Vintage 3x Stetson

I just received a vintage 3x Stetson, well, not really what we consider vintage as the hat was sold by HJ in 1971. But, the felt is without a doubt vintage quality. Since it was made in Phili, this must have been one of the last true Stetsons sold before the Stetson name was sold. I expected the felt to be similiar to the modern day 3x or 5x hats. I was wrong. This felt is as fine as it gets. And a very soft hat, almost as floppy as the Optimo and probably would be if the felt was as thin as the lightweight Optimos. It dents really easily, just like soft vintage fedoras. The hat is a tall one, 6 inches open crown, with a 3 1/8 brim. The brim is bound with ribbon. The color is tawny, really a khaki color. It has a 1 inch tawny ribbon which matches the brim binding. A beautiful hat. Looks unworn, but has some moth damage in a few places. Nothing deep and I have already pounced the worst area out. It looks very Indyish and I think I will leave this one alone once I get the other moth bites sanded out. It seems that no matter what blend the vintage hats were made of, the felt was extremely fine and very expensive looking. I bought this hat mainly due to the HJ box with the paperwork on the box. So HJ sold Stetsons in 1971. I found that interesting. And as I have mentioned at COW, it would not surprise me if when the order was placed for all of those fedoras for Raiders, if a few of these Stetsons did not get thrown into the mix. This certainly looks like the soft floppy felt of the Raiders fedora as opposed to what HJ supplied for the other 2 films. That would explain many things, like why the other film hats seemed to have a different block. Complete conjecture, I know, but it is possible. I really love this hat. Fedora

Where's the picture Fedora?

I am out to get new batteries for the digital camera. Stay tuned. Fedora

Here are 4 pics. Click on "previous" and "next" to see all 4. An interesting note. The sweatband has no store name on the opposite side of the band. Just the Stetson logo, and 3x Beaver Quality above the logo. Also, the sweatband is light brown. I think this is one way to tell if a hat is made my the original company. Maybe not. Herbert Johnson Stetson 3x Beaver Quality

regards, Fedora

Not really

Not all retail stores had their name embossed in the sweatband. Many stores had their own machine to stamp their name, so they could buy and sell different brands and use their own logo/name.

Nice hat. Too bad about some of the moth bites, but most or all look like underside of brim.

I have a hat with the Chesnut St. address in it from the actual factory retail store. It is a 7 1/4, so a size tight for me, but it is a great Bogie color, style.

I assume you will clean, block and change the ribbon. Sweat looks great.

Do you remove the liner when blocking (of course you do!)..but do you sew it back or use millner's tape?

That is really a nice looking fedora. I have a 3x open road, I'm not sure how old it is. It does have a brown sweat band with a sewn in liner if that means anything. It is a pretty heavy duty hat, its soft to the touch but the felt is too thick to dent easily. It seems there is a lot of variation even in the same brand and X ratings. I do have a vita felt stetson that is thin like the Optimo though and it too has a high crown. I like yours much better though. Good find fedora.

fedoralover

Yeah, this is the best looking 3x felt that I have seen, but all the rest have been current hats with this rating. The Keppler 5x is nothing like this 3x at all. Different animal. Why can't the current big hat companies produce felt of this quality? A question. This is the only hat that I have ever owned that had moth bites. While none were deep, I noticed something weird when I sanded them out. You can see the results on the bottom of the brim. After sanding, the place where the bites were darkened, as if I were smearing something in the bite over the felt. Almost like you were sanding an ink spot and the color spread out with the sanding. Makeing sense? It happened on each and every moth bite. It seems almost like in the feeding process the moth excreted some sort of fluid to help dissolve the felt so he could eat it. Who is the resident moth expert, since I understand that these moths are not the same as you see flying around in the summer. Originally, I was not gonna touch this hat, but the discoloration may call for a cleaning. Other than these spots left by sanding the moth bites out, the hat is as clean as the day it was sold. I dunno. For now it is going up in a box with moth balls, until I can get around to playing with it. I have another beaver hat in the finishing process now, and also a vintage Nutria Stetson just off the block. Fedora

I'm particularly interested in this question Fedora. I have had this happen on so many hats that I am gunshy in repairing hats like this. I'm reasonably sure that it involves how the hat was originally finished and what was added to the felt in the process ie: coconut oil, etc. So many hatters have been lost over the years the answer is probably simple but there is no one left to tell us. Maybe JPDesign can help. I don't think that the larva itself is responsible as there just isn't enough mass to them to do this much damage.

Looks like a really nice hat.
Show us the HJ box.

After Stetson went out of business, I think knowledge was just lost. No longer did they have pro hatters to pass down knowledge to new employees. The last Stetson employee I talked to wore a wool cap and said he owns a couple of their cowboy hats but they are not his thing.

It is like closing Harly Davidson and then starting the company from scratch 5 years later with none of the old employees.

"What does this thing do?"
"I think it curls the brim"
"how do you use it?"

Speaking of Stetson, fedora, did you ever call them?


fedoralover

Same story

The moth bites I have (I like to call them divots, like in golf) seem to do the same thing. I don't sand them. I once asked a hatter how to fix them. He says (no names please..) you use a pin to fluff up the felt in the bottom of the "divot" by picking it up. Then you can "shave" some felt "fuzz" from inside the crown , very gentle scrapings..you'll be amazed at the amount of a fur ball you get. Then put a bit of clear Elmers glue...tiny bit...into the divot and then poke in the fur ball. You can rub it smoothe when dry. I tried this, and it sorta helped, but I was not too agressive. Fedora, if you have "working practice hats" with moth damage..try it. It may work.

Sanding the hole only, IMHO, only weakens the felt and spreads the damage.

I have no idea why the hat hole turns dark. Maybe due to the depth of penetration of the dye when the hat was felted???