Nutria blended felt...

[DanielJones]

Hello!

I was reading the thread from HATCO and noticed a question about Nutria. I may be totally wrong on this but here it goes.
I was watching one of those Bizzare Food shows with Andrew Zimmer and they were down in Louisiana, in the swamps hunting a rodent called a nutria. This rodent is very similar to a beaver & an otter. They are non-native to the area (native to South America) and are hunted because they are considered a pest and do considerable damage to the wetlands down there. They were orifinally introduced to Lousiana for farming purposes but of course some got away and bred like the proverbial rat.
Well I had also found out that the fur was used in the hatting industry because it is a water rodent like a beaver and it's fur shares the same qualities. So, the nutria blend is most likely a 50/50 of beaver & nutria fur to make the felt. Since there has been a decline in the demand for nutria fur their population increase is going to damage the Louisiana coastal wetlands to a point of becoming open water. So, would HATCO consider doing a nutria blend again to raise the quality of their fur felts? This would be a win/win situation. The quality of dress hats (fedora & western) would go up and there would be less damage to the ecosystem & a new economy could boom in Louisiana. Something to ponder on.

Check this site out for a little more info.
http://www.nutria.com/site.php

Cheers!

Dan

 

[fatwoul]

I was reading the thread from HATCO and noticed a question about Nutria. I may be totally wrong on this but here it goes...

See, this is why I was asking about different animals being used for hat felt over at COW, but somehow my thread there ended up as some kind of joke, so none of the hatters contributed comments.[huh]

I'm really interested to know stuff like this - what animal furs make good hat felt, and why.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Daniel, Great point! If I remember, Nutria hats were more expensive than beaver. If this idea catches on, there would be several benefits. (1) Some people in Louisiana would have a new source of income. (2) Since the supply is so great, the price of nutria hats could actually be cheaper than beaver. (3) The combination of high quality and low price could put a fedora on the head of every man in the country. The time to get this project going is in connection with the opening of the new "Indiana Jones" movie. I hope HATCO is reading this thread.:eusa_clap

 

[carter]

Originally posted by DanielJones
Since there has been a decline in the demand for nutria fur their population increase is going to damage the Louisiana coastal wetlands to a point of becoming open water.

Those little buggers are waaay beyond the Louisiana bayous. They're at least as far north as southern Oklahoma. I know 'cause I've seen one and thought it was a beaver until I saw the tail.
Great observation regarding harvesting them for their fur. Maybe the Boy Scouts would revive the Trapping Merit Badge.

 

[barrowjh]

I think PETA, through its direct actions and through creating a general feeling of guilt about wearing 'fur' - plus a general decrease in gun use (when I was young, bb and .22 rifles were often seen in neighborhoods) have created a situation where fur-bearing rodents are so darned plentiful that they have become undesireable pests everywhere. I read in another post that some states in the NorthEast (was it Conn?) had a greater population of Beaver now than at any time in the past. I suspect there are good reasons why hatters used to prefer using blends other than 100% beaver, and maybe it wasn't just economic. Maybe, for general purpose hats, a mix including some hare made a more durable hat, though maybe not so luxuriously soft? I'd like to know. Several FL'rs indicate they prefer the old Stetson 3X grade (Royal before that?) for an all-purpose hat, and it was not 100% beaver.

 

[DanielJones]

Well, if nutrias were used before for blending in with beaver, I see no reason it can't be done again. Like JT said it could create a new source of income for some folks and help reduce a problem. It's not like they're endangered and if like Carter said, they're that far north they'll be a plentiful & cheap source of fur for Stetson/Hatco hats.
Plus I don't think that guns will be needed for these rodents. The food show that I had watched had them go out in a flat bottom boat and basically use a baseball bat to catch them. Row right up to them and POW! Also, the meat is edible, just like beaver. So it probably has a lamb like taste to it like beaver. Food & hats all in one critter.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[AlanC]

I believe Optimo uses/used nutria blended with beaver for some of their hat bodies. I don't know if anyone else does currently.

Nutria certainly sounds better than swamp rat. lol

 

[DanielJones]

That's basically what a beaver is too. I also head at one point they also used the fur from fresh water otters at one time. But since they're too cute & playful of a river rat, that practice stopped.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[AlanC]

... I also head at one point they also used the fur from fresh water otters at one time. But since they're too cute & playful of a river rat, that practice stopped.

So I guess baby seal fur is right out.

 

[carter]

So it probably has a lamb like taste to it like beaver.

WHAT? It doesn't taste just like chicken?

 

[fatwoul]

I think PETA, through its direct actions and through creating a general feeling of guilt about wearing 'fur' - plus a general decrease in gun use (when I was young, bb and .22 rifles were often seen in neighborhoods) have created a situation where fur-bearing rodents are so darned plentiful that they have become undesireable pests everywhere...

See, that's what I said elsewhere. There are lots of rodents around that have reached pest status, and could be used for hat felt. OK, so a hat made of rat felt would be a bit nasty, perhaps, but what about raccoon? They're pests in the US, right? Is their fur too fluffy or something, or is it just the stigma of not using "pest" animals because its seen as being "cheap".

I also posted elsewhere about using dog fur. No wait, hear me out. I don't know how many of you have dogs, but those that do know how much fur they shed in their lives. Our dogs have been gone for nearly 2 years but we still pull huge handfuls of fur out of the vacuum cleaner. Would dog fur be suitable for a hat? Imagine how much fur a dog produces during their entire lifetime. Would that not be plenty for a felt cone?

Despite protestations to the contrary, I maintain that some people would enjoy the novelty of their felt hat being made from the collected fur dropped by they pet, especially when the pet is no more. I'd love to have made a hat from felt made from our dogs' moltings.

 

[Uncle Vern]

I was trying to figure out what kind of wine you'd serve with nutria. All I could come up with was Night Train Express.

 

[carter]

Originally posted by Uncle Vern
I was trying to figure out what kind of wine you'd serve with nutria. All I could come up with was Night Train Express.

In Texas we'd serve it with a nice 2008 Late Vintage Llano Estastinko.

 

[fatwoul]

That's basically what a beaver is too. I also head at one point they also used the fur from fresh water otters at one time. But since they're too cute & playful of a river rat, that practice stopped.

I said about otters in my COW thread and I got laughed at! :rage:

 

[Uncle Vern]

I live in Texas, in Austin. Town Lake (excuse me, Ladybird Lake) is crawling with nutria. Seems like a good location for target practice.

 

[carter]

Originally posted by UncleVern
Seems like a good location for target practice.

Originally posted by Daniel Jones
The food show that I had watched had them go out in a flat bottom boat and basically use a baseball bat to catch them. Row right up to them and POW!

Or...Batting Practice! lol

 

[art92101]

Nutria comments /PETA and CNN?

Daniel, i think you are onto something. But as someone else mentioned...there are the darned anti-gun, anti-hunting, PETA types that have created untold damage to the American psyche.
As an aside, I was taken aback recently when i heard the CNN reporter announce that Michael Vick was under investigation for "murdering dogs" . Made me wonder if PETA has infiltrated the newsroom.
I understand that nutria is eaten by some. So there is multi-facets to your idea Daniel. I for one wouldn't mind doing a bit of small game hunting on the bayou. Thanks for your idea.

 

[feltfan]

Hello!

I was reading the thread from HATCO and noticed a question about Nutria. I may be totally wrong on this but here it goes.

It was my question on the HATCO thread, so I'll try to
clear this up a bit. We have discussed nutria many times.
You can still get nutria blend felt hats from Optimo and
probably others (maybe THAT'S what a Sterling Beaver is!).
What I'm talking about is the PROCESS used to create the
felts of the day. The CLEAR NUTRIA felt in this hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12167

is unlike any felt I have ever held in my hands. Incredible.
I'm sure Dinerman can back me up that the "Clear Beaver"
hat he has is some unusually fine felt, too. By "nutria quality"
I meant a hat with felt like this:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12126

Not as fine, but very strong and unlike other felts I have
held.

Since we still make beavers and nutria like we did in
the old days, there is something in the felt making process
that is no longer done. But man, I wish they did. It might
be chemicals, it might be careful selection of fur, it might
be pressure or aging. It would be interesting to know.

 

[tonyb]

Sure would be interesting to know, feltfan. Any idea how old those hats you allude to might be?
The use of mercury in American hat-making ceased in the late 1930s, or so my reading indicates. But there was some fine felt made in the 1940s and '50s, presumably without benefit of mercury, so it would be good to know how the felt-making process of that era compares to how it's done now.

 

[J.B.]

Or...Batting Practice! lol

Mm-hmm. Goin' upside dere haids alrighty!

...But be careful fosho naow! Them boys may shoot back -- with a cannon!!!