hat . I've also dry blocked similar hats. It is a faster way to built by hand, but I've never been happy with the quality or end result long term. "“Cheap, Fast, or High Quality: Pick Any Two." Relates to hats as I know them just like it does to most hand crafted items. Stay frosty my friend

Greetings Yahoody:
Ahh i see. Makes sense. Hat annealing or hat tempering, that’s a new one on me. Thanks for the detailed info. I must have missed the previous post. Arggh
Be well. Bowen

 

[Frunobulax]

"In your view is it a necessary step, or one that gives you a little extra in the finish. How do you perceive the results? Softer finish?"

Everyone will have an opinion. Here is mind, worth what you paid for it

On a new 100% beaver blank no question it is needed. Some do fire several times. I am still learning and no one I know or have talked too has all the answers. But I can tell you from my personal experience playing with felt the last 50 odd years there are very few...."master hatters" out there even if they do claim the title as a sales gimmick.

The reason I say it is needed on a 100% beaver blank is good felt once blocked and pounced is supper soft with little body. I fire to improve the hand and stiffen the hat. Firing them will also shrink the hat some in every direction...some times more than you would like on size, shape or brim width. Lighting the felt on fire re-aligns the fur fibers from pouncing. No question it makes a stronger hat. That is the reason I do it. The results are notable. Some guys do it a couple of times to burn off the fuzz and get a better/smoother finish pouncing. I've done it both ways. Both work. Not convinced it adds anything good to the finish as a burn will make a super soft body rather hard in hand and so you start over on the pounce to get soft again. Some say you should never fire a hat more than once. I'd disagree on that because no burn and the resulting heat is exactly the same. I've fired a hat that never got hot enough and had to do it again. But never fired one that left an burnt unusable body either. Although I do suspect it could happen. Some hat bodies will get a lot worse if fired some will take a couple of efforts to get them right. I fired my most recent hat 3 for sure (may be 4) times. But I was going for something special. Clean up, with a vaccum, and different brushes and pouncing again as needed is mandatory. I like a velvety smooth finish so I go to 800grit paper. Some go to 600 or 1000. I build my own hats to work as tools in outdoors. They need to do everything from keep the sun off me to literally keeping a horse off me and everything in between. I can water my horse with one of my hats if I need to because they have the "body" to hold their shape and are pretty water tight from firing and the extra time I take pouncing the hat. Notthat I would use a good hat a water bucket but nice to know I could. Obviously using the best beaver hat body you can get to start with is the foundation of anything you build that you want to have lasting value.

I have no clue how a rabbit hair or blended fur/hair hat body would react to being fired. But I'd guess it won't get the same results you get from 100% beaver. I have fired beaver hats that were a decade old when rebuilding them. Same results as new beaver...adds stiffness and body while not effecting the finish much. I would caution you however...the effort to get a silver belly clean compared to a black hat after firing them can be substantial. A really strong vaccum really helps there. But ya gotta love the smell of a freshly fired hat

Thank you for the detailed explanation. That was very informative.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[hatophile]

Gannon in natural with slate ribbon shipped today. It's going to be a long three days.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can't wait to see that one !

 

[deadlyhandsome]

The 2 1/4" brim is on the stingy side, but I'm a sucker for vintage hats in my size in this condition.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[M Hatman]

Stumbled across this one on an obscure classifieds site while not even looking (was following a posted link for a vintage bicycle). An esteemed Lounge member is facilitating. Hat people are the best!

Hey....it is our size! If it needs a "vacation" just send it over. I have a nice rest home for large hats...
M

 

[M Hatman]

The 2 1/4" brim is on the stingy side, but I'm a sucker for vintage hats in my size in this condition.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes......me too. Nice get!
M