What's the best method to fix or hide this?

[The Wingnut]

Don't have the hat yet, but I figured I'd start my research early. Open to all suggestions, but I prefer to do it myself and with tools / materials I have 'round the home.

 

[MattJH]

I'm interested in knowing as well. I know you can sand them out, but I don't know the procedure.

 

[Snrbfshn]

One thing to try...

I rough up divots using a needle. I pick very carefully around the edges and inside the divot. It fluffs up the nap a bit and conceals it.

I've not tried it, but there have been posts here about sanding or pouncing some of the nap off, mixing it with Elmer's glue and filling the divots with it.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I do not know about using glue, seems to me that would create a hard spot. I have gone the sandpaper route before with varying degrees of success. 320 grit and do not take much off or you may get down to the core. If that happens, you have gone to far, and may not be able to recover from it.

 

[DOUGLAS]

Before you try to fix the nips see how visable they are after you have put your own bash and style into it.

 

[tonyb]

Douglas has it right, I think. That looks like a very closeup photo. Curious to know how conspicuous those divots are when viewed with the naked eye. A few hats I've picked up here and there over the years had such subtle bug damage that I hadn't initially noticed it or, in some cases, not until I set to sell the hats and gave 'em a close going-over so as to describe them as accurately as I could.
Gotta like Snrbfshn's needle suggestion. I happened to attend a social gathering a few months back where the women busied themselves "felting." I'd never seen it done before, but now I can report that it involves needles. I would think that with patience and practice and the right needle (my dewy-eyed bride happens to have a few) a person could make moth divots in hat felt considerably less noticeable. Not that I've tried it myself. One of these days. Maybe. On a beater.

 

[The Wingnut]

Good idea. Of course I'll try different bashes or leave it as is...just depends on how obvious the damage is. The needle idea sounds like the least drastic so far.

 

[DOUGLAS]

You will be able to see them. They are much smaller than the photo shows but none the less visable. A different style may minimize their location on top of the crown.

 

[fedoralover]

Apply the 20/20 rule---- at 20 feet away traveling 20 miles an hour nobody will see a thing. I have a very high end fedora, a Cavanagh 100 from the mid 50s, on the underside of the brim there are some slight divots. When I wear that hat nobody knows they are there but me.

fedoralover

 

[jimmy the lid]

I'm with Douglas and Snrbfshn on this one. A re-bash may minimize the need to do anything at all. In the event that work still needs to be done, however, I have had very good results applying a little bit of light steam and then working the divot with a needle from the outside in. You can rough up the center of the divot a bit, and then essentially use the needle to push the surrounding material into the divot. Very often the result will be to hide the divot completely, or at least to minimize the impact so that it is virtually invisible to all but the most microscopic inspection. Good luck!

Cheers,
JTL

 

[dhermann1]

I got lucky

My first Fedora, which I got in Manhattan about 4 years ago, had several moth divots when I looked at it. It was a Stetson Chatham, and the store owner was asking $70. Knowing nothing about hats, but knowing all too much about moth damage, I asked him if it would be difficult to get those little marks out. He looked at it, sort of muttered under his breath, and said I could have it for $22. DEAL! This was the hat that I LEFT IN A TAXI ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO!!! Still kicking myself. But I just went to Bencraft Hatters, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (just another name for heaven), TODAY, and got a nice Stetson Vintage. I'm very happy.

 

[tonyb]

I just went to Bencraft Hatters, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (just another name for heaven), TODAY, and got a nice Stetson Vintage. I'm very happy.

I'm venturing a bit off topic here, but I gotta ask: Is "Stetson Vintage" a hat model offered by Stetson? And, if it is, what sort of hat is it?
If Stetson is indeed making a hat that more resembles "vintage" styles, well, that would be good news.

 

[dhermann1]

Stetson Vintage

Check the Bencraft Hatters website, it's there. It's a pretty standard fedora, with a neat looking thin leather band, instead of cloth. I was sort of torn, wanting a totally traditional hat, but this felt right. I suspect I'll be acquiring a few more chapeaus as time goes by. Actually, I also bought a nice tweed newsboy cap made by Donegal at the same place. My hat collection is somewhat eclectic. I have a black top hat (not silk), a British Indian style topee (pith helmet), and a WWII civil defense steel helmet, the old WWI style. It sits a little above your skull, and since it's heavy steel, when you talk you hear a distinct echo. Needless to say, I don't have as many opportunities as I'd like to wear all of them. I did get to wear the top hat when I played Mayor Schinn in Music Man last spring. Oh, yes, I also have slightly worn Montecristi Panama. I had a narrow Wm Powell style moustache for a while year before last (for a couple of acting roles) and with the stash and the Panama, people were coming up to me and speaking to me in Spanish. I hated to disappoint them.