Yes, Fepsa makes good stuff ...

[fedoralover]

Well on to another subject on this matter if I may. Hatco obviously made some changes in the way they made the bodies for the new Excellent quality hats they are making. So that raises the question for me, "what are they doing different"? Did they have to buy different equipment or just redo do their felting process?

fedoralover

 

[tonyb]

You are a joke, Tony. Keep on making stupid comments like that. It just proves my point even more.

Huh, ain't that something.

Just what is your point? From this angle, it appears that you've painted yourself into a corner and you have nothing intelligent to add, so you resort to name calling.

Give that young man enough rope, and he'll hang himself.

 

[Joshbru3]

Huh, ain't that something.

Just what is your point? From this angle, it appears that you've painted yourself into a corner and you have nothing intelligent to add, so you resort to name calling.

Give that young man enough rope, and he'll hang himself.

Do you talk out of your ass all the time or just sometimes? You were the first one who insulted me and questioned my integrity. I was talking about a product....you made it personal. Look back in the thread, if anyone has painted themselves into a corner its you. I have nothing to prove, nor do I have anything to hide. My opinions have been expressed in several threads and people know where I stand. Obviously, you have done the same and people know where you stand. Now, lets let people make their own observations shall we. Enough of this ridiculous crap.

 

[tonyb]

Well on to another subject on this matter if I may. Hatco obviously made some changes in the way they made the bodies for the new Excellent quality hats they are making. So that raises the question for me, "what are they doing different"? Did they have to buy different equipment or just redo do their felting process?

fedoralover

I'm not privy to all things Hatco, Rich. But I suspect they are using better source material and considerably more care in what they do with it.

Source material counts for a whole lot, for sure, but so does the felting of the body and the dyeing of it (matters on which I have no firsthand experience, but that's true of almost everybody offering an opinion). Blocking and pouncing count for a whole lot, too, and without giving away my hard-won knowledge on those matters, I can say that one has a lot to do with the other. I don't think it's so much that the well-finished hats are treated to any processes that the lesser quality ones aren't, but that those processes are carried out with greater care. So, it's no one thing, but a combination of little (and not so little) things that combine to make a big difference.

I know you can make a real crummy hat from a high-quality body. I know it because I've done it. It's a confession I've heard just about every other custom hatter make as he candidly recalls his earliest efforts.

But here's the good news: A body made of quality materials can be rebuilt at least a couple-three or four times and be essentially good as new each time. If the body is structurally sound and not irreversibly stained, it can be crumpled and dirty and its ribbon and sweatband can be beyond salvation and it can still be made into an (almost) good-as-new hat.

I hear that some Akubra aficionados put finer finishes on what come to them as decidedly rough hats. There are limits to just how fine a finish those rabbit felt bodies will take, but they apparently can be made much finer than they come from the factory.

 

[tonyb]

Geez Josh, I thought you said you had no more to say on this subject. Please, take your own advice and reread the thread.

And really, please stop the name calling and the generally abusive language. I have every confidence you wouldn't address me in such a manner in a face-to-face encounter.

 

[scotrace]

Woah. That's quite enough.