Wool Felt vs. Fur: How Can you Tell?

[Visigoth]

I'm not sure I've ever experienced a wool felt hat -- what does it feel like? I'm asking, because I bought a sixties/seventies hat -- "Lynn Hatters" -- which is *much* softer than I'm used to, meaning it's either very good fur felt, I take it, or perhaps wool? (I suspect it's fur, but I'd like to have some sense of how to determine wool from fur.)

 

[Visigoth]

I can only assume...

That everyone here is too classy to ever have come in contact with a wool fedora?

 

[Dinerman]

wool felt is coarse. It would be so much easier if I could have you feel one of my wool felts, and one of my furs. Maybe go to a hat shop and ask to see a wool.

 

[BigSho]

Trust me if you ever put your hands on a wool felt hat you would know. I can spot one from a good distance. It does have a coarser looke and feel, and is much stiffer. When I am trying to explain the difference to a customer I like to tap the wool felt hat with my finger because it sounds like i am tapping cardboard. But for the person who only needs it for a one or two time occasion i can understand the want to spend 40 bucks instead of a 100+.

Jeremy
http://www.hats-plus.com

 

[Visigoth]

Thanks! This is definitely fur, then -- and superior fur. Softer than my Borsalinos. Anyone ever heard of Lynn Hatters in New York?

 

[Rick Blaine]

PHOTOS!

Thanks! This is definitely fur, then -- and superior fur. Softer than my Borsalinos. Anyone ever heard of Lynn Hatters in New York?

can you post a picture?

 

[Visigoth]

Will do... I'm way behind in posting photos of the Visigoth Collection (which is a humble regional effort relative to, say, the Douglas Collection...)

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I've had a Dorfman bowler, a grey fedora from the "Spruce Goose" gift shop when it was in Long Beach, and a black stingy I found in a department store, all wool and all gone with the wind. I don't miss 'em.

 

[Steve]

Wool felt is much thicker than fur; and it is like sandpaper when compared to fur hats.

 

[WEEGEE]

texture to disappoint

Wool felt is like fuzzy cardboard.

 

[Dinerman]

well- they aren't all hard.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I kinda like them. Beaver felt can get boring. Variety is good.

.

 

[besdor]

There is also a mixture of fur and wool called Dynafelt that has been marketed for years by Bollman hats . It's not that bad at 10% fur and 90 % wool . The price is right and it feels pretty good .





Steven

 

[ufguy11]

Wools are usually harder than fur, kind of like a cardboard. Unless it's crushable, you can't shape it.

 

[nulty]

I've had the dynafelt that Besdor mentions..It wasn't bad really if you compare it next to an all wool hat. It didn't last long but worth the price...

I have a wool dobbs, my Ma got it for me for christmas, poor gal, she didn't know. I've never worn it. I supppose I could but I feel compelled not to. [huh]
It sits in an old Knox box in the garage with alot of other stuff I don't use...

I still think though that wool can fit the bill for someone who wants a fedora but can't make the commitment or dosen't have access to or time for vintage shopping.

 

[Orgetorix]

I have a wool dobbs, my Ma got it for me for christmas, poor gal, she didn't know. I've never worn it. I supppose I could but I feel compelled not to. [huh]
It sits in an old Knox box in the garage with alot of other stuff I don't use...

Nulty, if it's a 7 1/2 I'll take it off your hands...


I was looking at a gray Stetson in a store here in DC yesterday. It seemed quite stiff (I had trouble getting the brim where I wanted it), but was priced over $100. Would the price indicate it's just stiffer fur felt, or is it a wool hat that's way overpriced?

 

[the_great_humon]

Don't discount the virtues of wool

I have an old Dobbs wooly that I wear quite frequently. It's my favorite hat to wear to sit in the stands at my son's football games. Woolys are very servicable hats.

 

[Fedora]

I actually saw a vintage wool hat once that was really good as far as wool hats go. It wasn't like cardboard, very soft in fact, but still much coarser than fur felt. I think this is the exception rather than the rule though. In retrospect, I would not doubt if that wool had been treated with mercury, since it was an anomaly in so far as my limited experiece is concerned. Fedora

 

[nulty]

Nulty, if it's a 7 1/2 I'll take it off your hands...


I was looking at a gray Stetson in a store here in DC yesterday. It seemed quite stiff (I had trouble getting the brim where I wanted it), but was priced over $100. Would the price indicate it's just stiffer fur felt, or is it a wool hat that's way overpriced?

It is a 7 1/2 but my Mom bless her heart still believes it's my favorite hat. I'd like to unload it so I'll try and come up with something without letting her down to hard.....:eusa_doh:

It's a stetson not a dobbs though and I think I got it around 99 or 2000 somewhere in there.......

The price on the Stetson you were looking at would indicate the hat was a fur felt. Some of the new ones are stiff and impossible to shape..I have a newer Dobbs Dutton that almost snaps at me if I try and change the brim or crease.

If it's wool I would think there's something inside the hat that would indicate it...