Silver belly ??

[msm007]

I am thinking of getting a custom western hat in silver belly for my next purchase. I was wondering how sensitive the color is to wear and tear. I never was really fond of new white shoes and kind of feel the same with silver belly. Is the color very tolerant or will it show smudges and sweat stains readily? You can always order distressing on the hat to take away the newness, but I can't see doing this with a new custom made hat. I wear my hats in the rain and snow. Maybe that would wear off the newness quickly?

 

[job]

Just relax and don't worry about it. Unless your extra hard on your hats you have nothing to worry about.

 

[HatsEnough]

I wear silverbelly in two "ways," if you will. I have a silverbelly Stetson 25 that is my knock around hat. It is smudged and beat up a bit. But it is my "road" hat so I assume it will get that way. I have a cowboy in silverbelly that is stained to heck and back. It is my roughing-it hat, so I sort of like that it gets the "character" of smudges and stains.

Then I have a few silverbellies that I only wear when I know I'll be in more formal settings to it won't get smudged and stained.

In other words, I find that silverbelly is easily smudged and it is easily seen, too! But you have to decide what the hat is going to be used for. A goin' to meetin' hat, or a knock about.

 

[monbla256]

I am thinking of getting a custom western hat in silver belly for my next purchase. I was wondering how sensitive the color is to wear and tear. I never was really fond of new white shoes and kind of feel the same with silver belly. Is the color very tolerant or will it show smudges and sweat stains readily? You can always order distressing on the hat to take away the newness, but I can't see doing this with a new custom made hat. I wear my hats in the rain and snow. Maybe that would wear off the newness quickly?

A lot depends on the shade of Silverbelly your hat is. Some are very, very light almost white and as such would show much more in the way of dirt and stains much sooner depending on where and how the hat is worn. I have several friends who wear nothing but Silverbelly Western hats for EVERYTHING they do. As the hats get more wear and dirt and stains, they get regulated to being "barn hats" and the new ones are used for "dress". It all depends on what you are going to be doing when you wear it and the shade of Siverbelly you get. You can't really say how it's going to "wear" as there are way to many variables to consider.

 

[suitedcboy]

Joe's Boot Shop (joesbootshop.com) has made some purchase of a truckload of Hatco (stetson and resistol company) hats in several colrs in 20X quality. I do not find anything on their site so I guess it means a phone call. One of those in silver belly would be a good one to test out.
They are supposed to be in the $100 range according to the person who lives near the store that posted the sale info.

I have several Silver Belly's and they can get dirty but assuming no run-ins with oily pavement the patina they get from use is not a bad look.
They do get all ugly in the rain as they get a dark grey when wet. When dry they are back to normal.

 

[Jim2903]

I was recently wearing my silverbelly Akubra CD in a parking garage with a low ceiling and didn't duck quite low enough to clear an overhead pipe, resulting in a rusty smudge down one side of the crown starting at the pinch. A few good swipes with a stiff brush has rendered the blemish about 99 percent invisible; the remaining suggestion of a shadow adds a bit of character to the hat.

 

[suitedcboy]

I have a Stetson 100% beaver silver belly that I got 90 weight gear lube on. I dosed that spot 4 times with baby powder, cleaning the baby powder off with a brush before each new application. I was amazed that it cleaned it so well. The awful odor of that stuff is gone and I can't tell which side of the brim had the stain now. The hat has been worn hundred of hours since and that spot has not soiled so the evidence of it ever being there is completely gone. SB's are not as hopeless as you may think when stained.

 

[johnnycanuck]

I have some light coloured hats and I try to keep them looking good. I would not shy away from them but know two things to keeping them looking good.
1. Don't manhandle the crown. If you think your hands are clean most of the time, you are wrong. take your hat on and off by the brim ONLY. Marks and discolorations don't show up like it does on the crown.
2. If you really like your hats looking nice buy a "dry cleaning pad" http://www.noggintops.com/page.cfm?p=83 and give your hats a rub down from time to time. I try to do this once a year for the hats I wear regularly.
My two cents worth.
Johnny

 

[msm007]

Thanks for all the great information. It will come in handy. I have been very careful with all the hats that I wear until about 4 months ago. I realized that these Western hats can take a lot of punishment and shrug most of it off - though I keep a few nicer hats for business meetings. With the silver belly - I want it to look worn so it sounds like I wont have much trouble in that department - just general wearing in rain, snow, and summer heat. Good to know that it will clean up properly if wanted. Next hat; a silver belly from Jaxonbilt in 100% beaver!

 

[Joe Rotax]

I have a Stetson 100% beaver silver belly that I got 90 weight gear lube on. I dosed that spot 4 times with baby powder, cleaning the baby powder off with a brush before each new application. I was amazed that it cleaned it so well. The awful odor of that stuff is gone and I can't tell which side of the brim had the stain now. The hat has been worn hundred of hours since and that spot has not soiled so the evidence of it ever being there is completely gone. SB's are not as hopeless as you may think when stained.

Good to know.

I bought a Stetson SB (supposedly shipped today, finally) and I was wondering how the lighter color would hold up.