How do you handle a Hat?

[Legal Concepts]

I've heard people on this forum freak when somone would handle a hat by the Brim, so how do you handle a fedora? grab it by the pinch? and if it's softer, does that make the brim more sensitive to handling?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

If you grab a hat too hard at the pinch it can make the crease split over time. -I've seen it over and over. I've never seen any harm coming from grabbing a hat by the brim. Personally, I grab mine by both, but I do so lightly. I cradle my hats in my hands. I think that is the key. But if you watch old films, they are very rough on their hats; tossing them from here and there, pinching them, folding them, throwing their coats over them. It makes me flinch!

 

[Andykev]

It is not the pinch!

AHHHH!!!!!! Handle the hat by the BRIM, not the crown pinch. On a straw, you will fatigue the pinch and cause cracking. On a felt, you will distort the shape.

Hold the hat by the front and rear brim with two hands as you place tha hat on your head.

Place the hat on it's crown (upside down) when not worn. Like when you toss it on the table for dinner. Yes, the crown can become soiled. but the brim will misshape when placed on the table brim side down.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

I don't usually baby my felts too much. But I don't mishandle them either. I use the brim method that Andy described. But I also feel that a well handled and slightly rumpled felt fedora has character. I'm not advocating crumpling an expensive work of art, but look at Ford's Raider's hat. Yeah I know it's only a movie, yada, yada...But y'all know what I mean.

Now my Western Hats are so stiff that I can handle them by the crown without any thought to damage.

 

[Art Fawcett]

brim & leather, brim & leather (sweatband) thats the ONLY way to handle your hat unless you can either clean & block it yourself or just don't care about it. Grabbing the pinch looks good on film ( very macho) but sucks for the hat.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I am one of those that treats my hats badly... I harm so many and have worn holes in so many... Shows me which ones can really take a beating.

 

[simmo]

I'm sure most people have seen the Lee Keppler video but for those that havn't ,this is how you handle a hat !!!
http://www.adventure-supply.com/Movie.wmv

 

[MattC]

On a shelf

Does it hurt a hat to be put right side up on a flat surface if you let the brim overhang in front so the front brim is in the air, or if you snap the brim back up? I usually do the upside down thing, but I've always wondered.

 

[WEEGEE]

PRATICE GOOD HABITS

I have found many a hat wearing friend so in the habit of grabing thier crown

it would take alot to purge that involuntary response...just please i say don't

handle my hats like that ...cringe.


and the other thing of habit to practice...brush the hat before you put it on for the day and again when you retire it for the evening.

 

[scotrace]

I've heard people on this forum freak when somone would handle a hat by the Brim, so how do you handle a fedora? grab it by the pinch? and if it's softer, does that make the brim more sensitive to handling?

I think you've misread? I've never seen anyone here become concerned over handling a hat by the brim. But as you see, apoplexy results from a mention of grabbing one by the crown.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

On the brim not the crown!

Does it hurt a hat to be put right side up on a flat surface if you let the brim overhang in front so the front brim is in the air, or if you snap the brim back up? I usually do the upside down thing, but I've always wondered.

Optimo and Art Fawcett told me to lay my hat down as you stated. The crown thing is for a western hat not a fedora. Look at how Optimo displays there hats. Yes always take it off by the brim not the crown. :cool2:

http://www.optimohats.com/customhats.htm

 

[Matt Deckard]

Never sit a hat on its crown when wet.

You sit a stiff hat on its crown when not worn to prevent the brim from losing its shape.

You sit a soft hat on its brim with the brim flipped up to prevent the crown from getting a flat spot.

If the hat is wet sit the hat on a towell and on the brim... if it is a cowboy hat put the towell on the edge of a chair or a couch with the brim hnging over either side. If it is a soft hat like a fedora flip the bim up and sit it on a towell on a table.

To keep the hat from weaing out from handling always cary by the brim.

 

[jinenjo]

You sit a stiff hat on its crown when not worn to prevent the brim from losing its shape.

You sit a soft hat on its brim with the brim flipped up to prevent the crown from getting a flat spot.
[....]

To keep the hat from wearing out from handling always carry by the brim.

What if it's a stiff felt fedora with a short brim?

I understand that handling the crown, over years and years time, might create a crack, but what's to prevent the brim from getting damaged over the years?

 

[jaymag_87]

There are several video clips on hat handling and care on Akubra's Website.
http://www.akubra.com.au/hatcare.html

 

[jlee562]

I confess, I sometimes grab a hat by the pinch, but I am mostly a brim handler.

 

[JimWagner]

There are several video clips on hat handling and care on Akubra's Website.
http://www.akubra.com.au/hatcare.html

Anyone else notice that when he picked up the hat he did so by the pinch?

I handle my hats by the pinch, the crown, the brim, wherever. I just do it gently and have never had any problems.

In defense of the video, note that he used 3 fingers at the pinch (two on the sides and one on the top) and did not squeeze any harder than necessary to pick up the hat and get it on his head. I don't think you'll harm a hat that way.

 

[Michaelshane]

I handle my hats by the crown,the pinch,the side of the pinch,lightly....I do not squeeze the pinch.I find it very awkward to handle a hat by the brim.I've been wearing hats for over 40 years and I haven't hurt one yet.Straws too.I bought a Stetson 25 that had been handled by the brim.You could see where the man put his thumb in the same place every time he put it on and off.the felt was broken in that spot.The only damage I cause is getting my silverbelly's dirty.

 

[Neophyte]

Like Art said, leather and brim. Unless the brim is too wide, like on my western, I generally curl my thumb around the brim and place the rest of my digits inside the crown, resting on the sweatband. This does leave the inside of the hat facing out, but I don't mind it a bit.

 

[Rat Pack]

To keep the hat from weaing out from handling always cary by the brim.

I always carry it by the sweat, without even touching the brim, by letting it hang on my hand as if my fingers were a hook leaving the crown next to my thigh. Shows off Art's beautiful lining colors and ensures I don't accidentally rub the crown on anything as I pass by.

 

[DougC]

For me, it depends on the hat. I handle my vintage Stetsons by the brim--I take pretty good car of them. My two modern ORs I treat rough. The one that still has a cattleman's crease gets used to fan a barbeque and the other with a teardrop crease gets stuck with flies and grabbed on the crown with hands covered in fish slime. My other modern hats get a little better treatment, but I grab them just about everywhere when I put them on or take them off.