Do you own more Beaver Felt or Fur Felt hats?

[The Lark]

I've only really experienced rabbit fur felt in my hats thus far. I don't think I've taken the time to get a feel for beaver felt and see if it is worth the extra cost. Which material do you own more of and which do you prefer?

Do you deliberately save your pennies for the beaver, or are you happy enough settling on a cheaper rabbit?

 

[The Lark]

Hmm... I really should change the thread title from "or fur felt" to "or rabbit felt".

Can an admin do that for me?

 

[Mr E Train]

You should add "Blend thereof" and "I'm not sure what this thing's made of, but it sure feels nice!"

The most popular answer by far would probably be "Blend thereof," and of course, that's not even taking into account nutria, hare, etc., and various blends thereof.

 

[M6Classic]

Are these my only choices? My prefered hat block is the mink felt employed by Gary White.

Buzz

 

[The Lark]

Hey, thank you to whoever tweaked my poll. I'm not familiar enough with all the different materials to give enough proper options myself.

 

[danofarlington]

fur of my hats

I've only really experienced rabbit fur felt in my hats thus far. I don't think I've taken the time to get a feel for beaver felt and see if it is worth the extra cost. Which material do you own more of and which do you prefer?

Do you deliberately save your pennies for the beaver, or are you happy enough settling on a cheaper rabbit?

I just don't have any information about the kind of fur that's in the hats I bought, except for the Borsalino beaver fedora. I'm sure it's rabbit or hare or whatever is common, because otherwise the company would charge extra for it. On my two vintage hats, I just don't know. Just bought a "Stetson Open Road 4X beaver," but don't know what that means.

I am going to go more for custom hats now that I've selected my primary hat styles, and one of the reasons is that they offer 100% beaver felt, so I know what I'm getting. Why not? I like Borsalino off the shelf hats, but that's about it, the other brands off the shelf not matching to my ideal models. It's the off the shelf hats where you don't know what they're made of. I've yet to see a label that says "rabbit," "hare" or whatever else, only a "beaver" label.

 

[gtdean48]

Since my Akubras way out number my customs, I have to go with rabbit fur felt over beaver. I know my vintage Stetsons are either beaver or a beaver blend but they don't catch up to the bunny lids either. [huh]

 

[Spats McGee]

I've only got 1 real beaver, and it's an incredible hat. My Akubras alone outnumber that, though.

 

[johnnycanuck]

Can't really vote. I still own more Akubras then anything else (Rabbit fir). But in the last year I have only worn them maybe a dozen times. I always wear my VS hats (work of Art) and my wife seems to like the idea of getting me a new one each year for fathers day / birthday. So I don't really buy any hats right now.

"Which material do you own more of and which do you prefer?"

I own more rabbit but prefer Beaver.

Johnny

 

[Not-Bogart13]

My closet is filled with almost entirely with custom beaver felt hats. I do keep a couple of factory "mystery fur felts" around, an Akubra rabbit felt, and one nutria that is heavenly. But it's no mystery to me that I prefer beaver above all else.

 

[Edward]

Im noncommittal on preferring one over the other. Beaver seems to me to be softer and much more easily hand shaped, making it more 'crushable' in that it'll pop back into shape in the hand. Rabbit, on the other hand, seems to me to be stiffer, requiring more effort to reshape if it gets crushed. That said, the three beaver hats I own (that I know for certain are beaver - well, two certain, one I'm pretty sure...) are all vintage pieces, none newer than very early fifties. Most of my rabbits are modern, so you have to factor in the effects of time....

Buying now, I've not yet been able to justify to myself the cost of a custom. Beautiful hats for certain, but my rabbit Akubras and others are great hats I know I can at least afford to replace if the worst happened.... (nearly did have someone wander off with one of my hats just before Easter one night... long story). Price aside, though, I'd be quite happy with beaver providing I was sure that the animal wasn't killed for its pelt alone. I don't want to open up the 'fur coat debate' all over again; suffice it here to say that I'm happy to wear an animal's skin where that is a by product of the meat industry, necessary culling, etc - an unendangered species where using the skin/fur/hide involves utilising something that would otherwise be wasted. I understand that some beavers are indeed culled, and I'd rather see their fur in a hat than thrown in the bin....

 

[mayserwegener]

My favorite felt is pre WWII Hückel velour which is hare/rabbit. Nothing I have (beaver whatever) comes close to it but of course this is just my opinion.

 

[mayserwegener]

Im noncommittal on preferring one over the other. Beaver seems to me to be softer and much more easily hand shaped, making it more 'crushable' in that it'll pop back into shape in the hand. Rabbit, on the other hand, seems to me to be stiffer, requiring more effort to reshape if it gets crushed. That said, the three beaver hats I own (that I know for certain are beaver - well, two certain, one I'm pretty sure...) are all vintage pieces, none newer than very early fifties. Most of my rabbits are modern, so you have to factor in the effects of time....

Rabbit / hare is no less pliable. As I mentioned pre WWII Hückel velours (very complicated labor intense process) are the finest felt I have come across and they are rabbit / hare. Beaver is more dense / duriable but rabbit / hare can match it on pliability, feel and look (depending on finish surpass beaver).

 

[ScionPI2005]

I own more rabbit fur through the few Akubras I have as well as my vintage collection. The only beaver fur I have is my VS custom.

 

[cptjeff]

All mine are lower end blends or rabbit, except for one that I have no clue on.

 

[Edward]

Rabbit / hare is no less pliable. As I mentioned Hückel velours (very complicated labor intense process) are the finest felt I have come across and they are rabbit / hare. Beaver is more dense / duriable but rabbit / hare can match it on pliability, feel and look (depending on finish surpass beaver).

With my hats then it probably is a case of the beavers being that much older... Good to know, thanks.

 

[Spellflower]

When I first started reading the Lounge, two consensus opinions became apparent:

1. Vintage production hats are far superior to modern production hats.
2. Beaver is far superior to rabbit or hare.

I suspect I'm not alone in combining these two beliefs into the incorrect assumption that most vintage hats are made of beaver, at least in part. After hanging around here for a while longer, I learned that beaver has always been a high-end material, and that even in the Golden Era, it was a luxury item, not the standard.

I only bring it up because it seems like there's still a lot of confusion on the matter, and many people still assume that a nice older felt is beaver when it's just nice old rabbit fur felt.