Akubra Campdraft

[D00R]

Here are some felt quality photos of what Im taking about.
I dont want to pay to return it. I Hate feeling frustrated or duped but Im not angry about it. I will make the best of it and I don’t regreat the purchace. Its hard getting a vintage hat off ebay at a responible price or a good fit. People sell hats on there with awful sweatbands or band blemishes in the felt. Find a decent hat and its at a pretentious price. Im not trying to sway people from Akubra just letting people know of my first experience.
The crease mark at the top of the crown.
The rumpled felt like a ballsack.
And how the crown pushes forward when bashed.

 

[jlee562]

Here are some felt quality photos of what Im taking about and others have to.
No point in paying to return it. Might as well see how it reacts in time or ravage it as a vintage looking hat. Hate feeling frustrated or duped.
The crease mark ar the top of the crown.
The rumpled felt like a ballsack.
And how the crown pushes forward when bashed.

Yup. That's felt spidering, as was referenced from the Open Crown Stetson thread. The consensus we reached back then is that this happens with too much stiffener on a felt with below optimal density. See Joshbru's comments in the link. I would actually push harder for a return even though you already creased it.

The pinch pushing forward could easily be an artifact of the block shape if I am understanding you correctly.

 

[D00R]

I don’t want to pay to ship it back. I hate being in situations like this. Situations I don’t put people in.
You guys help me understand more about new hat purchases and what to ask prior to anymore further purchases.
Wheres the link to Joshbru?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

If the hat is defective do you have to pay the return shipping? If it is a manufacturer’s defect I’d have thought the seller would pay the return shipping.

I often start off intending on giving a hat a shape only to have he hat tell me it “wants” another. Try giving it a diamond crease. Lots of manipulation might get you what you’re after. I’d also use a liberal application of distilled water and steam.


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[jlee562]

Wheres the link to Joshbru?

Open Crown Stetsons: A Call (Plea) to Retailers!!

And:

I would partially agree....and here's why I say that.

Shellac and felting density go hand in hand. Most modern hat bodies today are much more loosely felted than vintage hat bodies. They also do not have the time to age before being blocked and shipped out the stores. Even Winchester felts are not felted as dense as vintage ones are. The spidering is caused by two things......to much "space" between the fibers due to a hat body that is less densely felted...and the shellac that is filling that space. If the felt body was felted to be denser, there would be much less space between the fibers and the shellac would essentially act as a coating on top of those fibers and just act as a stiffening agent. Instead, many times the shellac is acting as a filling agent and when the spidering occurs, what we are seeing is the unevenness of the felt body. Some areas are stiffer than others and some areas are more dense than the others.

The reason vintage felt hats with stiff felt bodies often do not spider is because they are felted more densely and the shellac has been impregnated into the felt at a much more consistent and even rate. So, the felt density level has a lot to do with spidering....BUT if far less shellac was used in a modern hat body, the spidering would drastically decrease. You will still see some unevenness in the felt body because a loosely felted hat body will always show imperfections and "cratering" as I call it. No matter how much pouncing someone does to a loosely felted hat body, it will still always look like the surface of the moon when looked at closely.........not a sheet of finished marble like some of the better grades of vintage felt.

 

[D00R]

I see now, a fellow boardmembers hat hat the same spidering as mine.
So sad how vintage items are made correct and new items are made this way in the modern age.

 

[belfastboy]

So apparently since 2015, Akubras have been made from imported European rabbit fur. Akubra shuttered their fur processing facility in the same year. The same article notes that Akubras have not been purely Australian fur since the 90's.

Perhaps significant, perhaps not. I recall that Steve has often commented on the importance of European makers being able to control the end to end process from pelt to hat. The devil is in the details, as 'European rabbit fur' - broadly stated - can end up in really nice hats (Optimos up until they switched to all beaver) and just okay hats (modern Borsos).

Now I'm really interested in comparing an older "all-Australian" (for lack of a better term) Akubra vs a more recent one.

I have a David Morgan Akubra "Madison" from the year 2000 and a "Sydney" model from about 2014. The felt in the hats is comparable and to me is very good quality. Not sure if the David Morgan models are a higher quality than ones from Aussie sources but the DMorgan hat felt is softer and more pliable than my Aussie bought CD's . Then the DMorgan hats were much more expensive than buying direct from Australia. . But I love them all!

 

[belfastboy]

Open Crown Stetsons: A Call (Plea) to Retailers!!

And:

I bought a 7X beaver Bailey Western in white (on closeout) and decided to risk dyeing it. The process requires water almost at the boil. The hat was good quality western weight and survived my crude attempt at dyeing. The amazing thing was how much more felting took place. The felt fairly dense western weight to begin seemed to felt up at least another 1/3. I reblocked it to fit, cut the brim and gave it a fedora bash. I now have an incredibly dense felt. I call it my safety fedora as I am convinced it approaches Kevlar and is now bullet proof.

 

[nightcruller]

I see now, a fellow boardmembers hat hat the same spidering as mine.
So sad how vintage items are made correct and new items are made this way in the modern age.

About the cardboard-like felt behavior... I definitely had a bit of that when I first creased mine. I tried a dry bash first, then steamed it, and the more I worked the felt the more wrinkled it got. I found that giving the hat a thorough soaking with a spray bottle was the only way I could form mine into the shape I wanted, and that also seemed to have smoothed out some of the "spidering". The end result isn't perfect, like a smooth vintage hat, but IMO it's acceptable (and I creased it deep enough that you'd really have to peer down into the bash to see the wrinkling).

 

[Hat Masterson]

I don’t want to pay to ship it back. I hate being in situations like this. Situations I don’t put people in.
You guys help me understand more about new hat purchases and what to ask prior to anymore further purchases.
Wheres the link to Joshbru?

Dude. I can relate. If you don't like it, though, why not call them? What's to lose? Everythingaustralian seems pretty cool to me (based on my limited contact with him). That might be the answer. Anyway, beats worrying about it anymore.

 

[jlee562]

Dude. I can relate. If you don't like it, though, why not call them? What's to lose? Everythingaustralian seems pretty cool to me (based on my limited contact with him). That might be the answer. Anyway, beats worrying about it anymore.

+1 on this. The worst thing they can say is no.

spidering is indeed not uncommon in modern hats, but what the pic showed is beyond the norm for a fairly shallow crease IMHO.

If you're intent to keep it anyway, I would definitely steam and brush it. You can likely minimize the effect. A spritz of denatured alcohol would also counteract the effects of the shellac.

 

[D00R]

Thanks guys for the input its much appreciated. @nightcruller hey buddy, Sounds like a good idea. I ordered the same size as you Im glad i didn’t go bigger.

@Hat Masterson I just don’t wanna be a bother. I can deal with it. I usually like a hat I can be rough it. Just wasn’t sure if the CD would continue to worsen. The brotherhood is reassuring me. I will deal with it.

After I got my CD it was going to be my first step to ordering a FEDIV now im so reluctant. I do not want another fedora with this spidering look.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Lots of manipulation might get you what you’re after...

This was going to be my suggestion. Manipulating the felt with your hands--bending it, crushing it, pushing it into different shapes, etc.--breaks up the stiffener to some degree and helped to make all of my Akubras at least a little bit softer and a bit more willing to accept the shapes I wanted when they were still new. Creasing and re-creasing their crowns over the years has also helped. Just be careful not to put any sharp creases in the felt while you're doing this, because you can create more work for yourself trying to eliminate them.

 

[Just A Hat Rack]

I see now, a fellow boardmembers hat hat the same spidering as mine.
So sad how vintage items are made correct and new items are made this way in the modern age.

Sadly, this is true with much more than just hats!

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[tropicalbob]

It's weird, but when I first got into hats about seven or eight years ago I first got a Borso and then a BGCD. The Borso was really soft and the Akubra much stiffer. Today the Borso is so soft that I find it hard to keep any shape to it, while the Akubra has softened up nicely and holds its shape no matter how much abuse I give it.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

It's weird, but when I first got into hats about seven or eight years ago I first got a Borso and then a BGCD. The Borso was really soft and the Akubra much stiffer. Today the Borso is so soft that I find it hard to keep any shape to it, while the Akubra has softened up nicely and holds its shape no matter how much abuse I give it.

I too have vintage Borsalinos that are so soft I’ve had to look for ways to stiffen them up. I guess we’re looking to the Goldilocks hat that’s just right.




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[deadlyhandsome]

To be fair, I just checked and Everything Australian has Campdrafts for just under $100 (not including shipping of $19). What can we rightfully expect of a $100 hat? I applaud Akubra for making a decent hat at this price point. Akubra really is without competition at this price. If we want a better hat there are many options with their corresponding increase in price.

I was looking at Akubras again recently but none of them fit what I was looking for. I ordered (another) custom from Agnoulita that with shipping ended up costing me $35 more than an Akubra with shipping, but I got the exact color, brim width, crown height, etc. that I wanted. I also was able to specify a soft crown and a slightly stiffer brim. There are options for just a bit more money, but then again a $135 “custom” is also a compromise hat and won’t stand comparison to a $300-400+ custom or to a quality vintage hat. The fact that some Akubras make it through quality control that are stiffer or coarser than others, or stiffer/coarser than what we would like, should be expected at their price point.

I think that hat every “hat person” needs at least one Akubra, just know you’re getting a $100 hat for your $100; sounds fair to me.


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[Tukwila]

I had a Coober Pedy and was quite disappointed. Bad fit, poor felt, etc, etc. Still tempted to try a Camp Draft.

 

[Zombie_61]

To be fair, I just checked and Everything Australian has Campdrafts for just under $100 (not including shipping of $19). What can we rightfully expect of a $100 hat? I applaud Akubra for making a decent hat at this price point. Akubra really is without competition at this price. If we want a better hat there are many options with their corresponding increase in price.

I was looking at Akubras again recently but none of them fit what I was looking for. I ordered (another) custom from Agnoulita that with shipping ended up costing me $35 more than an Akubra with shipping, but I got the exact color, brim width, crown height, etc. that I wanted. I also was able to specify a soft crown and a slightly stiffer brim. There are options for just a bit more money, but then again a $135 “custom” is also a compromise hat and won’t stand comparison to a $300-400+ custom or to a quality vintage hat. The fact that some Akubras make it through quality control that are stiffer or coarser than others, or stiffer/coarser than what we would like, should be expected at their price point...

I agree. If you've only ever owned vintage and/or custom hats, an Akubra is never going to measure up. Stiff felts that usually require a little extra work to get the shapes we want, some hand-wringing over determining the correct size, and of course the "shrink to fit" issue with their sweatbands that put some people off. I know they're not the best hats available, but they're arguably the best hats in their price range.

...I think that every “hat person” needs at least one Akubra, just know you’re getting a $100 hat for your $100; sounds fair to me.

As I've posted before, I think every hat wearer should own at least one Akubra if for no other reason than to have a dedicated "foul weather" hat for those times when you/we don't want to risk damaging a vintage or custom hat.

 

[Scuttle]

As I've posted before, I think every hat wearer should own at least one Akubra if for no other reason than to have a dedicated "foul weather" hat for those times when you/we don't want to risk damaging a vintage or custom hat.

1) My Campdraft (Moonstone, Heritage) quickly announced itself for that role, unprompted.

I love it for what it is, and did not purposefully appoint it my "You! Out in the Rain!" hat.

Yet, it so clearly handles 'weather' well, I relish having such a great, non-Ugly-Rain-Hat go-to regardless of precipitation.

I would also mention that I enjoy the particular smell of its felt once wet, but shall refrain lest we tip into the weird.

O, wait.

2) This thread's great. Now I want another Campdraft. Yay!

3) With feels-likes of 100° these days, I am way looking forward to the return of true Felt Weather®.

~ S.