Rabbit fur vs. Rabbit + 30% Beaver...

[H Weinstein]

I have a bunch of rabbit fur Akubras, which I love. They're comfortable, easy to rework with steam, and seem solid and sturdy. But I've never really had a chance to compare with beaver/part-beaver hats.

From those with more hat experience, what would you say are the qualitative and wear differences between a 100% rabbit hat vs. one with felt that's 30% beaver?

Thanks for any input and opinions!

 

[barrowjh]

Difficult to answer concisely. GENERALLY - blending different fur content will result in stronger felt, and, blending 'up' with beaver (as opposed to blending 'down' with wool) should improve the hand of the felt. However, an all-rabbit or finest hare felt with extensive quality invested in the felting and finishing can be superior to beaver subjected to only average felting and finishing.

 

[gtdean48]

I have a beaver/rabbit blend custom from Weather Hat Company that is a Winchester body.
The beaver fur fibers have more "barbs" than rabbit & will felt tighter when mixed in with the bunny ones.
The blend feels more dense than just solo rabbit but not as nice as 100% beaver.
Lot has to do with hatter techniques but over time, the added beaver will result in a tighter dead felt as the fibers continue to snuggle up.

 

[tonyb]

I don't know the ratio of beaver to bunny in Winchester's western-weight blends, but my limited experience with them (I don't do many westerns) tells me they take a much nicer finish than the staple (rabbit) bodies.

 

[majormoore]

The western hat bodies that Winchester makes weigh in with 7 oz. for fur, the 50/50 Beaver Blend is 3.5 oz of beaver and the same with hare, both mixed together to make a the hat body.

Major Moore

 

[tonyb]

Thanks, Major. Now I know that!

As to Mr. Weinstein's inquiry, please know, as gtdean observed, that there are factors other than the hat body's fiber content that affect the end result. But I would think that even a 30 percent beaver content body would make for a notable improvement on the finished hat's "hand" over one that was all rabbit, provided the hat body was finished by a hatter with the knowhow and the willingness to produce a quality finish.

 

[majormoore]

When beaver is added it does make a nice finish

Major Moore

 

[H Weinstein]

Thanks for the info, everybody. The hat in question is an Akubra Pro, so presumably it would be well made and finished.

 

[tonyb]

Well, I've yet to encounter an Akubra with what I would call a good finish.

This is not a slam on the product. I like the styles, and they seem sturdily constructed. But their finishes are far from the best. I suspect that's partially due to the source material, and partially due to the finishing processes. Historically, the "hand" has apparently been of lesser concern to Akubra than the other aspects of their product. I can't imagine them going to the trouble and expense of incorporating beaver fur and NOT going to greater lengths in the body finishing.

Perhaps it's wishful thinking on my part, but I can point to a few signs that certain hat manufacturers and suppliers are upping their game. I'm hoping that this is another sign.

Here's looking forward to the Akubra Pro!

 

[barrowjh]

A really fine finish is a liability if you are using the hat in a rugged environment, all it takes is some scrub brush clawing at the felt and you have ruined that finish. Akubra' s finish may be purposeful.

 

[tonyb]

Well, yeah, you don't wear your cashmere topcoat and nicest beaver hat when slopping the hogs. But brush that would damage a fine finish on a hat with some significant percentage of beaver would also do no favors to a less well-finished hat. In the latter example, the damage would be less distressing, I suppose.

 

[barrowjh]

that is pretty much where I was headed with that; a more coarse finish wears dings and scratches better, the coarse finish camouflages a lot the scrapes and dings. some of those scrapes can be sanded out of a coarse finish, especially in the regular thick western-weight felt. Lighter-weight felt with a fine finish cannot stand further sanding (I think).

 

[tonyb]

Ummm, maybe it's kinda like not putting a dozen coats of hand-sanded lacquer on a truck you plan to use for rock hoppin' and stump jumpin'. It's not that the dents and scrapes wouldn't show on the factory paint, but rather that it wouldn't seem such a waste. But on the other hand, Akubra made and still makes "city" hats. And every one I've ever handled was decidedly rough to the touch.

I suspect that historically Akubra made use of those rabbits they had in such plentiful supply down under. And I further suspect that there were real limits to just how fine a finish could be gotten from a hat body made from the fur of those pest-species rabbits. So they lived with it. They and their customers accepted that the hat may have been a fine product in many ways but its finish wasn't the best.

Now that Akubra is offering a hat built on a body with 30 percent beaver fur, well, that extra materials expense would be wasted if the body doesn't undergo more extensive pouncing than was apparently accorded their all-rabbit bodies.

Even an all-beaver body will be rough to the touch if it isn't well pounced. Getting a superior finish out of one (as they come from Winchester, anyway) takes a lot of practice. I don't know if Akubra is making its own beaver-blend bodies, and if the other fiber contained therein is Australian rabbit or just what it might be. If anyone here knows the answers to those questions, I'm all ears.

 

[H Weinstein]

Web descriptions of their 30X hat indicate that Akubra imports the beaver fur, which implies they then combine it with their usual rabbit fur to produce the hat bodies themselves. Presumably, they certainly have that capability.

And, as some comments here have noted, why go to the trouble of making a beaver-mix hat if they wouldn't utilize the higher quality felt to produce a more finely-finished hat?

 

[tonyb]

Got my curiosity piqued now, darn it. Now I gotta know just what's what with this new blend Akubra is putting out.

Akubra manufactures its own bodies, so it's likely, as Mr. Weinstein observed, that this beaver blend body is being produced in-house, same as the others.

My understanding is that the Australian rabbit population has fluctuated dramatically, as one eradication (or at least population-control) effort after another yielded its own results, for some period of time, in some particular locale. My assumption that Akubra has historically used those Australian rabbits (an introduced and highly invasive species, as we are all aware) as the source for its fur felt bodies might not be wholly accurate. A shortage of Australian-sourced rabbits, temporary as it might be, might necessitate going overseas for the fur. (I don't know that that has ever happened, by the way.)

There's rabbit and then there's rabbit, right? Different subspecies living in different locales would yield fur of differing qualities, for the hat manufacturer's purposes, anyway. Or so I would think. And then there's hare, another species altogether, which presumably produces a fur with characteristics distinct from that of rabbit. So I've been told.

If I were a gambling man, I'd put my money on Akubra using Australian-sourced rabbit fur in this beaver blend of theirs. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

 

[H Weinstein]

Got my curiosity piqued now, darn it. Now I gotta know just what's what with this new blend Akubra is putting out.

Akubra manufactures its own bodies, so it's likely, as Mr. Weinstein observed, that this beaver blend body is being produced in-house, same as the others.

My understanding is that the Australian rabbit population has fluctuated dramatically, as one eradication (or at least population-control) effort after another yielded its own results, for some period of time, in some particular locale. My assumption that Akubra has historically used those Australian rabbits (an introduced and highly invasive species, as we are all aware) as the source for its fur felt bodies might not be wholly accurate. A shortage of Australian-sourced rabbits, temporary as it might be, might necessitate going overseas for the fur. (I don't know that that has ever happened, by the way.)

There's rabbit and then there's rabbit, right? Different subspecies living in different locales would yield fur of differing qualities, for the hat manufacturer's purposes, anyway. Or so I would think. And then there's hare, another species altogether, which presumably produces a fur with characteristics distinct from that of rabbit. So I've been told.

If I were a gambling man, I'd put my money on Akubra using Australian-sourced rabbit fur in this beaver blend of theirs. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

What..? Are you guys waiting for me to be the first one to buy one of these 30X Akubras so we know how they compare??

I was hoping someone already had one when I started the thread. I'm seriously considering getting one...but it's not like I need another hat! I'm working on coming up with a justification (other than curiosity)...

 

[tonyb]

What..? Are you guys waiting for me to be the first one to buy one of these 30X Akubras so we know how they compare??

I was hoping someone already had one when I started the thread. I'm seriously considering getting one...but it's not like I need another hat! I'm working on coming up with a justification (other than curiosity)...

In a word, yes.

 

[RJR]

Yup!

 

[alanfgag]

Wouldn't be the first time around here that curiosity willed the hat.

 

[H Weinstein]

Wouldn't be the first time around here that curiosity willed the hat.