Crown perforations

[tonyb]

Wouldn't ya know it.

 

[Woodfluter]

Just me, venting again...

Re ventilation holes, I have experimented with these since the early 70's. Here is what little I know:

1. Plain holes made with a leather punch won't heal themselves, even on cheap wool felt, even after many wettings. Adding eyelets may strengthen the edges of the holes but isn't essential to keep them open.

2. I think very small holes, such as the ones shown on top of the crown in a previous post, do little or nothing to assist circulation of air. They might, maybe, allow a some of the moister air to escape, but I wouldn't bet on it.

3. Holes the size of shoe eyelets, with or without eyelets themselves, do help a little. But in my experience, you'd need a lot of them, not the typical two on each side. With enough total opening area, any flow of air around the outside of the hat creates a low-pressure zone (so says Mr. Bernoulli) that draws air outward and assists circulation.

4. Really big holes, such as the large (1 cm) grommets on Tilley hats, really do help quite a bit. I think the diameter is an issue. Air movement is slowed considerably though small-diameter openings. The screened grommets found on some boonie hats keeps mosquitos out, but it really restricts air flow, reducing the large opening to a bunch of smaller ones. One time I knocked out those screens from a hat I was wearing in the summer, in Northern Minnesota peat bogs. Just doing that made it noticably cooler.

5. If you want to add holes, try Tandy Leather or any such supplier. You can use a rotary punch for this if you like, but not with the built-in anvil - rotate it so the punch you want is pointing outward and just push with a turning motion - good enough for going through felt. Or get the sets with different sizes and a handle. Either way, you need a block of wood behind it to press against. I suggest you round off the corners and edges of that block with a rasp so you don't dent the felt on the inside.

6. If you want to set eyelets or grommets inside a crown, this is a bit harder but doable. You will be hammering from the inside, you need a hard surface outside the crown to support the little anvil, you need to use very short strokes with a small hammer on the inside and it will be hard to see what is happening. But you can do it mostly by feel.

An Akubra Riverina is on it's way to me, and I mean to remove the lining, add bigger holes with grommets or maybe many eyelets, whatever I can to see if it can be turned into an effective summer headgear. I'll report when I get that done.

- Bill

 

[bolthead]

Akubra AirStream

I have a somewhat Vintage Akubra "AirStream" from the 60's with these perforated holes, but mine are around the braided band....just above the sweatband.

 

[Woodfluter]

I have a somewhat Vintage Akubra "AirStream" from the 60's with these perforated holes, but mine are around the braided band....just above the sweatband.

Egad! Now that's serious ventilation! Very cool hat. Wonder when they stopped making them.
- Bill

 

[Woodfluter]

The Akubra Riverina, modified

OK, it came two days ago and here's what I've done:


By woodfluter
It started out with four eyelets. I was contemplating adding larger grommets, but it seemed like it would damage the flexibility and I couldn't get the kind I had in mind with less than mass quantities and a $100+ industrial strength press. So I just went with stripping out the liner (good grief, hot glue...does it really cost that much to sew?) and adding more eyelets - now it has a total of 14 including two at the front.

I ditched the braided leather hatband and made a ribbon band (my first attempt). Could only get polyester at this point - OK for this particular hat - and I discovered that you can differentially stretch this by steaming and stretching along one side only. So was able to eventually contour the polyester ribbon to exactly fit the hat without gaps or extreme pressure required.


And this is sort of what it looks like on a head. If the Marine Campaign cover can have an eyelet at the front for an insignia, I figured mine could have two for ventilation.

Bought this cheap at Outback Outlet, and regarding this as a "project hat" to produce a wide-brimmed felt field hat that would work well, and not look too shabby.

- Bill

 

[DOUGLAS]

Cross Country

Breeze

*******

Weekender

My opinion is that the perferations do not circulate air through the hat but allow hot air to escape To have air blowing through the hat the holes would need to be much larger.