What Hat Are You Wearing Today ?

steur said:

I do like the look of these San Antonios. Good shape to them.

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Thanks! It really is a go-to and always hangs on the high rotation rack.

steur said:

Fruno did well with those colours!

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You're too kind. I was lucky it turned out nice. Just don't look too close.

Interestingly, it's probably the oldest, nicest piece of felt I have. Super thin and will do anything I ask of it. I have no idea who made it.

steur said:

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For a four-way I'd say you'd need at least two kittens (but three would be better) and an equal number of beavers. Magnificent hat!

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Naughty boy!

BobHufford said:

Great old Resistol Jim!

I don't think "Kitten Finish" has anything to do with fur content. From what I understand it was a process that took advantage of the properties of kitten saliva (you know how they like to rub their faces on things) to offset the interlocking tightness of the beaver felt by breaking down the outer layer just a bit to give it a softer hand. The use of kittens on fur-felt hat processing ended with the creation of P.E.T.A in 1980. This was also attempted on straw hats with little success...

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You. Are. Killing. Me.

BobHufford said:

Can you share a pic of the bike Michael? Nice straw at that price. May have to check that out.

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Sure, Bob. It's a Cannondale T700. I think the 1993 model, though it could have been made several years after that.
IMG_5405 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
Has the low rider front racks and the nearly indestructible bar end shifters.
IMG_5409 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
IMG_5408 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
And to come back to subject, here is the cap and mask I wore for the riding.
IMG_5397 crop by Michael A2012, on Flickr
IMG_5395 crop by Michael A2012, on Flickr
The old Pilgrim cap. Trying to get in shape for a ride across Missouri. Ha ha.

steur said:

Good to see it again, Michael. Not enough of them to go around.

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Seems like it has been quite a long time since we got a glimpse of that blue one that somehow passed through export control. Ha ha.

steur said:

Very nice, Michael. Cool colours.

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Thanks Stefan

steur said:

This week's harvest.
Borsalino palladio (1) View attachment 249201
Borsalino palladio (2)
View attachment 249202
Borsalino Caffe
View attachment 249203
Penumbra panama
View attachment 249204
Wormser
View attachment 249205

Portis
View attachment 249206

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Dang, what a lineup. The stuff dreams are made of.

Thanks,
Michael

Michael A said:

Sure, Bob. It's a Cannondale T700. I think the 1993 model, though it could have been made several years after that.

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Nice Michael! I like these old tourers. I need to convert mine into a gravel bike. Nice cap/mask combo as well.

Grillin in a Fed IV

Steve1857 said:

Another cool Resistol.
Looking good, Max.

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Thank you

steur said:

Nice!


Thanks, Randall. The Wormser is a sunny day hat.


Good to see it again, Michael. Not enough of them to go around.


That's a beautiful hat, Max. D'Artagnan would have approved of it (even without an ostrich feather).

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Merci, monsieur!
Vive Louis XIV!

steur said:

This week's harvest.
Borsalino palladio (1) View attachment 249201
Borsalino palladio (2)
View attachment 249202
Borsalino Caffe
View attachment 249203
Penumbra panama
View attachment 249204
Wormser
View attachment 249205

Portis
View attachment 249206

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This weeks harvest is a bunch of bountiful beauties! Envious farming techniques, Mr. MacDonald!

steur said:

Both the French and the Dutch have it down that he was actually shot in the throat when he and his musketeers decided to storm one of the city gates. Not a good idea when the defenders have muskets too! No hard feelings though: there is a statue of him in Maastricht anyway: not something we tend to do for our enemies willy nilly. The Duke of Alva certainly doesn't have one. As for Robben; well, he was a bit of a tumbler, wasn't he? Not much of surprise there, because he did play in Germany, the inventors of the "schwalbe".

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Hahaha!
I meant the way he died in the book, not in real life. At the end of the third and last book in the series, "Le Vicomte de Bragelonne", in the siege of Maastrich, a bullet from the castle strikes the wooden case carrying his Marshall of France baton and kills him.
His last words are: "Athos and Porthos, I will see you soon. Aramis, goodbye forever."

I have read all the books several times, and reread passages of them often. I don't really like Dumas' other books much, though.

Rogera said:

View attachment 249276 Grillin in a Fed IV

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I spy some grillin’ going on back there!

Tonak "Flexible" late 1950s. Very light weight + pliable felt. A great hot weather felt. An East Block Borsalino. From my May 2016 NOS Czech find.



A massive amount of brim flange.



"Flexible" mark goes back to J. Hückel´s Söhne.





Tonak 1945 - 1989 (From "NOVÝ JIČÍN - Town of Chimneys, Radek Polách" Exhibition that I attended 09/07/2019.)



The end of the Second World War brought not only a new composition of the management of the hat factory in Nový Jičiná, but also new intentions connected with the renewed Czechoslovak Republic. The October decree of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Edvard Beneš, meant the merger of three Nový Jičín hatter companies into one, including the Janyška factory in Walachia. On May 27, 1946, the National Administration of the Johann Hückel's Sóhne factory, a hat factory, requested that the company be deleted from the Commercial Register of the Regional Court in Nový Jičín. The change was to be made in connection with the presidential decree with the assets to the company: Hat factories, national enterprise. As of June 4, 1946, the erasure was carried out by Johann Hückel's Sóhne officially ceased to exist. After the takeover of power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948 by the Communist Party headed by Klement Gottwald, the hatter's factories were linked to a dozen smaller factories in Bohemia and Moravia under the Act on Further Nationalization. Thus, a total of 24 plants were incorporated into the TONAK company. In 1949, the national hat production company Otavan, based in Katowice, was established. All factories in the Czech Republic were assigned to him from the national company TONAK. The race in Nový Jičín was named TONAK 1, the race in Valašské Meziria TONAK 2 and the Prague race was named TONAK 3. In Nový Jičín, the individual races were also numbered. By these changes, the TONAK factory in Nový Jičín became the main pillar of the production of felt hats throughout Czechoslovakia. The national company TONAK has taken care of the training of new employees from the very beginning. After the war and the expulsion of the German population, there were very few specialists left in Nový Jičín and the management had to use the professional capacities of the former Czech factory Janyška in Valašské Menne. workers. In 1963, it grew into a corporate technical school of hat-making technology, which was led by the then-skilled employees of the hat factory.

Significant changes occurred in 1967. At that time, the reconstruction of the entire hat shop in Nový Jičín began. In the course of this, the factory was looked at by the Minister of Industry and Trade Božena Machačová-Dostálová, who supported further development of hat production. In 1969 the hat factory in Nový Jičín processed 19 million animal skins a year, with only one million being imported. Almost 74,510 production at that time was intended for export to know more than fifty countries around the world. During the normalization period, TONAK has been relatively stable during the normalization period. when production and employment made the hat factory one of the most important economic elements of the whole Nový Jičín region. However, this era brought with it a number of other factors, which meant particularly paralyzing direct contacts with the new fashion guilty of Western European countries. The main component of sales were still mass-produced hat products for the countries of the socialist sector. Further changes occurred after 1989.

Ran across some archival footage while working on a post for a different thread, though I did wear this Champ Texan briefly today:

TheOldFashioned said:

Ran across some archival footage while working on a post for a different thread, though I did wear this Champ Texan briefly today:
View attachment 249319 View attachment 249320

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Beautiful. That natural color felt is a favorite.

Wore the Akubra hemp for the first time today.
My wife’s in a hat designed by Kaori Nomori.

Michael A said:

Sure, Bob. It's a Cannondale T700. I think the 1993 model, though it could have been made several years after that.
IMG_5405 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
Has the low rider front racks and the nearly indestructible bar end shifters.
IMG_5409 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
IMG_5408 by Michael A2012, on Flickr
And to come back to subject, here is the cap and mask I wore for the riding.
IMG_5397 crop by Michael A2012, on Flickr
IMG_5395 crop by Michael A2012, on Flickr
The old Pilgrim cap. Trying to get in shape for a ride across Missouri. Ha ha.


Seems like it has been quite a long time since we got a glimpse of that blue one that somehow passed through export control. Ha ha.

Thanks Stefan

Dang, what a lineup. The stuff dreams are made of.

Thanks,
Michael

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Nice Michael. That’s a cool mask, love the Cannondale. Mine is a ‘97 M-300 that I bought in’97. Stay cool.

50s Borsalino. Love the colors on this one.
Had to do some rehab work on her, but she’s all original.
There were two rust spots ingrained onto the front of the grosgrain hatband and for all who know, they couldn’t be cleaned off, so I had to remove the hatband and bow and turn the ribbon around to the back of the crown. I bleached only the spots which got them out, but of course left white spots in their place. I subdued the white spots with color matched dye which worked to a tolerable degree.
The felt was too soft to hold a shape, so Bickmore hat stiffener did a great job of adding just the right amount of rigidity to the hat body. Still soft and malleable, but now keeps a fine crease and brim shape. Borsalino performed wonders with rabbit fur.

Randall Renshaw said:

View attachment 249375 50s Borsalino. Love the colors on this one.
Had to do some rehab work on her, but she’s all original.
There were two rust spots ingrained onto the front of the grosgrain hatband and for all who know, they couldn’t be cleaned off, so I had to remove the hatband and bow and turn the ribbon around to the back of the crown. I bleached only the spots which got them out, but of course left white spots in their place. I subdued the white spots with color matched dye which worked to a tolerable degree.
The felt was too soft to hold a shape, so Bickmore hat stiffener did a great job of adding just the right amount of rigidity to the hat body. Still soft and malleable, but now keeps a fine crease and brim shape. Borsalino performed wonders with rabbit fur.
View attachment 249373 View attachment 249374

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YES for sure I will like this one again!!!! Good save!!!!

Randall Renshaw said:

View attachment 249375 50s Borsalino. Love the colors on this one.
Had to do some rehab work on her, but she’s all original.
There were two rust spots ingrained onto the front of the grosgrain hatband and for all who know, they couldn’t be cleaned off, so I had to remove the hatband and bow and turn the ribbon around to the back of the crown. I bleached only the spots which got them out, but of course left white spots in their place. I subdued the white spots with color matched dye which worked to a tolerable degree.
The felt was too soft to hold a shape, so Bickmore hat stiffener did a great job of adding just the right amount of rigidity to the hat body. Still soft and malleable, but now keeps a fine crease and brim shape. Borsalino performed wonders with rabbit fur.
View attachment 249373 View attachment 249374

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Wow

DaveProc said:

Thanks Steve! It has the Who on it. My wide made it for me, she made some with the Grateful Dead for me as well.

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Cool Dave. Your wife's a keeper

I've missed your hats of the week, Stefan. What beauties. Love the Penumbra.
You're looking good too, my friend.

steur said:

This week's harvest.
Borsalino palladio (1) View attachment 249201
Borsalino palladio (2)
View attachment 249202
Borsalino Caffe
View attachment 249203
Penumbra panama
View attachment 249204
Wormser
View attachment 249205

Portis
View attachment 249206

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That's a beauty, Randall. As usual, great job buddy!

Randall Renshaw said:

View attachment 249375 50s Borsalino. Love the colors on this one.
Had to do some rehab work on her, but she’s all original.
There were two rust spots ingrained onto the front of the grosgrain hatband and for all who know, they couldn’t be cleaned off, so I had to remove the hatband and bow and turn the ribbon around to the back of the crown. I bleached only the spots which got them out, but of course left white spots in their place. I subdued the white spots with color matched dye which worked to a tolerable degree.
The felt was too soft to hold a shape, so Bickmore hat stiffener did a great job of adding just the right amount of rigidity to the hat body. Still soft and malleable, but now keeps a fine crease and brim shape. Borsalino performed wonders with rabbit fur.
View attachment 249373 View attachment 249374

Click to expand...