What colour fedora?

[hatophile]

Wow, nice hats Nik, thanks for the comparison.

 

[bowlerman]

That is a perfect and illustrative comparison! The great thing about silver belly, though, is that is takes on both warm and cool tones along with whatever you're wearing. I can't think of a color silver belly wouldn't look nice with, honestly.

 

[job]

My Akubra Campdraft in silverbelly is a very light khaki. My FP Winchester felt custom in silverbelly is a very, very light grey.
I would ask the hatter what the silverbelly looks like that he has on hand. There could always be differences in each batch made.

 

[jlee562]

Indeed, so many minor variations in silverbelly.

Two Stetsons, a 3x OR and a Stetson 100

 

[gtdean48]

Remember silverbelly, like the 3X, is a dye to replicate beaver belly fur felt but a 100 is undyed pure beaver fur felt, not claimed to be pure belly fur felt though.... subtle but key difference....7X CB & 100 are undyed pure beaver fur felt but not pure beaver belly fur felt.....

Indeed, so many minor variations in silverbelly.

Two Stetsons, a 3x OR and a Stetson 100

 

[Rabbit]

That is a perfect and illustrative comparison! The great thing about silver belly, though, is that is takes on both warm and cool tones along with whatever you're wearing. I can't think of a color silver belly wouldn't look nice with, honestly.

I couldn't agree more. The Winchester Silverbelly is an especially versatile color. Among my Winchester felts, the only dye that beats Silverbelly in terms of versatility is Art's signature color Dove, partly because it's not quite as light a color as the Silverbelly.

Most of the vintage production felts dyed in what the manufacturer called Silverbelly were a warmer shade; the Winchester Silverbelly is closer to a neutral gray (although still on the warm side) and lighter than, for instance, most of the various Silverbelly felts of Stetson or Resistol.

You definitely have to make the distinction between the Winchester Silverbelly, the various shades of Silverbelly in vintage hats, and the undyed true beaver belly felts.

 

[memphislawyer]

I guess it is the same Silverbelly that Buckaroo has access to? I had ordered the dark grey in a Bailey hat and when compared to the Caribou Stetson, it looks more to the taupe side of grey and the Bailey dark grey appears blueish, a steel color. Don't know that it makes much of a difference going to a light hat as I dont need a darker grey. This hat is going to be a casual hat, no suits, and as much of a multi occassion hat as I can find. I dont know if it matters between leaning to a warm side or a cool side, and my favorite color is blue. Thinking of going to a lighter smoke grey ribbon treatment, and Mike is going to try to find a ribbon to match the color of the hat in to trim it, and thinking of using that same color on the brim in the ribbon treatment where there is a slight vertical line in the knot.

Also, a favor if anyone can help. I am trying to find a picture, or pictures, of a silver belly and/or silver mist that has the grey ribbon treatment. I am thinking that to make the hat more versatile, using more of a complimentary color ribbon rather than a contrast would make sense. I have picked out a royal blue ribbon and then for the vertical line on the holder and in the middle of the arrow (hope that makes sense, it is more like an arrow treatment than a bow) I have a lighter blue/grey ribbon. I saw one in some thread and can't seem to find it and want to copy it and send it to Mike to see what he thinks. I am stepping out into a light color hat as usually my wife says light colors and browns wash me out, so I tend to have dark grey and navy blue suits, and sweaters the same way. However, some of you men in the light color hats look so at home. Thanks

Edit: Mike sent me an email, he has already started blocking it. He has a neat video on his website I watched. Anyway, the silverbelly tends to blue and not taupe which is what I would prefer so we are good to go. Now just the ribbon treatment, and I am having thoughts about a complimentary treatment, some sort of lighter grey with a bit of contrast in it to match the brim ribbon, so pics would help me.

 

[jlee562]

Remember silverbelly, like the 3X, is a dye to replicate beaver belly fur felt but a 100 is undyed pure beaver fur felt, not claimed to be pure belly fur felt though.... subtle but key difference....7X CB & 100 are undyed pure beaver fur felt but not pure beaver belly fur felt.....

Never forgot it in the first place.

But, if silverbelly is so named because of the color of the fur from the beaver's belly, then does it not stand to reason that an undyed 'silverbelly' is beaver belly fur?

Because if other fur has to be dyed to a 'silverbelly' color because it was not that way naturally; if the felt is an undyed silverbelly, I don't see how it was not dyed unless all the fur came from the belly where it is naturally colored that way.

Perhaps a hatter can fill in the gaps?

 

[danofarlington]

I've got a 1952 7x clear beaver Stetson Open Road, presumably undyed, and the color is a little more tan than my other Stetsons. I have Stetson 25 Open Road that has a grayish tinge; a more modern Open Road which is whiter; and a vintage Royal Deluxe Open Road that by now is a beaten and dirty yellow of undetermined original color.

 

[gtdean48]

I have never read a claim that a 100 or 7x CB by Stetson was undyed pure beaver belly fur felt but have read that it was undyed pure beaver fur. I have seen catalogs call it silver belly color. Natural undyed beaver fur felt is a tanner color than pure beaver belly fur felt from examples at Winchester.

 

[TheGreyPiper]

I have an over coat that is actually a very-nice looking Italian Army surplus, which is a sort of olive/forest green -- darker than yours appears in the pic, but not dark-dark. I've been wearing this brown crushable from Stacy Adams with it:

http://1handsomehat.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=106&=SID

But I would say another of the brown/chocolate colors would set it off nicely.

 

[NeilA]

I am in a bit of the same situation as the OP here.
I have this suit: http://www.menswearhouse.com/shop/p...751_700193708_-1_700000935_____noSpecialSizes
Black Shoes
Black Belt
This tie: http://www.menswearhouse.com/shop/p...751_700172409_-1_700000441_____noSpecialSizes
A grey-green ****

I am leaning to a grey hat, but I am more concerned for style of hat than color. Does hat style even matter when putting things together?

Thanks,

Neil

 

[danofarlington]

The easy news is that yes, it matters a lot. Generally you should stick with a "men's dress hat" of some kind. The difficult news is that it's often hard to say what style goes with what suit/sportcoat/overcoat/shirt until you actually put them on together. I have about 20 hats and a number of suits/sportcoats/coats, and I am constantly amazed at how some of them go together well, and others absolutely don't go together. There was no way for me to know the answer beforehand, without both hat and coat on, in front of the mirror. Absolutely no way. Trial and error is what you're back to. A good number of my "men's dress hats" just don't go with a particular suit, even if the colors would be compatible.

 

[NeilA]

Well, that sure makes for a hard purchase, the hat in my avitar was eaten by a dog while I was in bootcamp, and now I am hatless. I need a new fadora, and now that I am getting a good suit, I thought I would get one that goes well with it. I was thinking a Silvermist fedora, but thats about as far as I can get,

 

[Dannny Boy]

Does anyone know if any hatters make an undyed beaver belly fur hat other than Optimo?

 

[gtdean48]

Some serious coin...

http://www.butchdorerhats.com/SilverBeaver1.html

 

[jlee562]

Does anyone know if any hatters make an undyed beaver belly fur hat other than Optimo?

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but the thing is that there's only a limited number of sources for hat bodies if you're a hatter. And basically it's Winchester, unless you're Hatco or Dorfman Pacific - neither of which is in the market to produce an undyed silverbelly. Fepsa in Portugal also makes blanks, so you might want to check with Falcon Park, but honestly, I don't think you'll find a source for undyed silverbelly that isn't Optimo. The process is just too expensive and the market for it is just too small.

 

[Dannny Boy]

Some serious coin...

http://www.butchdorerhats.com/SilverBeaver1.html

Wow!
That is serious cabbage.

 

[gtdean48]

... The process is just too expensive and the market for it is just too small.

To enforce Jared's point, from Western Horseman article about Butch Dorer = "You can get enough fur from a beaver to make 10 or 12 hats but for our silver beaver hat, we’ll use just a narrow strip of belly fur from maybe eight or nine pelts.”

Not sure I buy the 10 to 12 hats from 1 beaver pelt statement....

 

[gtdean48]

This guy has a different perspective = Hat Doctor hats consist of 100% pure beaver belly hair which is why they are not rated in “X”, meaning they are not a blended fur felt. Each hat body consists of 47 beaver belly pelts.

Thought all of the hair was sorted out so only the fur was left...

http://www.hatdoctor.com/create.html