Phoenix Hat Company

Anticipation:



Gulp!

 

Rick’s a gentleman and an all-around great guy. His hats are exceptional for quality and value. I don’t think he’s taking on my projects/hats at the moment, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

Rick said he thinned this 100% nutria felt to half it’s original thickness while trying to get it to have properties more like the vintage western felt we prefer. I’m soooo excited to feel this felt and dig my fingers into the crown!




Ribbon and matching brim binding.

 

For sure! It’s going to have a modest 3 1/4” brim so it should be a very versatile hat.

 

My latest Phoenix! 3 1/4” raw edge brim and 6” open crown. This is a Sunrise 100% nutria 220g western felt in pewter.

I asked Rick to pounce this felt thin. I wanted to see if I could end up with something similar to vintage western beaver felt. Rick did his usual outstanding job. However, this felt just didn’t have what it’s takes to duplicate the vintage qualities I was after. It’s fairly thin and wonderfully smooth with a truly an outstanding hand, but the limitations of the felt could not be completely overcome. It’s certainly not claylike and copious amounts of steam was required to shape it. It’s very much a modern western weight felt...bummer. It’s at least as good, if not better, as any of the Winchester 100% beaver westerns I’ve seen, but it’s nowhere near vintage.

Rick also ran into a mottling problem as he pounced it to approximately half its original thickness. The mottling doesn’t bother me and is only really visible in in certain lighting and angles of view. If I had been content with a stiff western there wouldn’t have been any mottling, but I kept encouraging Rick to take it farther to see if he could make a silk purse out of a modern sow’s ear. The problem isn’t the hatter or the skills or the tools: this modern felt is like Winchester’s beaver in that you just can’t get there from here.

The hat is going to see plenty of use and won’t require any delicate handling. I think Rick wrongly sees this as a failure on his part, but I’m the one who insisted on pushing the limits. The build quality is excellent, and the felt’s shortcomings are not Rick’s fault.

The 1 1/2” wide prairie rattlesnake snakeskin band from WyomingWildbyJen via Etsy. Jen is great to work with and the pricing is more than fair.




Thank you, Rick!