Akubra Overload

[Silver-Wolf]

Well, after searching through here I’ve decided that I’m gonna pull the trigger on an Akubra for my next hat. I already have a Strat Premier in Cornhill, and have been debating on going for a Campdraft in Silverbelly, or a Fed IV in Heritage Fawn or Moonstone.

What would be the most versatile? My Winter Coats are Black, and would like something to fall in lines with that, but also the more casual side for spring/fall (earth tones) or saw to heck with it and buy one of each.

Also, is there any discernible difference between the Heritage Felt vs the Imperiale? (I know the sweat is one). Also, was kind of leaning towards the Campdraft Deluxe seeing as it has been discontinued with limited stock left.

I appreciate any pointers!

There is a difference between the Akubra Heritage and Imperial grades, Heritage is thicker/more dense softer in general but that can vary depending on batch differences with the shellac's. Also has select softer belly fur and hare fur as the mix, everyone's a bit different but I like Imperial in general more, though that nicer kangaroo sweatband sure does feel comfy.

Most of Akubra's colours are earthy tones so will pair well with many clothing colour options. But typically myself wear the lighter colours in summer and the darker tones in winter. I'd say get one of each, one lighter colour and one dark for winter. What to get has to be your own choice lol, but if interested in a model marked to be discontinued then I'd aim there first as you may not have that as an option later on.

 

[Beef]

But as I said it comes with enough felt in that bag to make a hat....Or if your crazy enough and had a few drinks it already is a hat..lol

Even comes with a center crease, not sure how the wind cords work around my ears...seems a little loose

Ha ha ha!! That just made my whole day. Thanks for the belly laugh!

 

[Midwest Wanderer]

There is a difference between the Akubra Heritage and Imperial grades, Heritage is thicker/more dense softer in general but that can vary depending on batch differences with the shellac's. Also has select softer belly fur and hare fur as the mix, everyone's a bit different but I like Imperial in general more, though that nicer kangaroo sweatband sure does feel comfy.

Most of Akubra's colours are earthy tones so will pair well with many clothing colour options. But typically myself wear the lighter colours in summer and the darker tones in winter. I'd say get one of each, one lighter colour and one dark for winter. What to get has to be your own choice lol, but if interested in a model marked to be discontinued then I'd aim there first as you may not have that as an option later on.

I appreciate the pointers. Went ahead and pulled the trigger on a SB Campdraft Deluxe. Came to $150 express shipped. ($10 off right now on the Hattery). I’m already gonna say it is a better price than the Strat I picked up.

We’ll see how it goes, and I may go ahead and order a Fed IV in Moonstone or Carbon Grey afterwards.

 

[jkingrph]

Nice! I've been curious about the Kentucky Rancher for some time but I figured the brim would be too short for my liking. Yours looks great. I'd like to do a telescope crown.

I just picked up one from David Morgan, On sale at I think $129 $40 less than the sand. Color is more chocolate than what I think of as a fawn, but i like it. Brim is nice and wide as I like, so it shades my eyes well, I have eye condition and bright light overhead bothers me. I think I would have liked the sand, but this one will stay clean better.

 

[jkingrph]

There is a difference between the Akubra Heritage and Imperial grades, Heritage is thicker/more dense softer in general but that can vary depending on batch differences with the shellac's. Also has select softer belly fur and hare fur as the mix, everyone's a bit different but I like Imperial in general more, though that nicer kangaroo sweatband sure does feel comfy.

Most of Akubra's colours are earthy tones so will pair well with many clothing colour options. But typically myself wear the lighter colours in summer and the darker tones in winter. I'd say get one of each, one lighter colour and one dark for winter. What to get has to be your own choice lol, but if interested in a model marked to be discontinued then I'd aim there first as you may not have that as an option later on.

I just got one of the Kentucky Rancher model, which is the Imperial grade. I just compared it to my Banjo Patterson, Heritage grade. This particular Imperial grade is much thicker and much stiffer than any of my hats in the Heritage grade, almost twice as thick. It may be that the thickness is needed for the rolled pencil edge.

 

[Just A Hat Rack]

I just got one of the Kentucky Rancher model, which is the Imperial grade. I just compared it to my Banjo Patterson, Heritage grade. This particular Imperial grade is much thicker and much stiffer than any of my hats in the Heritage grade, almost twice as thick. It may be that the thickness is needed for the rolled pencil edge.

It's funny you mention that because I always thought the opposite. I have a heritage Lightning Ridge that I would consider to be thicker and denser than my imperial Blue Mountains. The BM has considerable more stiffener because the brim is about 3/4" wider, so the LR feels a bit softer. I wonder if you're on to something with the KR being thicker because of its size/shape/dimensions and other attributes. I've also heard rumblings that heritage grade is a rabbit/hare blend, whereas the imperial is just rabbit.

 

[jkingrph]

I just pulled out a little electronic Vernier caliper and measured, realizing of course that I cannot get the tension exactly the same on a flat brim or the pencil edge, probably not the same each time on the flat for that matter. The Imperial quality on the Kentucky measures about 3.5mm the Heratige quality on the Banjo measures about 1.5mm. I had thought the Kentucky Rancher looked about twice as thick as the Banjo Patterson and this confirmed it. I have others a Territory also an Imperial quality and it measures 1.95mm, so apparently there is a bit of variation. I like the softness of the Heritage models, and stiffness of some of the Imperials. The large brim on the Territory, I think needs the stiffness to keep from flopping down, and the Kentucky Rancher probably to hold that pencil edge. and brim curl.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I've also heard rumblings that heritage grade is a rabbit/hare blend, whereas the imperial is just rabbit.

If Akubra mentions this on their own website I've yet to find out where. But Hats Direct/The Hattery does address this on their website and explain it as follows:

"Imperial Quality - Akubra Hats reputation for tough wearing qualities and fine fedora styles is based on this grade of felt. It is tough, hard wearing and can take any punishment dished out to it. These hats like hard wearing.

Heritage Quality - This felt is a relatively recent addition and is made from finer fibres taken from a select part of the rabbit pelt and mixed with the native Hare resulting in a grade which is denser and smoother than the Imperial grade. Parts of the pelt not required are discarded. It is more stable over time and less prone to shrinkage and distortions such as the tapering of the crown.

The Heritage Grade is the closest rabbit fur grade to Beaver Felt."

That being said, Akubra made headlines back in May of 2014 because a shortage of wild rabbits and hares resulted in the company having to source their furs overseas. Whether or not that had any effect on the quality of their felts, I don't know.

 

[Scooterz]

Moonstone Campdraft in indirect light and direct evening light. This color mostly looks a medium gray but tends to shift apparent color based on light a bit. Goes from medium gray to light gray almost silver and sometimes it looks light brownish. Did not expect that much color shift. It is a lighter color than my Gannon steel beaver.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

Moonstone Campdraft in indirect light and direct evening light. This color mostly looks a medium gray but tends to shift apparent color based on light a bit. Goes from medium gray to light gray almost silver and sometimes it looks light brownish. Did not expect that much color shift. It is a lighter color than my Gannon steel beaver.

View attachment 277183
View attachment 277184

Not how/what I expected at all, I thought it looked on average in most lighting much lighter. One of the few colours I don't have, the Cruiser Grey is much like that, reflects light in all sorts of ways. It often looks a mid to light but it's really quite a solid mid grey, heck in poor indoor lighting it looks dark grey.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

I just got one of the Kentucky Rancher model, which is the Imperial grade. I just compared it to my Banjo Patterson, Heritage grade. This particular Imperial grade is much thicker and much stiffer than any of my hats in the Heritage grade, almost twice as thick. It may be that the thickness is needed for the rolled pencil edge.

Sorry,
Please forgive me I meant to reply the same day and missed it somehow.
I meant when comparing apples with apples, your comparing two different Akubra models (most likely different batches as well). I mean when comparing like for like, say a CampDraft in Imperial Vs CampDraft in Heritage. Both are thick-ish fur felts, Imperial CamDdraft is often a wee bit over 3mm thick but the Heritage is just a hair shy of 5mm thick.

 

[jkingrph]

Sorry,
Please forgive me I meant to reply the same day and missed it somehow.
I meant when comparing apples with apples, your comparing two different Akubra models (most likely different batches as well). I mean when comparing like for like, say a CampDraft in Imperial Vs CampDraft in Heritage. Both are thick-ish fur felts, Imperial CamDdraft is often a wee bit over 3mm thick but the Heritage is just a hair shy of 5mm thick.

I just did some measuring of three different styles, all Heritage quality, Campdraft deluxe =2.1mm, Fed Deluxe IV =17mm, and Lawson=2.4mm. It looks like the dresser models run thinner and the more sporty model is thicker, but none approached 3mm, much less 5mm. 5mm would be 0.196 " just under .2" and would be extremely thick, I honestly can say I have never seen a hat with felt that thick.

 

[belfastboy]

I just did some measuring of three different styles, all Heritage quality, Campdraft deluxe =2.1mm, Fed Deluxe IV =17mm, and Lawson=2.4mm. It looks like the dresser models run thinner and the more sporty model is thicker, but none approached 3mm, much less 5mm. 5mm would be 0.196 " just under .2" and would be extremely thick, I honestly can say I have never seen a hat with felt that thick.

The only 5mm head covering I have is a good ol' Canadian toque!

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Just got a package from the Hatsdirect team. Riverina-- Light Sand. Wow this thing is big. Keep banging into things LOL. But is going to be great for keeping sun off. I also picked up an Avalon in Tempest which is this really cool blueish grey (much more blueish than Moonstone). I'll post that later or tomorrow. If they end up offering that color in other styles, might have to buy some more even though I said this last order was going to be my last LOL.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

I just did some measuring of three different styles, all Heritage quality, Campdraft deluxe =2.1mm, Fed Deluxe IV =17mm, and Lawson=2.4mm. It looks like the dresser models run thinner and the more sporty model is thicker, but none approached 3mm, much less 5mm. 5mm would be 0.196 " just under .2" and would be extremely thick, I honestly can say I have never seen a hat with felt that thick.

Seems it's a bit all over the shop, I think my CD deluxe heritage didn't get pounced much, still kinda fuzzy but here's some pics I snapped this morn. I said a hair under 5mm, not 5mm but it's 4.5mm pretty much, close to 5mm lol, check out the pics.

Might explain why I never wore this hat much, bought it in light colour for summer heat and it was always the hottest and heaviest hat I own. Was always difficult getting it to take a bash as well.

 

[jkingrph]

I don't know if you were doing so, but I placed the jaws of my calipers well over so the welt was into the notched part of the jaws, so that I was not measuring the welted edge of the brim.

 

[Silver-Wolf]

I did the same if you look at the photos above...so it was passed the trimmed /welt edge and even pinched/held the felt flat across the vernier jaws.

My FED IV's are the thinnest Akubra's and you can easily feel how much lighter they are. Think I'll go measure those..

Edit: My Dark Brown Fed IV is 2.72mm and the Carbon Grey is 2.91mm.. Both thicker than I had thought. Just noticed you have a typo on the size of your Fed IV lol, think it's meant to be 1.7mm but strange that mine are pretty much a whole 1mm thicker... No idea if it matters, meh they all work on your head the same. Seems thickness in itself across all of them is kinda random.

 

[Gobi]

I got my Akubra book today. I consider myself an Akubra enthusiast so it's nice to have.
I was hoping the felt bag would be actual imperial grade felt, that would have been a nice touch but it feels like wool or maybe even synthetic. Still cool though.

 

[dkstott]

I don't have calipers handy, but the Heritage felt in my Banjo Patterson is considerably thicker than the Imperial felt in my Stylemaster.

 

[jkingrph]

I did the same if you look at the photos above...so it was passed the trimmed /welt edge and even pinched/held the felt flat across the vernier jaws.

My FED IV's are the thinnest Akubra's and you can easily feel how much lighter they are. Think I'll go measure those..

Edit: My Dark Brown Fed IV is 2.72mm and the Carbon Grey is 2.91mm.. Both thicker than I had thought. Just noticed you have a typo on the size of your Fed IV lol, think it's meant to be 1.7mm but strange that mine are pretty much a whole 1mm thicker... No idea if it matters, meh they all work on your head the same. Seems thickness in itself across all of them is kinda random.

Yes must have bounced the decimal point on that for 17mm instead of 1.7.