Perforation ventilation

[feltfan]

It has taken me about three years to get around to it, but I
finally conducted my experiment to create a summer felt hat.

I started with an American Hat Company Beaver 50 "open road"
style hat. Nice, stiff, somewhat thick felt. I figured it was a good
candidate because it has a relatively narrow 60s style sweatband-
less contact, less heat- and a very large crown. Particularly since
it's a 7 3/4 (which required a bit of sweatband shrinking). A color
that reflects heat, too.

I got some leather hole punches and mostly paid attention as I
created a somewhat freeform set of ventilation perforations:

[sorry for any inconvenience- odd Flickr UI issue. The pictures should be visible now.]





Leaving the aesthetics aside, this certainly represents a lot more
opportunity for air flow than your typical vented felt fedora or bowler.

I am here to report that it doesn't make much of a difference, unless
you're out on a very windy day. I may continue the experiment until
the hat is nearly completely dotted with holes, but remember that after
a point the hat becomes less useful and less structurally sound.

Hope this is of some interest- I know there has been some speculation
here on the efficacy of venting felt hats.

[daizawaguy]

No photos Sir...

[Sam Craig]

In the 1870s and 1880s, the U.S. Army experimented with campaign hats on the plains that had small, metal ventilators built into them. There was even one style that had a little revolving piece that supposedly made a whirring sound when the wind caught it just right.

The first of these ... they were all wool felt for enlisted men, by he way ... was black and later the Army changed to a tan

Considering the replicas I've been around, I would think the change in color had more to do with the comfort of the hat than the little vents.

Later, during the Span-Am War, they had a tan campaign hat with ventilation holes stamped right into the felt

I don't know that any of these methods actually made the hats less hot, however, especially in tropical conditions.

Some of them sure look neat, though

[feltfan]

I spent a fair amount of time trying to track down reproductions of
those active metal ventilator grommets. Finally gave up and did what
you see here.

[RobFedoraField]

not to sound too geeky, but to assist with cooling, what about putting a very small battery operated case fan in the hat to "draw the air thru" if you made a "star" patter on the front and back, then put the fan in the back of the hat, it might draw air thru.

This may be a better idea in my head, not on my head...

[JimWagner]

Solar powered pith helmet ->

Use the parts for a solar powered fedora?

At least you probably won't get Indiana Jones comments

[Cigarband]

I own a solar fan pith helmet. There is nothing better to wear while mowing the lawn on a scorching day.

[Sam Craig]

I spent a fair amount of time trying to track down reproductions of
those active metal ventilator grommets. Finally gave up and did what
you see here.

They used to be available from S&S Firearms, who had them for the Indian Wars Infantry reenactors, but that was a long time ago.

[CRH]

Feltfan, you may have inadvertently discovered a method for hiding moth bite holes.

[tonyb]

I kinda suspected what your experience bears out -- that vent holes don't make a felt hat appreciably cooler to wear. I can see how a semi-colado straw hat might do the trick, what with so much more of the crown being "open air," but to get the same amount of open space in a felt crown would take a whole lotta perforations, as you noted, to the extent that the very soundness of the felt would be sacrificed. Or so I'd think, anyway.

Must say, though, I dig the idea, and the workmanship. Did you make those patterns one hole at a time? Or do you have punches that make multiple-hole patterns with each use? I can see how a band of triangular perforations around the circumference of a Western hat crown might look pretty cool, even if it doesn't render the hat appreciably cooler.