Akubra Bushman

[gtdean48]

:arated:

Frussell was simply stating his own personal reason for not purchasing a Bushman. He mentioned only one detraction...the sarcasm and defensive posture of some of the posters here seems thoroughly unjustified.

That said, has anyone attached a chin strap to a Bushman? I'm thinking about getting one later on this year, and the chinstrap is very appealing to me when the cold winds start picking up. I'd like to know how reliable the attachment method on these DM grommet-style hats is.

Totally agree on your comment about what Frank had posted, Alexander.

With regards to the chin strap, I have one on my Cattleman. It does the job nicely when riding horses. The leather is not rough against my face like some braided horse hair stampede strings I have. I did some searching & found it cheaper than what DM charges.

 

[Neophyte]

Thank you for the info, Tom. If the leather chinstraps can do the job while you're riding horses, they'll be more than good enough for my own purposes.

Looks like I'll be contributing more to this thread again in the coming months. I'm finding myself more drawn towards wide-brims lately (my flamboyant side creeping to the surface, no doubt), and I've no earth tones currently. The Bushman looks like it will do just the trick! Pics to come when I finally amass the money for it.

 

[frussell]

Thanks for defending me from all this scathing sarcasm Alex. I spent the last few minutes crying my eyes out. If only my shirt had some handy grommets to let all the tears drain through. Hopefully, unlike Sam, my "live?" is not over. Some people get defensive easily, hopefully I didn't hurt the reputation of the Bushman or David Morgan with my reckless comments. Frank

Lanyard through the frog:[

 

[monbla256]

I like the dimensions of the Bushman, color is not my favorite, but it's not bad. My only problem with it, and other D.M. offerings is the grommets. I just can't stand grommets on a felt hat. Just a personal preference, and one that has kept me from buying more hats from David Morgan. For me, grommets belong on a straw western, or on a "boonie" or bucket hat. I'm sure they would make the hat cooler to wear here in the desert, but I just can't get over my dislike of seeing a grommet in the middle of a nice piece of felt. Frank

Your point was well made, once. Was there really a need to emphatically make it again? I understand it is your opinion, you made that quite clear the first time. Let it be, you made your point. As Will said "Horatio, methinks thou protest to much" . If my attempt at sarcasim offeneded you, I will appologize thou my opinion does differ from yours as to the "grommet" thing. As is heard all over these days, "have a nice day "

 

[frussell]

Monblah - I'm not offended at sarcasm, as long as it's being offered by someone who spells it correctly. You have a nice day as well. Frank

 

[Sam Craig]

In modern schools it's spelled with a "Z" I believe.

Off to another topic ....

I found a couple of great sites that specialize in woven horsehair bands that would look great on a Bushman. Some of them are fairly affordable, too.

It is difficult to see exactly what the colors are on live, but I'm amazed at what is still being produced.
I have no idea where these are actually made, but I presume that, working in horsehair, it all must be done by hand.
It would really set off a casual-styled felt hat.

Sam

 

[gtdean48]

....
I found a couple of great sites that specialize in woven horsehair bands that would look great on a Bushman. Some of them are fairly affordable, too.
...

Major Moore at Buckaroo Hatters usually has a good selection of horsehair bands in many different widths. HTH

 

[Sam Craig]

Major Moore at Buckaroo Hatters usually has a good selection of horsehair bands in many different widths. HTH

There are some locals out here who do that and the beadwork, too. Some of the bead work is too busy, but if you can pick the colors on the beads or the horsehair, you can get something that really is one-of-a kind.

Sickly, I have also considered going with rattlesnake.
I dug out an old Stetson with a snakeskin band on it. I bought them both in the mid-'70s and the snakeskin is still good looking and pliable. It's on a deerskin backing ... I don't know, maybe the snake swallowed the deer ...

Anyway, I hadn't looked at it in a long time and I was surprised the rattler was still in such good condition.
It's too wide for a Bushman, but the color would sure lookg neat.
I have though about cutting it down, but I'd probably be better off to just look for a new, narrow one.

I'll look at the Buckaroo site, too.
Thanks,

Sam

 

[monbla256]

These folks up in Colorado carry a wide variety of both braided leather and horsehair bands at some decent prices. I've bought some leather horse gear from them in the past and they are nice folks to deal with.
http://www.outwestsaddlery.com/index.html

 

[frussell]

I guess if it's time to play nice, I'll quit being snarky and add a recommendation for Big Bend Saddlery in Alpine Texas. They have an online catalog, and I've been doing business with them for about 20 years or so. Sam, I wish I had known somebody was interested in hatbands, I just traded Neophyte a really nice horsehair band with silver ferrules, top notch braiding. I find myself wearing hatbands less and less, and am only keeping a few that have sentimental value. I'll look in the garage and see if I can find some more. Make sure you're getting real horsehair, as there are lots of synthetic ones now, and some vendors can't tell the difference. Frank

 

[Sam Craig]

Here in Kansas we usually just go out front and harvest out own horsehair and braid away, but I've got a busy week ahead, so I'm not going that route.

Thanks for the suggestions.

In the old days, anyone who braided horsehair was suspect because it was one of the skills that were often picked up in prison.
That was before we taxpayers funded college classes for inmates while we went broke putting our own kids through college.

Sam

 

[Sam Craig]

Monbla ...

Those are some great looking bands!

Thanks for the suggestion.

Now I'm sure I don't want to just cob some hair and weave my own!

I still may grab a rattler before they hunker down for the winter.

Maybe there's still one out back by the john ...

Sam

 

[monbla256]

Monbla ...

Those are some great looking bands!

Thanks for the suggestion.

Now I'm sure I don't want to just cob some hair and weave my own!

I still may grab a rattler before they hunker down for the winter.

Maybe there's still one out back by the john ...

Sam

I don't know if I would want to try and braid horsehair but I have done some leather braiding in the past. Made a couple of stock whips and riding crops as well as this flat 6 strand Kangaroo band I made for my Father's old Stetson I wear these days. It has 6 strands flat going into two round braids that have the tail hair tassels attached with turks head knots. It has a sliding knot for tension in the middle. I got the pattern from a book I got from David Morgan years ago and the Kangaroo lace from him as well. Give it a try, it's fun This would look good on a Bushman with that Gus crease you like

 

[1961MJS]

These folks up in Colorado carry a wide variety of both braided leather and horsehair bands at some decent prices. I've bought some leather horse gear from them in the past and they are nice folks to deal with.
http://www.outwestsaddlery.com/index.html

Hi

O.K., when using the above stampede strings, do I just tie the ends together when I want to keep the hat on? Where do they go when you don't have the string's tied together under your chin?

Living in Kansas, but definitely not a cowboy. Ain't been on a pony since 8th grade, it only turned left having only one eye...

Later

 

[frussell]

Mike - I didn't see any "loose ended" stampede strings on that link. Most have a slider of some sort (sometimes it is too small to see well in a thumbnail photo) that you can use to cinch up the slack, sort of like a bolo tie. Once in a while you will see some that have "free ends" at the top that have cotter pins in them to stick in between the stitches between sweatband and felt. Others need a hole punched through the felt of the brim that you stick through and loop over the crown, one loop for each side of the hat. I'll wear one if I know I'm leading a group of people on a windy day, just in case my hat flies off in the face of the horse behind me, but for the most part I just break my cowboy hats in until they fit snug but comfortable. Like many old cowboys told me (likely stolen from an old Ben Johnson movie), "if your hat keeps flying off, you ain't holding your mouth right." The ones that loop over the top by going through the brim would not likely look right on a Bushman, since the chin strap hook holes/grommets are a bit above the brim. Probably would work fine though. Frank

 

[monbla256]

Hi

O.K., when using the above stampede strings, do I just tie the ends together when I want to keep the hat on? Where do they go when you don't have the string's tied together under your chin?

Living in Kansas, but definitely not a cowboy. Ain't been on a pony since 8th grade, it only turned left having only one eye...

Later

They all come with a sliding knot to snug up against the chin and when not used pull the knot down and put the string around the back of your head with the knot against your neck . If your hat has holes in the brim to thread the strings thru, then you can pull them up and around the crown at the brim. I've only used the kind that slide between the crown and sweat one of the nice things about David Morgans Bushman and other Akubra's come with a chinstrap hook and sweat already for attachment

 

[Sam Craig]

Hi

O.K., when using the above stampede strings, do I just tie the ends together when I want to keep the hat on? Where do they go when you don't have the string's tied together under your chin?

Living in Kansas, but definitely not a cowboy. Ain't been on a pony since 8th grade, it only turned left having only one eye...

Later

Mike,

I always wondered what happened to that one-way pony!

I used stampede string ... we called them bonnet straps ... a lot years ago when I did a lot of trail riding and just wore cowboy hats on the job. When you're taking pictures at a crash site, the last thing you want is to have a group of local cops watching as your Stetson goes scooting down the road in 30 mph wind!

I generally wore mine in the back like the Duke, but most of the time I was content with plain leather. In fact the most common type I used was the longest leather boot lace I could find and then I'd make a slide out of leather or just use a plain wooden bead.
I did have a woven horsehair "stampede string" one time but I really did not like it. Looked cool but, frankly, the old boot lace worked better.

Sam

 

[1961MJS]

Mike - I didn't see any "loose ended" stampede strings on that link. Most have a slider of some sort (sometimes it is too small to see well in a thumbnail photo) that you can use to cinch up the slack, sort of like a bolo tie. Once in a while you will see some that have "free ends" at the top that have cotter pins in them to stick in between the stitches between sweatband and felt. Others need a hole punched through the felt of the brim that you stick through and loop over the crown, one loop for each side of the hat. I'll wear one if I know I'm leading a group of people on a windy day, just in case my hat flies off in the face of the horse behind me, but for the most part I just break my cowboy hats in until they fit snug but comfortable. Like many old cowboys told me (likely stolen from an old Ben Johnson movie), "if your hat keeps flying off, you ain't holding your mouth right." The ones that loop over the top by going through the brim would not likely look right on a Bushman, since the chin strap hook holes/grommets are a bit above the brim. Probably would work fine though. Frank

Thanks everybody. I couldn't see the sliders on the strings in the two links. I have a Sun Body that has a simple leather string, and I keep it tied over the top of the brim. I'm considering a stampede string for my campaign hat It gets REALLY windy here in Kansas.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Sam Craig]

Thanks everybody. I couldn't see the sliders on the strings in the two links. I have a Sun Body that has a simple leather string, and I keep it tied over the top of the brim. I'm considering a stampede string for my campaign hat It gets REALLY windy here in Kansas.

Thanks for the help.

The flat leather strap that goes behind your head seems to work best with a campaign hat. You can get one inexpensively from any law enforcement supply store. There are several on the net. They also have the cords n' nuts in various colors. Also not expensive.

Sam

 

[Sam Craig]

Wearing my Bushman with a shirt, tie and sportscoat for the first time today

Yes, I wore pants too!

Anyway, I really like the look with a jacket. ... Today I've got a brown leather sportscoat, cuz it's cool here for a change. But I think the Bushman will look great with tweed, too.

Sam