Stampede Strings, Wind Trolleys and Super Glue: How do you keep your hat on?

[Spellflower]

Havana, that sounds like just what I'm looking for! Could you possibly post pics and instructions for how you made your strings?

 

[Stoney]

I use a thin leather stampede string on most of my hats. I keep it tucked in and out of sight until needed. I have made some out of thin ribbon for some of my dressier hats. I try to match it to the color of the hat band so it doesn't look too out of place when used. There's no worse feeling than when you realize your hat has blown off, especially if you're on a boat or a pier. I guess it would be easier to just take it off but that's inconvceivable.

I know just what you're talking about. I just happened to hookup a wind trolly that I had installed on my Francato Capello fedora and stepped off onto the NOAA pier in Charleston when a gust of wind caught the hat and took it like a kite. The wind trolly saved it from going right into the Atlantic.

Adding one is not too difficult to do, you can use stretchrite elastic cord, or non elastic cord, and teminate it with a normal everyday button. Cover the button with some ribbon that matches the hat ribbon when you've finished attaching the cord to the hat.

I've only used the black stretchrite cord thus far. I have some in white that I am going to try to dye to match a ribbon.
We'll see.

 

[Agaveron]

Stampede string

Havana, that sounds like just what I'm looking for! Could you possibly post pics and instructions for how you made your strings?

You can get this simple one for under $10 at Noggintops.

http://www.noggintops.com/page.cfm?p=85

I think you could make a stampede string though with a couple of cotter pins and rawhide. Some of the vintage hats I have seen on Ebay have a string with a button on it for windy wear. You can also make a short string, leather or whatever and put alligator clips on either end; clip one end to your brim and one to your shirt collar. You could attach some kind of loop to your sweatband or hat size label if you don't want the clip to possibly mar your brim.

Agave Ron...from the Land of Enchantment that is often windy.

 

[Woodfluter]

Duct tape.

OK, but seriously, there are times. Like when I've been hiking on a narrow trail in the Wasatch Mountains, and the windiest parts were right where the trail was extremely narrow, and technical climbing gear would have been needed to retrieve the hat if it blew off. Or on a boat, where the wind is stiff across the water and you need both hands to steady yourself and do whatever you're doing. So sometimes it's kind of nice to have a way to secure it.

Here is what I came up with for my Akubra Banjo Paterson, which fits slightly loose. Yes I know that:
worthlesswithoutpics
but I'm lazy.

Make short horizontal slits near the base of the sweatband on each side - near where it's sewn in. Not too near - don't want to cut the stitches. Also you could punch a couple of holes with a rotary punch and make each slit between those, which is what I did, to make sure the slit won't migrate.

Position these slits carefully - you'll want the cord coming down right in front of your ears. So take your time figuring out where they should go before cutting anything.

Get brown or black parachute cord and pull out the center part - the "kern" or core strands. It should remove easily. Discard that - you'll just want the outer braided part, the "mantle". Fuse the ends with a lighter to keep them from fraying.

Why remove the center? To make it lie flat. Or you could use a flat braided shoelace material, but this is really better. Form a loop about an inch long in two lengths of the cord and sew the loops in. Knots are too bulky.

Take a plastic cable tie (zip tie) and snip off two sections about two inches long. Those are the anchors - sort of like the cotter pin arrangement but better. You'll slip the loops through the slits and then pass the plastic zip tie bits through them, then pull back down to seat them securely. It will lie flat and you won't feel it against your head and the zip tie parts won't go anywhere - it really works.

When you want to remove it, just reach behind the sweatband, pull up the cord loop and zip tie anchor, slide the tie out and pull the loop out through the slit. Keep the cords and anchors in a container, like maybe a tiny plastic zip bag or film canister.

You'll also want a slider to keep the two cords together and adjust them. You could use a wooden or plastic bead if you find one just the right size, but lighter and easier is a rectangle of stiff leather with two holes punched into it. You feed both cords through both holes, and the springiness of the leather keeps them tight enough but allows easy adjustment.

- Bill

 

[jazzncocktails]

Frankly, I use my left hand. Gives meaning to the saying, "Hold onto your hats!"

And not only on breezy days, but while driving in my convertible. Up to 30 miles an hour or so, the hat's typically ok...but beyond that, I hang on. That makes driving a manual transmission with one free hand a little tricky, but interesting.

And California has a hands-free phone law, but not a hands-free hat law, at least not yet.

 

[tortswon]

One nail, directly through the crown with a minimum of hammer strokes (they hurt!). Best, Sam

 

[ndfi78]

Excuse the ignorance but what is a wind trolley?

 

[Bob Smalser]

The Lounge's tutorial for making and installing wind cords (or wind trolleys) was written by Stoney, is listed on the Important Hat Forum Thread Sticky and is located here:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=29164

And thanks again to Stoney for showing me how to do these. The buttons I could have puzzled out, but I'd have never figured out finding and dying Stretchrite Elastic Beading Cord without his tip.

Looping the cord through the small button loop (below) when installing these isn't mandatory, and I have a Stetson that isn't looped. But it makes storage easier by looping the entire elastic cord over the hat crown rather than fiddling around trying to reverse the small loop back over the button.

Looped cords are also more versatile in use. When deployed, the button can be run through a lapel or collar button hole, the small button loop can be fixed to a collar button, or the large loop can be snapped beneath a top pocket flap of a jacket.

 

[ndfi78]

Ah ha, thanks Bob. I had actually read that thread but it being titled wind cord vs trolley threw me off. I thought there was actually a difference.

 

[Sullylj]

I know how to stop your hat from EVER flying away again

:eusa_clap I use a device I purchased that has little soft rubber fingers that make the hat HOLD on to you... I purchased this new accessory in Australia when I was on holiday... Works perfectly, I bought 8 of them.

How do you keep your hat from flying away with the breeze? What do you find works best?

If I wasn't so lazy, I'd post some pics of my hats with wind trolleys and the cord I sewed into my Federation. Maybe this weekend, if anyone's interested.

I haven't tried stampede strings yet, having just heard about them in the Egypt thread, courtesy of Kokopelli. I don't particularly care for the tassel, and wonder if it's possible to get the pins and make a plainer (and cheaper) one myself. Anyone tried this? Also, could someone who uses the string post pics of how it connects to your hat?

 

[M6Classic]

I find that the best propohylaxsis against losing a hat to the wind is to wear a hat that really, actually fits. Hats that are either a tad too big or a scoche too small will be more easilly lifted from your head.

That said, when the breeze gets sufficiently strong, there is no substitute for, "hold onto your hat!"

Buzz

 

[rogerb40]

Get a Tilley Hat! designed by a sailor, fed-up with losing his sailing hats. His system works perfectly .....looks a bit dorky with both loops in action, but who cares, when it's that windy?

I am tryin' to figger a way of keeping my expensive Panama safely secured!

 

[Lastmohecken]

Maybe good planning, at least one hat with stampede string is the way to go. One thing I have noticed on my Fedora type hats is they just don't stay on quite as good as the average well fitted cowboy hat, and the stiffer the cowboy hat the better in the wind, for me. I often wear a cowboy hat on my 4 wheeler at 40 miles an hour, I don't have a stampede string, but my hat fits fairly tight, and the brim is stiff and curled up on the sides pretty much, and it has a Gus type crease.

This kind of hat stays on pretty good, and about the best for me. But I have been wearing a cowboy hat in the wind for almost 50 yrs, on horseback, and even motorcycles when I was a kid. I remember having a motorycycle wreck when I was 13yrs old, and laying in the road for about half an hour, before I woke up, and during the process I got some blood on my White Straw Cowboy hat, I was wearing at the the time. I saved that hat, by using my moms white shoe polish ( the liquid kind that came in a bottle) and it actually looked pretty good when I got it done. However, that cowboy hat didn't save me from getting a concussion, or the ten stitches and a night in the hospitial, over that little mishap.

At anyrate, I have been in the wind a lot lately, and I have noticed that my Fedoras seem to get caught by the wind worse then the larger, heavier cowboy hats. Also a heavy hat band like a leather one with conchos will help keep a hat on in the wind, due to a little more weight where it counts.

 

[John J]

internal wind trolly (wind chord)

Good afternoon Gents, I hope all is well.

Just curious has anyone come up with an internal wind chord that they were happy with? it gets very windy in upstate NY in fall and winter.

I now have several off the rack hats that do not have wind trolleys. Im also going to get a few custom hats one from black sheep and one from Art.

Bob at black sheep will do a wind chord On any hat (he dyes) Art told me Tuesday he'll only do chords on certain colors as he does not do any Dyeing.

That said Ive dyed My own clothes often enough and could certainly fabricate an external chord (I viewed the threads on the subject , informative Nice job)

I would think an internal type would be effective thus would need not have to match anything and would be comfortable enough if very fine material was used IE dacron fishing line, kevlar thread (I tie flies with it wicked strong and thin) flat ribbon ????? a tab of some sort would need to be sewn to inside of hat, the back preferably (for me anyway)

your creations please (if there are any)

"John"

 

[alanfgag]

Interesting idea. I expect it would be more comfortable and less obvious to run the cord down from the inside rather than over the brim. You could choose white and have it appear to be an iPhone earbud. Where it is stowed when not in use gets a little more complicated if it attaches inside. The wrap around the crown is a simple and elegant solution

I have quite a few hats with wind cords - don't remember ever using one functionally. If it's that windy, I usually opt for a cap. Perhaps that is why the wind cord was designed to be worn outside - 97% decorative, 3% functional.

Optimo in Chicago has wind trolleys - not sure of their policy on selling them not in connection with a renovation. They are quite easy to attach... sewn in through the felt behind the base of the bow.

 

[TheDane]

I've often seen a small piece of cloth with a buttonhole and sometimes also a button inside the neck of old jackets. I once asked a taylor who told me it was ment for wind trolleys. You can then let the string hang over the brim in the neck - which looks less weird than over the side. Instead you can button the trolley around the neck strap of your jacket. It's a bit harder to get to work, but it can be done.

I wouldn't use dacron or kevlar - and many of the vintage ones are not too well suited for the purpose either. Most of mine I have substituted with rayon covered elastic. It's simple to dye and it's a lot easier on the felt, when the lid goes into orbit

 

[martinuk]

I find it difficult to keep my fedoras on when there's a breeze, even a mild breeze.
I don't wear them too tight because I don't want to leave a line around my forehead when I go indoors and take them off.
Has anyone got any tips, there's nothing worse than having to chase after your hat in the street.

Martin uk.

 

[Bushman]

On especially windy days, I angle my hat downwards, over my eyes, so that the top of the hat is facing the wind (and keeps it out of my eyes). That way the hat doesn't blow up and off, but gets blown down and stays on.

 

[moontheloon]

To me it is all about angling my head into the wind...
... then holding on if I have to

 

[Luis]

To me it is all about angling my head into the wind...
... then holding on if I have to

Yup, What he said...

You can tell when a hard breeze is coming when the front of the brim starts to move. Then just tilt your head to direction of on coming wind.