Wool vs. Fur - telling the difference

[Dave E]

So, I'm looking at a hat on eBay, and the description says it is a fur felt, but there are no markings/tags to back that up. Is there any way of telling the difference between wool and fur felt from photos? In the hand, I'm pretty comfortable telling one from the other, but that's not the situation I'm in sadly.

The photos are fairly good, and they show an unbound brim, but fairly thick felt. All of the wool felt hats I'm familiar with (not that many honestly, though) have bound edges on the brims. Are there any reliable cues I could look out for?

(I've asked the seller, they seem to have sort of guessed, I'm waiting for a reply on how stiff the felt is to see if that helps with working it out.)

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Ask the seller if it feels coarse and scratchy, if so, it's wool. Perceived thickness of the felt from photos on ebay is no way to tell as fur felt can be thicker or thinner, floppy or stiff. I think the only way to be sure is by how it feels to the touch.

 

[fenris]

over here, the wool hats are pretty much very soft... like they haven't heard of stiffener. dunno why that is.

since we're not a hat-wearing country (felt hats, anyway), the abundance of hats here are either abaca straw hats, synthetic straws (stingy brims), leather outback styled, wool felt hats and chinese-made fur felts which are the opposite of the wool felts - they're stiff as a board!

oh, I forgot, the only stiff wool felts I've seen are cowboy hats.