Recent content by belfastboy

My wife and I have lived in our (previously) small town now a suburb of a large city. We hardly ever leave the house without a hat on our heads and we get admonished by clerks and servers when we do. "Where's your hats"...is the most common comment.

Ennis is a small town in a beautiful setting, tucked in a valley. There is a small distillery there....the name escapes me but it on the main drag of the town. Wallace is a great little town. Worth a stop to wander, there are 2 craft brewers in town. The one at the entrance to the town...

I am only familiar with custom hatters. In Darby MT west of Missoula Double H hatters right on the main drag through town. In Billings there is Rand's. They sell custom hats but also offer off the shelf, ready mades. If you google "hatters in Montana" you will find just about every town of...

It depends on which FEPSA felts you are using. I love their 100% beaver 95 gram. It produces a hat as close to that vintage softness as I have come across. Their 120gr rabbit is similar but does not have the density or finesse of the beaver. Their beaver blends in western weight are...

I think you are asking an unanswerable question.

Not certain but it seems to me that while the narration spoke of sewing in the liner it certainly looked to me that the lady had a bottle of glue which she applied to the liner before laying it into a hat. $2500 and a glued in liner? Seriously?

Great advice. I have had way more success with a band block cut to my head shape. I can finesse an off the shelf regular oval into a long oval. Turn it from an ill fitting uncomfortable hat into one that fits and feels great. But the operative feature is I am not stretching it but...

To repeat....all vintage stretchers are marked 6 3/4 or 6 7/8 and I have had no problems enlarging them to my 59cm except the one very old one. Before you buy just ask the question: Can this be opened up to 58cm? It is that simple.....just ask.

I am a size 59cm and I own way too many hat stretchers, vintage and new. All the vintage are marked 6 7/8 and all of them work for my size 59 head except for one very old one that has short guide arms that do indeed pop out of the channel when opened up past about 58cm.. First thing you...

I helped a young lady with her hat making skills. Her plan is to have a set up that allows her to travel the summer festival circuit making and selling hats right there at the festival. Interesting to note this guy has been doing it for a while now.

Yes, the holes can be punched through the liner. It just becomes more complex procedure getting the liner lined up properly. If it were just one hole it would be simple but punching multiple holes and having them all lined up correctly becomes exponentially more difficult. Plus, it makes it...

The 3D print guy here in Vancouver has his ETSY shop up and running. I have worked with him to help dial in his products. The products are great and his pricing is super. I have ordered his rounding jack ...not that I needed another one but the damn thing works so well and the price cannot...

Welcome, I share your perspective...if there is a site with greater hat knowledge than here, I have yet to find it

Does it have to be screen accurate to a certain Indy movie? Or is a general Indy like look good enough? Does it have to be the exact right shade of brown or??

I picked up some ribbon close in colour to the felt to give a great tone on tone look. I can snap a few pictures over the weekend to give you some idea.