Western, anyone?

[Hurricane Jack]

It was somehow dyed giving what I could call the 'Palomino' horse look.

It's that red roan/Palomino look that I like. Great hat!

 

[BobHufford]

Both very nice New Jack. I love the kettle curls

I'll echo that @NewJack !

 

[Moviehats]

Just made this for a client.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Steaming to set the dents & brim on the Stagecoach.

 

[AlexTheApache]

So I finally got around to purchasing that Dorer's pure beaver hat. This past weekend I took the one and a half hour drive to Waco, Tx for a mountain biking day trip and scooped up the hat while I was in town. It was, as I suspected, an ex-western horse competition hat. My best guess is cutting horse competition which is big here in Texas. The ranch I work on breeds and trains performance cutting horses of the quarter horse variety. Reason I think it was used in this capacity is the slight make up residue on the front of the sweat band and the crease the previous owner had on it. The crease is called a cutter crease, I've also heard it called an "association" shape on the western horse scene.

The first picture is the only one I have of the hat before I bought and reshaped it, the seller sent it to me and the quality is bad but you can see what I'm talking about, it's a "high and tight" style of brim very narrow in the front with high fenders. The crown is usually a cattlemans crease with a very deep center channel.

Anyways, once I got the hat home I set steam to it. Although I love the quality and softness of purebeaver, I feel they are tough to shape if they already have a different crease. The previous crease was somewhat folded into the hat in a very "hard" fashion. Sharp creases that ran half the length of the underside of the brim. Being such good quality the hat fought me along the way to remain its original shape. After a lot of elbow grease and steam I got the brim decently flat enough to shape it to my liking. A wider front with "softer" transitions into the fenders. Give the appearance of a wider brim.For the crown I adjusted the cattlemans into my favorite crown crease, here in Texas we call it a minnick, even heard it called a "Top hand". It's a shallower cattlemans crease where the side dents are not as deep or as wide.

The felt is nice and soft, however my Shortys pure beaver feels a tad softer and more clay like when steamed. (If y'all would like to the see that hat I can make a post of it when I get some time.) The hatband is felt and the buckle is a very nice horse shoe, no fancy gems or anything like other hats of this quality but I do believe it is sterling silver, commonly used in western jewelry. The sweatband is nicely conditioned and good quality leather, and is stitched in the rear much like the stitching on a saddle behind the seat keeping the skirts together. I appreciate this due to the fact that in my experience as a hat ages and sees sweat, that stitch is subject to wear and tear. The lining is true silk and is stitched in a manner I've never seen, no glue here and the thread is invisible on the outside of the crown. The body is medium thickness, what I call "Normal" not thick like others I've seen (Greeley hat works). Overall I'm very pleased with this hat. The brim is a 4.25" width and the crown is 5".

The shape is not 100% in my eyes. I find it hard to shape my own hats and usually have a friend finish it off for me. I'm very critical of myself when doing this however I can seem to get other folks' hats to their desired style fairly easily. Figures. Hah.

Below I will post some photos. I apologize for the quality, I've moved recently and the lighting isn't all that great in my temporary work area.

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[AlexTheApache]

Photos were out of order. Still not used to this forum business. Enjoy.


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[Joao Encarnado]

So I finally got around to purchasing that Dorer's pure beaver hat. This past weekend I took the one and a half hour drive to Waco, Tx for a mountain biking day trip and scooped up the hat while I was in town. It was, as I suspected, an ex-western horse competition hat. My best guess is cutting horse competition which is big here in Texas. The ranch I work on breeds and trains performance cutting horses of the quarter horse variety. Reason I think it was used in this capacity is the slight make up residue on the front of the sweat band and the crease the previous owner had on it. The crease is called a cutter crease, I've also heard it called an "association" shape on the western horse scene.

The clay-alike felt depends on finish and shellac amount. Interesting sweat seam.
The shovel brim shape is a not so I hope you got rid of it. Otherwise It looks a nice hat.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Custom revamp by Tom Gomez. American Hat Co. 4 inch with 1/4 inch Kettle Curl. New ribbon and Fedora bashed 6 inch crown.

It's that red roan/Palomino look that I like. Great hat!

I have to give a +1 on this.
It does look great.

 

[Michael R.]

The clay-alike felt depends on finish and shellac amount. Interesting sweat seam.
The shovel brim shape is a not so I hope you got rid of it. Otherwise It looks a nice hat.

The leather seam treatment is Dorer's signature Joao . And AlexTheApache is a shovel guy . Dora makes really nice Hats . Bama has one .

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Resistol Stagecoach with it's new do. More pics in the Stagecoach thread.

 

[suitedcboy]

Dorer stitches sweats together with rawhide lace (might be some other leather)
I wonder if his bodies are Fespa sourced as they seem different than many others. Bailey 100% beaver hats are very similar, maybe the same, as I have 2 100% beaver black Baileys and two Dorer black 100% beavers and they feel the same to me. Not like like my Stetson and Resistol beavers.
I sort of jokingly figure some beavers are butt cheek hairs, arm pit hairs, back of the leg hairs, etc. Then there is the belly hair. I figure beaver paw hair is already pounced, at least if it is from the mean attack beavers that jump the other ones.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

The leather seam treatment is Dorer's signature Joao . And AlexTheApache is a shovel guy . Dora makes really nice Hats . Bama has one .

Dorer stitches sweats together with rawhide lace (might be some other leather)
I wonder if his bodies are Fespa sourced as they seem different than many others. Bailey 100% beaver hats are very similar, maybe the same, as I have 2 100% beaver black Baileys and two Dorer black 100% beavers and they feel the same to me. Not like like my Stetson and Resistol beavers.
I sort of jokingly figure some beavers are butt cheek hairs, arm pit hairs, back of the leg hairs, etc. Then there is the belly hair. I figure beaver paw hair is already pounced, at least if it is from the mean attack beavers that jump the other ones.

Interesting.
Anyway I think it all depends on finish work. Some bunny looks like beaver but it probably needs more work and knowhow.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

A Dobbs... a rebranded 3x beaver Resistol under the name of Dobbs West.
Color is Granite gray and it have green tones on it. Need to take pictures of direct sunlight.
Size is 7 1/4 but it does not fit me. Looks more to be a 7 1/8. It had foam foam inside the sweatband to reduce size, so when I removed it, all fragile paper was ripped.

 

[hatophile]

RIP

Gentle on our minds

 

[AlexTheApache]

A Dobbs... a rebranded 3x beaver Resistol under the name of Dobbs West.
Color is Granite gray and it have green tones on it. Need to take pictures of direct sunlight.
Size is 7 1/4 but it does not fit me. Looks more to be a 7 1/8. It had foam foam inside the sweatband to reduce size, so when I removed it, all fragile paper was ripped.

Love the color been looking for one with a 4.5-5" brim to be my new winter day work hat


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[Stringmaster]

Haha was cleaning house today and stumbled on this pic when I was in my old band--our photographer took the pic and surprised me with the fake magazine cover she made up. Got's on of my hats (100% natural beaver) from Rocky Mountain Company out of Bozeman, MT. And some of my other cowboy duds, including my buffalo chinks....

 

[Latigo]

@Stringmaster .........Yep got almost the whole thing going.....Nice hat, Fancy Wild rag, vest, chinks, riding heel boots, you could almost get away with some spurs too.....Don't know if you could play very well in some cuffs though.......

Looks good !!

Latigo

 

[Michael R.]

@Joao Encarnado Nice Dobbs West Joao ! Sweet !

@Stringmaster Looking Good Stringmaster !

 

[Stringmaster]

@Stringmaster .........Yep got almost the whole thing going.....Nice hat, Fancy Wild rag, vest, chinks, riding heel boots, you could almost get away with some spurs too.....Don't know if you could play very well in some cuffs though.......

Looks good !!

Latigo

Well I thought wearing spurs on stage would be a little pretentious, haha. Actually these were my typical riding duds that I wore on stage at times. Whenever folks would refer to them as my "outfit", I would reply--it's not an "outfit" it's what I wear, just my regular clothes!

 

[DocCasualty]

Doc, I'll look forward to your opinions & report on the Grizz.

+1

Got out this past weekend for a cowboy shoot with the boys and wore the Grizz. For my purpose it's a good fit, literally and figuratively. Grizz uses old-time methods and it seems period to me because of that, at least externally. It doesn't have the finish you would get from most modern hat makers; for instance some scorching in spots on the pencil curl from the hot iron, and it has a hand formed crown, not a blocked shape. It's a beaver fur blend felt and per his site it's ~ 6X on the old 10X scale and the texture looks and feels beaver. It's what I would consider cowboy stiff, not a soft or easily reworkable crown or brim. It fits well from the measurements I sent him. All of these things I find positive about the hat.

The possible negatives are the lack of a liner, a cloth laminate sweat band instead of leather, and the sweat band is whip-stitched in a bit crudely, yet solidly. I think I mentioned in the previous post it doesn't come with a hat band and I'm using the one I pulled off my my Snowy River Akubra.

Wearing the hat yesterday was comfortable. The temp was mid-upper 70s (F) and the sweat band was comfortable, absorbed the sweat and did not bleed through at all. It's a tall crown so I don't think the lack af a liner will be a problem as I don't think my hair has much if any contact with the felt, but if it was an everyday hat that might be more of an issue.

The price is $110 for the hat, $20 for shipping and I paid an extra $20 for the 4" brim for a total of $150. I think it's a fair price for the hat and like it for what I purchased it for, a period appearing hat for CAS.