Home made safari hat

[DanielJones]

Very nice job indeed! Very inspiring.:eusa_clap

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Wolfmanjack]

On the chinstrap issue, since you clearly have the skills to alter the sweatband, you might want to consider doing it the way the Australian slouches are attached.

Jack, That is a very interesting way to attach a chin strap, quite different from the strap running through the brim on the various U.S. versions (Marine D.I., Scoutmaster, Ranger) of the Montana peak. I see the advantage of a leak-proof brim. I'll have to consider this method for the campaign/field hat I'm going to build. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Earp]

Extremely admirable work sir! I'm impressed. That brim looks great!

 

[Mojave Jack]

$25?! Wow, that's a steal! I'm willing to put in a little sweat to get a hat like that.

Speaking of sweat, Mark, I'm really interested in how you made that sweatband. I have three hats that could use a new sweatband, but I've not been brave enough to pull them out yet, for fear of not ever getting the new headband in right, or it just looking like crap. One of them is my Akubra, which I like, but the sweatband doesn't absorb sweat! Instead it pools up between my forehead and the sweatband, and when I take off my hat it pours down my face!! lol I laugh now, but it's awful in the field. I'd like to put in a good absorbent sweat, but I'm not really sure how to do it.

Did you have to do anything to prepare the body, or did it come flat brimmed and open crowned?

 

[Earp]

Hey Mark, did you sew that sweatband in by hand? How is that done? Can you recommend any books, video, websites, etc. for folks who would want to learn in depth about hatmaking? I'd like to replace a sweatband in one of my hats but thought the sewing part looked tricky. Any qualities one should look for when choosing the leather?

Thanks for any information and again, good job!

 

[Mark G]

Boy, I wish there were books and videos on hatmaking. Most everything I've learned was by trial and error (lots of error) or from what I've picked up at the lounge.

The hoods come as a very floppy cone, the capelines are a little bit more in the shape of a hat but just as floppy.

I start by dipping the body in hot water and putting over a block that is attached to a piece of plywood used for the flange. I made the block by turning the wood into a dome (I took the measurment off one of my hats that fit very well). I have a long oval head, 6 1/4" wide by 7 3/4" long so I made the block 6 1/2" around and when I finished it I cut it in two with a bandsaw and added a piece to make it into an oval almost 8" long. After I glued it up I rasped and sanded this to make a block that would produce a hat that would be slightly bigger than my head to make room for the sweat when I put it in. After I put the body over the block I use a large rubber band at the base of the block and the plywood flange to secure it and let it dry.

After it's dry I take it off the block and use hat stiffener (it's still very floppy) and cover the entire hat. As far as I know the stiffener is not much more than very fine blonde shellac flakes disolved in ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. Once this is dry I do it one more time at the transition of the brim and crown to make sure it doesn't flop. Using an iron I put baking parchment on the hat and press the brim flat. I cut the brim after this session using a piece of plywood that is cut with a concave end so that it fits the curve of the crown. The other end has a slit cut in it (in this case 4") so that I can wedge an x-acto knife blade in. Putting the hat back in the block I hold the concave end to the base of the hat and go around it, cutting the brim to the right length. I try to do this in one pass so that the edge is clean and doesn't have any jagged areas.

I then sand the hat with very fine sandpaper (600 grit wet or dry) because once the stiffener is dry the soft rabbit fur has become a little rough.

Steam and water spray is used to shape the crown and brim, then I use a leather hole punch to cut the eyelet holes, in this case 4 on each side.

The leather sweat took me several tries before I was satisfied. I used pigskin because I had it, but I also thought that because of the large hair folicles it would be good for wicking moisture away. I used an old Resistol sweat as my template. I cut my reinforced vinyl to a strip 1 1/4" wide and folded it in two. Then I used a sewing machine with a leather needle to make a straight stitch about an 1/8" from the fold. I then installed the optical fiber (also something I had on hand that looked to be a dead ringer for the reed from the Resistol, about .042") in the pocket in the vinyl. I set the sewing machine to zig-zag and stitched the vinyl as close to the leather as I could without hitting the "reed". It took a coulple of tries before I taped a guide to the machine. I used the same stitch to join the two together. I used the old sweat as a guide for the cut. Small shrink tubing was used to join the "reed".

The hard part is sewing the sweat into the hat. Again three tries was a charm. I have a simple sewing maching that wouldn't lend itself to this so I had to do it by hand. I started by positioning the sweat band in the right place and tacking it with black thread (to match the vinyl) in between the leather and the "reed". Then I turned the sweat inside out to stich the vinyl to the hat body. I used upholstery thread because it very tough.

After that the puggaree went on.

I hope this all made sense, and wasn't too long winded. I've seen some information on making felt and I'd really like to try that sometime. BTW the hats I wear everyday are vintage or made by Art, but I have to say it's a blast to give it a try and come out with something that looks like a hat.

 

[Earp]

Thank you very much for all the great information Mark G. I really appreciate you taking the time to post it. I'd love to try what you have done sometime soon. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[BellyTank]

Here's my attempt-

Got the bug for this last year with all the talk here...

Left it alone until now and reading this thread.
But now, I think I will replace the Lawrance Ordnance pugaree with a linen job or maybe a strip of Cheetah skin I have lurking...

Mine is actually a hat which I bought and modified- inspired by photos from the galleries at the Martin and Osa Johnson web site.

I really like your hat Mark, it's truly fantastic!
Well done- very well done.

B
T

 

[GoldLeaf]

Wow! I am so impressed! :eusa_clap Great looking hat! I agree, having something you made for a big trip feels good. Especially when it's as nice as that hat!

 

[Mark G]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. BellyTank, linen sounds good, I used tea dyed muslin because it's cheap and draped well. It's really not that hard to do a puggaree, and if it doesn't turn out on the first try you can do it again.

 

[BellyTank]

Don't worry- I can do a Pugaree, wore one at my wedding!

B
T

 

[dog20]

thats an amazing hat, great job!

 

[DnSchlng]

i am in africa a lot and was wondering how i could talk to you about a hat for me?

 

[Mark G]

That's pretty funny, I never thought about making a hat for anyone else. Let me think about it.

In what part of Africa do you live?

 

[DnSchlng]

I actually dont live in Africa but am there the better part of a year.
I work there as a professional hunter. Im mostly in South Africa.

 

[fedoralover]

That's a great job indeed. Here's the one that kinda sets the standard, yours is very close, now you just have to figure out how to do the double brim.

fedoralover

 

[DnSchlng]

What movie is that from?

 

[Wolfmanjack]

What movie is that from?

DnSching, I think that is Stewart Granger playing Allan Quatermain in the 1950 movie King Solomon's Mines. Here is a still from the movie:

 

[Edward]

Great looking hat. I love that style of safari hat - maybe next year I'll add one to my wardrobe. Seems to me that for the adventurer look it'd be a nice alternative to the Jones fedora, and better for hotter climates. Covers some of the same territoriy as a panama, but if I only was able to carry one hat on a trip, bearing in mind the possibility of rain....

For me, it's the pugaree that really sets off the Safari style. Yours looks superb.