Modern 100% Beaver felt fedoras.

[job]

I do not find a lot of pure beaver hats out there. Most are as expensive as some customs. I have handled a Stetson Benchley. Probably the least expensive of all of them. It was the softest hat I've touched so far. It does not have the Chatham, Downs blocking. It's pinched at the front. I love this hat because I like bound brims. I can not find a Beaver fedora like it. All others are real dressy. Do any of you out there know much about the current beaver fedoras out there. It looks like for the price a Benchley is high on my list. Photos welcome.

 

[DJH]

For the price of that Stetson Benchley you could get a really nice custom from Tumwater Hat (tonyb on the forum).

That's what I'd do.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I'm inclined to agree with DJH. When you can get a custom hat for nearly the same as a factory job, you'd be better off having a custom duplicate made. It will hold up better in the long run. However, if you simply must have that Benchley, so be it. Modern Stetson aren't nearly as bad as some people claim. The reality, though, is that there are few 100% beaver factory fedoras around, most are very expensive, and bound brims are even harder to come by.

 

[fmw]

Custom for sure. Get hold of one of the premier makers like Vintage Silhouettes and have them make you a copy of the hat you like. VS does everything in 100% beaver.

 

[job]

I just checked out The Tumwater site. I must say that a Whippet like hat from them sounds like a better way to go since I am a long oval and can make certain things to fit me. Great advice guys. I bookmarked the site.

 

[thebroker]

I hadn't seen the Benchley until I looked it up after reading your post, but it looks to be the same price as the Pinnacle. I agree completely with DJH...for that price, you can have a custom 100% beaver from one of the fine custom hatters out there. In fact, there are a couple who can do a custom job for slightly less than the price point of the Benchley. When you have one custom made, you aren't stuck with somebody else's idea of what the right dimensions are...you can be as flexible as you want.

 

[thebroker]

I just checked out The Tumwater site. I must say that a Whippet like hat from them sounds like a better way to go since I am a long oval and can make certain things to fit me. Great advice guys. I book marked the site. Tumwater seems to be the lowest price custom I have found.

You might also be interested in checking out Falcon Park Hattery (http://www.falconparkhattery.com), Black Sheep Hat Works (http://www.blacksheephatworks.com) and Buckaroo Hatters (http://www.buckaroohatters.com). While all my custom hats so far have come from Art Fawcett, I know many people who frequent the Lounge who have gotten great hats from these hatters as well.

Speaking from personal experience, Art Fawcett is a gentleman and working with him is a delight. His hats are only slightly more expensive than the Benchley, and while I've never held a Benchley, I can't imagine them coming close in quality to Art's work. Fair warning, though...once you order a hat from Art, you'll become addicted to the custom hat experience.

 

[job]

I checked out the sites you posted and all I can say is wow. I want them all and the prices are very reasonable. I wonder if the factory beaver hats are like lets say Benchmade knives. They have a pro shop for limited run and upper end knives that their master craftsmen operate. Could it be that Stetson, Beaver brand, Borsalino, etc. do the same thing with their beaver hats that they are made in smaller numbers by master hatters which reflect in the price.

 

[fmw]

One last thing to try is a call to the Hatco outlet store in Texas. They may have a Benchley there in your size. If they do, the price will be about 1/2 of the retail price. The hat in my avatar is from Buckaroo. While it is rabbit fur, it is oustanding in every sense.

 

[bowlerman]

I checked out the sites you posted and all I can say is wow. I want them all and the prices are very reasonable.

you and me both! this is the first I've heard of falcon park hattery, and the prices are definitely more my speed-- and the pictured hats look terrific. Does anyone here have personal experience with them?

 

[thebroker]

I checked out the sites you posted and all I can say is wow. I want them all and the prices are very reasonable. I wonder if the factory beaver hats are like lets say Benchmade knives. They have a pro shop for limited run and upper end knives that their master craftsmen operate. Could it be that Stetson, Beaver brand, Borsalino, etc. do the same thing with their beaver hats that they are made in smaller numbers by master hatters which reflect in the price.

That's an interesting thought. However, my thought would be that, if it were the case, they'd market the hats this way.

Personally, I love the experience of working with a hatter one on one. However, before I took the plunge for the first time, I was a big fan of Stetson. I had over a dozen various Stetsons at one time, although I never had one of their 100% beaver models.

If there's anything I've learned in my time wearing hats, it's that the old "to each his own" adage applies to hats as much as anything else. Some people would be happier with a 100% beaver Stetson than they would be with a custom hat also in 100% beaver. Then, there are those of us who swear by custom hats. However, if you have an interest in a 100% beaver hat, I'd wholeheartedly recommend at least trying one from a custom hatter.

One other note...I know many people who have procured staple fur (rabbit/hare) hats from the custom hatters and a good many of them say that the the staple felt is much better than beaver felt hats made by many of the mass manufacturers. Just something else to consider.

 

[thebroker]

you and me both! this is the first I've heard of falcon park hattery, and the prices are definitely more my speed-- and the pictured hats look terrific. Does anyone here have personal experience with them?

I learned of them from a fellow Lounger about a week ago. While I do not have any direct experience with them, the Lounger who told me about them has ordered one of their hats, so I am sure we'll get a report soon. I'm strongly considering ordering one of their staple hats, too.

 

[frussell]

Being an owner of a Stetson Pinnacle 100% beaver hat, and having owned hats from both TonyB and Art, I can definitely second the advice already given. Call the Stetson/Resistol outlets in Texas and Missouri, and if they don't have a Benchley, don't waste your money on a full-priced one. I'm not a Stetson hater at all, but if I had paid full price for my Pinnacle, instead of 1/3 retail from the outlet, I'd be very unhappy. The quality is not anywhere near Tony's or Art's by any stretch of the imagination. Spend a few dollars more and get EXACTLY what you want. Good luck. Frank

 

[John in Covina]

I was wondering about the coloring for these.

(There have been questions on the use of Powder (?) coloring for some of the Stetsons and that occasionally that doesn't give the best service.)

As a high end model I would suppose that these are dyed to color?

 

[animator]

I also own a Stetson 100% Beaver Pinnacle and it is a nice hat, but not even close to the quality of my custom VS hats... and my VS hats fit right!

My Pinnacle came from the outlet with a nicer than stock crease and I had the edge bound for $175 total. At that price it's a decent buy.

With a custom it is your choice of color and style made to fit your head. That has been a much better value for me.

 

[fmw]

I learned of them from a fellow Lounger about a week ago. While I do not have any direct experience with them, the Lounger who told me about them has ordered one of their hats, so I am sure we'll get a report soon. I'm strongly considering ordering one of their staple hats, too.

I couldn't resist it. I ordered one today.

 

[hatophile]

I couldn't resist it. I ordered one today.

Can't lose with those prices, fmw. Give us a critique when you get it. I still love that Buckaroo, though.

 

[Lloyd]

I checked out the sites you posted and all I can say is wow. I want them all and the prices are very reasonable. I wonder if the factory beaver hats are like lets say Benchmade knives. They have a pro shop for limited run and upper end knives that their master craftsmen operate. Could it be that Stetson, Beaver brand, Borsalino, etc. do the same thing with their beaver hats that they are made in smaller numbers by master hatters which reflect in the price.

I know that you can order what I consider a factory custom from Beaver Brand Hats. They will let you specify crown height & style, brim width and treatment, ribbons etc... within their options list. Very much a one from column A one from column B kind of approach. They also do long ovals so that helps too. You can see some of this from their hats on the Fedora Store site, but if you go straight to them you can break out past what's offered there. They are one of the few places to get velours and other long hair finishes, which is how I ended up getting a hat from them. But their 100% beaver felts are around $500 as I recall, and for that price I'd go custom.

 

[thebroker]

I couldn't resist it. I ordered one today.

Can't wait to hear all about it! Did you go with staple or beaver? I've been thinking about a good custom "beater" hat, and I'm thinking I'll pull the trigger on a staple in sahara. My rule is, one custom at a time...I have one coming from Art in the next week or so, so I'll try to be patient.

 

[tonyb]

I got my hands on a couple of all-beaver Stetson dress weight bodies in black a good while back and found them pretty darned nice, really. The only problem with them (from my perspective) is that there just isn't enough body there to yield a tall, relatively straight-sided crown (over 5 1/4 inches open, say) and still have enough material to get anything but an awfully stingy brim. One of these days perhaps someone will want a small sized black hat with a short, tapered crown and a narrow brim and I can put one of those bodies to good use. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on account of its quality.

At Byrnie Utz, the legendary hat retail shop in downtown Seattle, I've handled the all-beaver offering from Borsalino. It, too, seemed plenty nice. But I wasn't all that taken with its style, and its price -- something north of 500 bucks, as I recall -- was decidedly off-putting to a mere mortal such as myself. But, for the man who just dropped a couple of Gs on a suit at one of the fancy shops in the neighborhood, that kind of money for a hat might seem reasonable.