Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Winchester hat corporation

univibe88

One Too Many
Messages
1,146
Location
Slidell4Life
majormoore said:
All I can say is "if you need new custom hat, buy one from those hatters that buy the bodies from Winchester Hat Corp, let's keep Americans working"
:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
 

BobC

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,378
Location
Central IL
majormoore said:
All I can say is "if you need new custom hat, buy one from those hatters that buy the bodies from Winchester Hat Corp, let's keep Americans working"

Mike Moore, aka Major Moore

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap
 

portolan

A-List Customer
Messages
401
Location
South Florida and Chihuahua
Here are some more pics of the factory tour

showing things that others haven't shown yet. I felt like a kid in a candy store in that dress felt room. Picked out a moss green beaver felt....can't wait!

factorytour.jpg


factorytour2.jpg


factorytour3.jpg


factorytour4.jpg


factorytour7.jpg
 

BobC

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,378
Location
Central IL
Here are some more of my pictures of the Winchester Hat Corporation facillity. Jimmy the Lid is creating a thread that more accurately documents the felting process, but I wanted my pictures to be available to him for supplementation of his own should he choose to incorporate them.

Thank you, Jim. Yours is destined to be one of the most valuable threads on the Fedora Lounge.

Steaming the new hat bodies causes fur fibers to lock together and shrinks the newly made bodies. Bodies are passed through the steam then turned and passed through again repeatedly.

IMG_0739.jpg


IMG_0740.jpg


IMG_0741.jpg


IMG_0742.jpg


IMG_0743.jpg


The next step involves dying the new hat bodies. Two methods are used. One involves waving the bodies in a large vat of solution. The other involves injecting the dye solution into the bodies.

IMG_0744.jpg


IMG_0745.jpg


The day we were there, they were making gray bodies. The stack on the right below is beaver bodies. The other stacks are rabbit. While they appear to be the same or similar, the difference is most obvious to the touch. The beaver is much softer than the rabbit.

IMG_0749.jpg
 

BobC

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,378
Location
Central IL
Drying and sanding...

Nearly finished bodies are dried at 120 degrees.

IMG_0758-1.jpg


Some sanding does occur at the factory before these gems are ready for sale to Major Mike Moore, Art Fawcett, Tonyb and any of these other gentlemen whose talents we so much appreciate.

IMG_0760-1.jpg


Further sanding results in a finish called a satin finish, if my memory serves, in which the nap of the felt is more raised.

IMG_0761-1.jpg


I'm hesitant to speak for the other gentlemen who participated, but in my case if Mike or Art or Tony had had tables set up outside after this tour they could have sold A LOT of hats that day.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,298
Messages
3,078,208
Members
54,244
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top