Sunrise Hat Company felt (nutria) and hatters’ tools

[Mustang Mike's Hats]

Sounds like you've worked with the felt. What do you think? As a hatter that creates mostly Western styles, I'm curious... Do you feel they'd be suited for a Western style?

Thanks!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

The current 220 gram felts are definitely only for suitable for western hats or those who like firm western weight felt. Rick @humanshoes is finishing up a hat for me now using this felt and he’s thinned it down to get it less stiff, but it’s still going to be too stiff for a dress hat. Sunrise is also looking to add dress weight felts, but I’m happy with the one western VS built me, and I’m sure the hat that Rick is making me will be great too.

The felt is dense and makes a nice western, and in my opinion it’s much nicer that Winchester’s 50/50 beaver and rabbit western felt. I’d not hesitate to buy another...in fact I plan on getting one in “rain cloud” as soon as it’s available.

 

[Mustang Mike's Hats]

The felt is dense and makes a nice western, and in my opinion it’s much nicer that Winchester’s 50/50 beaver and rabbit western felt. I’d not hesitate to buy another...

Thanks for the recommendation! I got contacted by them awhile back but wasn't making hats at the time as I was working full-time. Now that I have time on my hands again (thank you CoVid-19) I need to reach out. I need to get some swatches and see what they have in the way of inventory. Much appreciated!! YOU ROCK!!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Sunrise has nutria hat bodies back in stock. Some new colors arrived but some of the old colors are missing. The big news is they also have 150gram 100% nutria dress weight hat bodies.

https://www.sunrisehatsupply.com/collections/coypu-hat-bodies

 

[Tukwila]

Sunrise has nutria hat bodies back in stock. Some new colors arrived but some of the old colors are missing. The big news is they also have 150gram 100% nutria dress weight hat bodies.

https://www.sunrisehatsupply.com/collections/coypu-hat-bodies

Do you think the dress wt bodies will give you the crown ht and brim width you want?

They say 3.25" brim and 5" crown... I'd rather they say 6 x 3.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Do you think the dress wt bodies will give you the crown ht and brim width you want?

They say 3.25" brim and 5" crown... I'd rather they say 6 x 3.

I thought the same thing. I have one in my shopping cart, but I need that exact question answered before I proceed.

 

[belfastboy]

I thought the same thing. I have one in my shopping cart, but I need that exact question answered before I proceed.

I could live with it if I could squeeze 5 1/2" out of a crown. Await your critique!

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Sunrise is always quick to answer questions and ships quickly to. This was their response to my question if the felt was large enough for a size 7 3/4 with a 6” open crown and a 3” brim:

“Hey Brent. Not sure! We haven’t played around with these on bigger sizes like that yet. Seems in the realm of possibility but probably towards the limit. Might be easier if you’re blocking in a press as opposed to by hand. The felt is super soft. Sets nicely when blocked I think there’s a decent chance.”

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice (chance).

I was also told that more colors, including western weight bodies, will arrive in a couple of weeks.

 

[Tukwila]

Sunrise is always quick to answer questions and ships quickly to. This was their response to my question if the felt was large enough for a size 7 3/4 with a 6” open crown and a 3” brim:

“Hey Brent. Not sure! We haven’t played around with these on bigger sizes like that yet. Seems in the realm of possibility but probably towards the limit. Might be easier if you’re blocking in a press as opposed to by hand. The felt is super soft. Sets nicely when blocked I think there’s a decent chance.”

So, you pays your money and you takes your choice (chance).

I was also told that more colors, including western weight bodies, will arrive in a couple of weeks.

What color do you want? I like that midnite blue.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

What color do you want? I like that midnite blue.

I was looking at gunmetal, but the Midnight blue was also on my “list.”

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

I thought the same thing. I have one in my shopping cart, but I need that exact question answered before I proceed.

I personally think that 6x3 is attainable. To do so without a professional steam generator and just a jiffy steamer I would wet block it. Soak the felt in hot tap water for 30 minutes, wring it out, then steam the hell out of it, wrap the block in plastic wrap, the stretch over the block, and lock down with the blocking cord. At that point I let the felt dry for 2 weeks. I check the brim width all the way around. If I am short the I attach everything to a piece of large wood. Wet and steam just the brim and the I stretch it out and pin it in place. I use a pin pusher to put one in about every 3/4 of an inch until I have gone around the entire brim circumference, let dry another week or two. Awesome side effect is that it pulls out the waves that want to form in the brim. I also feel that with wet blocking I get a tighter conform to the block itself.

I did this with the blue smoke hat body I bought from Art and got 3 inches in the brim. Now I use a 7 1/8 block size but there was a lot of extra give in the body that I could have achieved this on a larger size.

 

[belfastboy]

I personally think that 6x3 is attainable. To do so without a professional steam generator and just a jiffy steamer I would wet block it. Soak the felt in hot tap water for 30 minutes, wring it out, then steam the hell out of it, wrap the block in plastic wrap, the stretch over the block, and lock down with the blocking cord. At that point I let the felt dry for 2 weeks. I check the brim width all the way around. If I am short the I attach everything to a piece of large wood. Wet and steam just the brim and the I stretch it out and pin it in place. I use a pin pusher to put one in about every 3/4 of an inch until I have gone around the entire brim circumference, let dry another week or two. Awesome side effect is that it pulls out the waves that want to form in the brim. I also feel that with wet blocking I get a tighter conform to the block itself.

I did this with the blue smoke hat body I bought from Art and got 3 inches in the brim. Now I use a 7 1/8 block size but there was a lot of extra give in the body that I could have achieved this on a larger size.

Yes, I agree. The downside is that with the arthritis in my thumbs this played havoc and took a few days to recover.

 

[ChicagoWayVito]

Yes, I agree. The downside is that with the arthritis in my thumbs this played havoc and took a few days to recover.

Sorry to hear that you have arthritis. I was going to "Like" your post but it felt like I would be saying that I liked the havoc that arthritis has caused you. Art too has arthritis and the pinning part of the process I got from him when I spent 2 days in his shop. He though was pinning directly into his flange and I just can't bring myself to pin into something I paid $200 for I went with a $20 craft board from the home improvement store.

 

[belfastboy]

Sorry to hear that you have arthritis. I was going to "Like" your post but it felt like I would be saying that I liked the havoc that arthritis has caused you. Art too has arthritis and the pinning part of the process I got from him when I spent 2 days in his shop. He though was pinning directly into his flange and I just can't bring myself to pin into something I paid $200 for I went with a $20 craft board from the home improvement store.

The beaver felt I pinned was in the hat making class and it was not my flange so full speed ahead. The downside is that when I trimmed the brim I cut through a pin hole and I have a very slight deformation (half round hole) in the outer edge of the brim.

 

[belfastboy]

Sorry to hear that you have arthritis. I was going to "Like" your post but it felt like I would be saying that I liked the havoc that arthritis has caused you. Art too has arthritis and the pinning part of the process I got from him when I spent 2 days in his shop. He though was pinning directly into his flange and I just can't bring myself to pin into something I paid $200 for I went with a $20 craft board from the home improvement store.

The great upside of working with the Tonak rabbit is that it does not require pulling and manipulating of anyi degree so I do not suffer. I do have some Beaver felts on their way so we shall see. My fall back position is to work exclusively with the rabbit felt.

 

[Gobi]

I'd like to buy one or two of these to play around with or maybe send to someone to finish.
I've got some color blindness so it's difficult to assess the colors. Can someone explain the Sunahine color and Natural? That would be awesome.

 

[Gobi]

I'm assuming "sunshine" is golden tan, any red tones in it?
Is natural greyish brown? Brownish grey? Tanish greyish?

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I'm assuming "sunshine" is golden tan, any red tones in it?
Is natural greyish brown? Brownish grey? Tanish greyish?

You won’t ever know exactly until you have it in hand.

 

[Gobi]

You won’t ever know exactly until you have it in hand.

I still wouldn't know until someone told me! Lol

 

[deadlyhandsome]

I still wouldn't know until someone told me! Lol

Felt colors are difficult to accurately capture, and they often seem to change color with varying lighting and backgrounds. I’ve only personally seen the almond and the pewter and I’d say the photos on Sunrise’s website are fairly accurate.

I’m waiting on a rain cloud in western and I want to see what other new colors they add in dress weight. I hope others use these felts and provide feedback and color renderings.