Making a Western hat by hand?

Mustang Mike's Hats · Nov 16, 2018

I thought so too, originally. After having hand measured both a regular oval and a long oval crown block I was surprised to see the difference. Another indication was when I purchased some band blocks. My vendor (who I believe is a Lounge member) lists the blocks by size and circumference. It's slight, but there is a difference.

Yahoody · Nov 16, 2018

All done and ready to go to work!

Yahoody · Nov 16, 2018

Cornshucker77 · Sep 28, 2019

Well I'm giving it a try. I bought a pre-pounced 180 gram nutria hat body from Sunrise Hat Supply in the color Driftwood. This is the first hat body I have purchased and I am satisfied with the quality. I am going to make my version of the Stetson Dakota. 5.5 inch open crown with a 3.5 inch brim. The Dakota had a kettle curled brim but I will go with more of a pencil roll as the tool I have is for a pencil roll.

I used a rounding jack from @humanshoes, thanks Rick. Block from @Rockwater, thanks Jim. And a pencil roll tool from Mark DeCou...1/2" groove x 1/4" Deep. And a liner furnished by @Yahoody, thanks Yahoody. I just finished the pencil roll and I'm letting it dry and will start with the sweat in a couple days. I think I will finish it with a silver belly 7/8" ribbon with a campaign bow. I am still hoping to take a shot at making myself a Boss of the Plains and when I get ready for that I will be contacting you Yahoody, @Yahoody. Thinking of trying a Winchester Beaver body on that one. This Sunrise body came with aprrox. 5 inch crown so I thought I would go with a taller crown hat rather than try to make a 4 inch crowned BOP as a first hat.

I'll post more photos when finished.

deadlyhandsome · Sep 28, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
View attachment 186650 View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648 View attachment 186649 Well I'm giving it a try. I bought a pre-pounced 180 gram nutria hat body from Sunrise Hat Supply in the color Driftwood. This is the first hat body I have purchased and I am satisfied with the quality. I am going to make my version of the Stetson Dakota. 5.5 inch open crown with a 3.5 inch brim. The Dakota had a kettle curled brim but I will go with more of a pencil roll as the tool I have is for a pencil roll.

I used a rounding jack from @humanshoes, thanks Rick. Block from @Rockwater, thanks Jim. And a pencil roll tool from Mark DeCou...1/2" groove x 1/4" Deep. And a liner furnished by @Yahoody, thanks Yahoody. I just finished the pencil roll and I'm letting it dry and will start with the sweat in a couple days. I think I will finish it with a silver belly 7/8" ribbon with a campaign bow. I am still hoping to take a shot at making myself a Boss of the Plains and when I get ready for that I will be contacting you Yahoody, @Yahoody. Thinking of trying a Winchester Beaver body on that one. This Sunrise body came with aprrox. 5 inch crown so I thought I would go with a taller crown hat rather than try to make a 4 inch crowned BOP as a first hat.

I'll post more photos when finished.

View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648

Nice! I’d like to hear more about the quality of the nutria felt. I have their samples, but it’s not the same as holding the hat body. Did you pounce it the get it thinner or just to achieve the finish you were after? It sure looks great!

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Yahoody · Sep 29, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
View attachment 186650 View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648 View attachment 186649 Well I'm giving it a try. I bought a pre-pounced 180 gram nutria hat body from Sunrise Hat Supply in the color Driftwood. This is the first hat body I have purchased and I am satisfied with the quality. I am going to make my version of the Stetson Dakota. 5.5 inch open crown with a 3.5 inch brim. The Dakota had a kettle curled brim but I will go with more of a pencil roll as the tool I have is for a pencil roll.

Oustanding Scott! Congrads

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

Yahoody said:
Oustanding Scott! Congrads

Thank you Yahoody.

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

deadlyhandsome said:
Nice! I’d like to hear more about the quality of the nutria felt. I have their samples, but it’s not the same as holding the hat body. Did you pounce it the get it thinner or just to achieve the finish you were after? It sure looks great!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks Brent. This was a pre-pounced felt, but I pounced a little more. I can't get the nice peach fuzz finish like you see on a nice fedora. Maybe more pouncing, but I was reluctant to go any further, with my inexperience in pouncing. The felt is dense yet has some flexibility. It is between a dress weight and a western weight. I can't speak with confidence as to whether this would make a good fedora. But I do like it for dress western hats.

RossRYoung · Sep 29, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
View attachment 186650 View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648 View attachment 186649 Well I'm giving it a try. I bought a pre-pounced 180 gram nutria hat body from Sunrise Hat Supply in the color Driftwood. This is the first hat body I have purchased and I am satisfied with the quality. I am going to make my version of the Stetson Dakota. 5.5 inch open crown with a 3.5 inch brim. The Dakota had a kettle curled brim but I will go with more of a pencil roll as the tool I have is for a pencil roll.

I used a rounding jack from @humanshoes, thanks Rick. Block from @Rockwater, thanks Jim. And a pencil roll tool from Mark DeCou...1/2" groove x 1/4" Deep. And a liner furnished by @Yahoody, thanks Yahoody. I just finished the pencil roll and I'm letting it dry and will start with the sweat in a couple days. I think I will finish it with a silver belly 7/8" ribbon with a campaign bow. I am still hoping to take a shot at making myself a Boss of the Plains and when I get ready for that I will be contacting you Yahoody, @Yahoody. Thinking of trying a Winchester Beaver body on that one. This Sunrise body came with aprrox. 5 inch crown so I thought I would go with a taller crown hat rather than try to make a 4 inch crowned BOP as a first hat.

I'll post more photos when finished.

View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648

So awesome, can’t wait to see the final outcome!

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

Ross Young said:
So awesome, can’t wait to see the final outcome!

Thanks Ross.

steur · Sep 29, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
View attachment 186650 View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648 View attachment 186649 Well I'm giving it a try. I bought a pre-pounced 180 gram nutria hat body from Sunrise Hat Supply in the color Driftwood. This is the first hat body I have purchased and I am satisfied with the quality. I am going to make my version of the Stetson Dakota. 5.5 inch open crown with a 3.5 inch brim. The Dakota had a kettle curled brim but I will go with more of a pencil roll as the tool I have is for a pencil roll.

I used a rounding jack from @humanshoes, thanks Rick. Block from @Rockwater, thanks Jim. And a pencil roll tool from Mark DeCou...1/2" groove x 1/4" Deep. And a liner furnished by @Yahoody, thanks Yahoody. I just finished the pencil roll and I'm letting it dry and will start with the sweat in a couple days. I think I will finish it with a silver belly 7/8" ribbon with a campaign bow. I am still hoping to take a shot at making myself a Boss of the Plains and when I get ready for that I will be contacting you Yahoody, @Yahoody. Thinking of trying a Winchester Beaver body on that one. This Sunrise body came with aprrox. 5 inch crown so I thought I would go with a taller crown hat rather than try to make a 4 inch crowned BOP as a first hat.

I'll post more photos when finished.

View attachment 186646 View attachment 186648

Looks very promising already, Scott. Nice work!

humanshoes · Sep 29, 2019

Excellent work Scott. That is going to be one fine looking hat. I've been skeptical about the effectiveness of the wood brim curling tools, but it seems to have worked out quite well for you. I'm looking forward to playing around with one of those nutria hat bodies myself.

Hurricane Jack · Sep 29, 2019

humanshoes said:
I'm looking forward to playing around with one of those nutria hat bodies myself.

Will look forward to your opinion on it. Unless cloning an exact copy of an early Nutria Western I'm not sure why I would want one?

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

steur said:
Looks very promising already, Scott. Nice work!

Thanks Stefan. I made some mistakes but I learned from them.

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

humanshoes said:
Excellent work Scott. That is going to be one fine looking hat. I've been skeptical about the effectiveness of the wood brim curling tools, but it seems to have worked out quite well for you. I'm looking forward to playing around with one of those nutria hat bodies myself.

Thanks Rick. The tool took several repetitions but it turned out pretty well. I used a lot of water to soak the brim edge and I kind of had to guide the felt into the front of the tool. But patience paid and it worked pretty well.

Cornshucker77 · Sep 29, 2019

deadlyhandsome said:
Nice! I’d like to hear more about the quality of the nutria felt. I have their samples, but it’s not the same as holding the hat body. Did you pounce it the get it thinner or just to achieve the finish you were after? It sure looks great!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Hey Brent now that I have worked more with this felt it is softening up some. I keep coming back to the 1960's Resistol red liner hat I just bought a few weeks ago (I can't locate the photo). But the felt is softening and in the hands of an experienced hatter (not me) I think good results could come from these blanks. This Nutria compares well to it. I am happy with it.

I got the sweat into the Nutria today. I'll try to finish up tomorrow with the ribbon.

deadlyhandsome · Sep 30, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
Hey Brent now that I have worked more with this felt it is softening up some. I keep coming back to the 1960's Resistol red liner hat I just bought a few weeks ago (I can't locate the photo). But the felt is softening and in the hands of an experienced hatter (not me) I think good results could come from these blanks. This Nutria compares well to it. I am happy with it.

I got the sweat into the Nutria today. I'll try to finish up tomorrow with the ribbon.

View attachment 186805 View attachment 186806

Nice job on the sweat. Did you use a stitch awl?

I’m glad to hear that you like the felt. How does it compare with 7X CB? I’m looking for a modern equivalent (aren’t we all?). The firm, but not hard or harsh, perfect malleable western weight felt.

Can’t wait to see your finished hat.

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Cornshucker77 · Sep 30, 2019

deadlyhandsome said:
Nice job on the sweat. Did you use a stitch awl?

I’m glad to hear that you like the felt. How does it compare with 7X CB? I’m looking for a modern equivalent (aren’t we all?). The firm, but not hard or harsh, perfect malleable western weight felt.

Can’t wait to see your finished hat.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks. I tried using a stitch awl before but never got the hang of it. I just use a running stitch.

I have two 7X's and the felt on them is superior to this nutria felt. But this felt is a nice quality for western dress hats. Not as heavy as a full western weight. The brim isn't stiff like one of those 1970's - 80's Resistols. It gives but holds it's shape well. The brim seems to have a nice peach fuzz feel to it. The crown not as much, but not bad. I think you would be happy with it. I would love to see one of our FL hatters make a hat from this and get their say. I think it is definitely worth the $120.

Cornshucker77 · Sep 30, 2019

OK finished up the Nutria hat. I still may make some changes to the brim shape but here it is for now. I included a photo to show the flexibility of the brim. The felt is soft yet holds its shape well and springs back. It feels lightweight while wearing it. It's not a masterpiece but I'm satisfied with this first attempt. I modeled this after the Stetson Dakota with a 5.5 inch open crown and 3.5 inch brim. My brim came up just shy of 3.5 but I did get a 5.5 inch open crown. I went with 3/8 inch silver belly ribbon rather than the 7/8 I initially considered.

deadlyhandsome · Sep 30, 2019

Cornshucker77 said:
OK finished up the Nutria hat. I still may make some changes to the brim shape but here it is for now. I included a photo to show the flexibility of the brim. The felt is soft yet holds its shape well and springs back. It feels lightweight while wearing it. It's not a masterpiece but I'm satisfied with this first attempt. I modeled this after the Stetson Dakota with a 5.5 inch open crown and 3.5 inch brim. My brim came up just shy of 3.5 but I did get a 5.5 inch open crown. I went with 3/8 inch silver belly ribbon rather than the 7/8 I initially considered.
View attachment 186885 View attachment 186886 View attachment 186887 View attachment 186888 View attachment 186889 View attachment 186890 View attachment 186891

Outstanding, Scott! What’s not to like about that? Are you leaving it uncreased? It’s a good look.

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