Introduction

[hatsRme]

Welcome, Mike! As seen in the New Hat thread, you are off to a great start in your hat pursuits. Great choices, well-sported lids! Moreover, as a writer you are simply required to have a fedora, or so I was told by an aspiring one way back in my college days. You ARE in the right place...

 

[N8dawg16]

First post here

Hello all. I ve been lurking here for a bit and learning all I can.

I'm trying to decide on ordering a fedora which is no small feat. I've poured over the threads of Vintage Silhouettes' and Buckaroo Hatters. I'm drawn towards %100 beaver felts. My question is how durable are the standard weight felts? I realize cowboy hats we're once all beaver felts but do the fedoras hold up well to use? I'm no Indiana Jones but I wear hats through thick and thin.

thanks. N8dawg

 

[John Galt]

If you want a really durable hat buy a vintage Nutria Quality Stetson or any other good nutria hat. The felt is comparable to beaver but denser and in my opinion, more durable. There is a reason that working cowboys chose hats made of nutria. If you are lucky and tenacious, you might find a nutria fedora. Otherwise, you can get a nutria blend body at Winchester or have a custom shop order you one. I ordered a nutria blend body from Winchester for $68.00, I believe.

 

[TheDane]

I realize cowboy hats we're once all beaver felts but do the fedoras hold up well to use? I'm no Indiana Jones but I wear hats through thick and thin.

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s a western hatbody could easily weigh up to a pound (that equals five Vintage Silhouette hats inside each other!). On top of that it was heavily stiffened with shellac. Old western hats were more or less helmets ... absolutely nothing like a dress hat. The modern equivalent is not the felt fedora, but the plastic rain-hat.

A quality nutria or beaver fedora will take an occasional shower - as will a suit - but it's not a rain-hat as such. A heavy nutria or beaver hat used for trekking, hunting or fishing, I would never wear as a dress hat. If you need a hat for trekking - keep it your trekking hat. If you need a dress hat - treat it like a dress hat.

I live in a country where it rains a lot and it's quite windy. I never hit the street without a fedora, but without my wind trolleys and umbrellas I would probably not wear fedoras half of the time

 

[Dinerman]

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s a western hatbody could easily weigh up to a pound (that equals five Vintage Silhouette hats inside each other!). On top of that it was heavily stiffened with shellac. Old western hats were more or less helmets ... absolutely nothing like a dress hat. The modern equivalent is not the felt fedora, but the plastic rain-hat.

A quality nutria or beaver fedora will take an occasional shower - as will a suit - but it's not a rain-hat as such. A heavy nutria or beaver hat used for trekking, hunting or fishing, I would never wear as a dress hat. If you need a hat for trekking - keep it your trekking hat. If you need a dress hat - treat it like a dress hat.

I live in a country where it rains a lot and it's quite windy. I never hit the street without a fedora, but without my wind trolleys and umbrellas I would probably not wear fedoras half of the time

I've had quite a few turn of the century cowboy hats and have never seen any remotely like that. Most have fairly lightweight (by modern cowboy hat standards) bodies, and are not nearly as stiff as modern ones. Much more like a dress hat than current offerings.

 

[alanfgag]

Cheyenne, WYO hat circa 1910... silk ribbon, silk lined underbrim, very soft, weight about 3 ounces. Not a hat for roping.

 

[TheDane]

Dinerman: That's really surprising to me, and it seems to contradict everything I was told and have read about old cowboy working hats. Every description of old western life and wear, I have read, state that the hats were tough, hard and heavy working hats - build to protect the head. I was trawling through some old patents the other day, where one of them explicitly mentioned the extreme weight of western felts. I'm quite sure I read it in one of my old books on felting too.

It's a bit hard for me to imagine what a cowboy would have used a light and soft hat for in the bush or on the prairie - except for looking dandy and keeping the sun away from the eyes. "The Last Drop" would also suddenly picture a pretty abstract scene, if the hat was a soft dress weight hat.

I have never questioned that version of reality, as it always seemed so obviously logical. Maybe I should revalidate my whole image of the prairie as working space and the dress used there [huh]

 

[TheDane]

Cheyenne, WYO hat circa 1910... silk ribbon, silk lined underbrim, very soft, weight about 3 ounces. Not a hat for roping.

WoW, that's nice! Love the reversed taper and dressed underbrim ... but not a working hat

 

[alanfgag]

More Cheyenne hats. It was not a one size/style fits all era.

 

[alanfgag]

Nutria fur, bunny soft. 1920s

 

[Dinerman]

A working cowboy hat, the Stetson Boss of the Plains. Dense, durable felt- yes. Thick and heavy - no.
All the working cowboy hats I've had from the period, and I've had quite a few, have been of what we'd now consider "dress" thickness or thinner. The felt has been decidedly denser and thereby more durable than what you find on modern cowboy hats. I'm getting a weight of about six ounces on the ones with larger brims.

 

[TheDane]

I'd love to see your sources.

I'll try to remember this thread when/if I bump into it again

 

[Daywalker]

Greetings,
Long time lurker here, and I wish to thank all those on the forum for providing information to assist me with my decisions and my interests. I've decided to contribute as well in an effort to provide another perspective, and hopefully some worthwhile information as well. I have a hat on it's way from Mike Moore of Buckaroo Hatters which I'll provide some pics of after arrival.

 

[Matthew MO]

Found this site while looking around for a new hat. There's great stuff in here and looking forward to learning a bit.

 

[John Galt]

I have read that working cowboys liked very stiff brims, and that they were often stiffened with rawhide stitching. An aging cowboy I know told me that when he wrangled cattle in Montana or Wyoming (can't remember) as a young man, they stiffened their hats with a sugar solution.

I actually prefer softer brimmed westerns to cardboard tacos, and note that my old Stetson Nutria Quality cowboy hats are all of the soft brimmed variety. A South American vaquero hat I have is also nutria, and is a pretty soft brimmed hat. The crowns on my older cowboy hats are also soft.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[Latoso]

Hello everyone!

My name is Jim, I'm from the South-Side of Chicago and I just joined after lurking for a bit over a month.

I recently became a "hat guy" kind of by accident. I was in downtown Chicago waiting for a friend of mine to show up to watch Book of Mormon with me. I was early and had some time to kill, so I stopped by the Optimo Hat Shop on Dearbourn to check it out. I was intrigued by the recent report on Chicago Tonight and some other articles I had read not too long ago. It seemed like a nice thing that Graham was keeping alive in Chicago and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I had no interest at all in actually purchasing anything since the hats were expensive and I did not look good in hats anyway. I can't even wear a baseball cap without looking like Michael Moore. Thats when it happened...

TIFFANY!!!

First she sized me up visually, then she took out a tape measure. Asked me what I liked to wear and pulled out a Steel Trilby. She said to try it on. I did. What do you know, it actually looked good! And I was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I didn't realize that these hats could work both dressy and casual. Sometimes all you had to do was snap the brim differently to get a whole new look. That was quite a shock. I must have tried on a dozen hats, but everytime I kept going back to the ones Tiffany had picked out for me first.

I eventually fell in love with the look and the quality so I bought two hats that day. The Steel Trilby and a Teardrop Fedora Montecristi Fino. I'll try and post some pics as soon as I get a chance.

That being said, all my friends are wanting hats now, so the last time I took some to the Beverly shop, Tiffany recommended the perfect next hat for me. I still tried on other styles and colors, but as usual her first inclination was the right one. So now I'm also having a custom made Space Black Optimo1000 Rush Street which should be ready in a couple more weeks.

Needless to say, I need to stay away from Tiffany. lol

 

[Mike Duffy]

I am a 28 year old Navy sailor. I have always liked hats and have a couple of cheap fedoras, but have recently started to look at somewhat nicer hats this search led me to the fedora lounge. I obviously were a uniform (with prescribed cover) for work but have been moving toward dressing a little better and wearing hats on weekends.

 

[TheDane]

Welcome, gentlemen and enjoy your stay. It's a great place you landed

Needless to say, I need to stay away from Tiffany. lol

I never had the chance to meet Tiffany in person, but I know that a lot of very knowledgeable loungers provide the exact same judgement or rating. It's my understanding, that she is an exceptionally experienced and competent costumier, when it comes to gents' dress hats. Music producers talk about "The Golden Ear" - I think, she's got "The Golden Eye". An extremely important asset for Optimo and Graham

 

[Lotsahats]

Welcome, guys!

 

[tommyK]

Hello all, been lurking over a year. Learning what I can from all the generous info provided. Of, course I've gone way beyond the original wool Country Gentleman fedora I bought on a whim back in the 80's. If only there had been a resource like this back then I would have been scarfing up Borsos when they were still at their best. I've bought some since anyway and a few Akubras thanks to FL. Thank You all and I hope to join in now that I have some experience worth chiming in.