Project Bumpkin Hat

J

Josh Feltman

Joined
Feb 12, 2001
Messages
4,501
I met a one-armed fellow wearing a most preposterous hat a while back at an antique engine show. The hat looked, for lack of a better term, like the quintessential bumkin hat--a wool felt hat with the band removed, stretched into a slouching, roughly rounded conical shape. For some reason, I really liked the hat, so I asked him where he'd gotten it. He said he'd made it himself by taking the band off a felt bowler and hanging it with a big round stone in the crown in a big pot of boiling water until it assumed the desired shape. I've been on the lookout for a suitable hat for a while, and today I found one at a yard sale for a quarter. I boiled it for quite a while this afternoon with a big round stone hanging in the crown, and it has assumed the desired floppy conical shape. I wish I had a digital camera so that I could take a picture of it. If I find a similar hat online, I'll post a link. Anyway, I love the hat. It's quite comfortable, and just slipping it on lowers my IQ by at least half. My neighbor felt his IQ dropping just from looking at it. Now I just need to find me some overalls to go with it.

--Josh
 
Good job Jethro.:)

We used to get hats that were called felt crusher hats that sound pretty close to what you're talking about.

During deer season they had red and orange ones. Whatever the color, first time it got wet, a bunch of the dye came off.

Color didn't stick to the hat that well, sure stuck to people.
 
Sorry, I don't have a digital camera, and I've been searching everywhere for an image of what I'm talking about. The closest thing I've been able to find is discussions of "hillbilly unshaped hat blanks" and "misshaped slouch hats" on civil war reeneactment boards, but so far no pics. If I find some, I'll post them, or if anyone else knows what I am talking about and can find some pics, please post them. I'm sure in the meantime you can imagine pretty well what it looks like--misshapen with no brim--essentially a big cone or funnel shape with a rounded crown.

--Josh
 
In the Northern Rocky States locals are fond of the Elmer Fudd hats.
I have one but can't pull the image off right.



munk
 
3 or four years ago, my Indiana Jones hat gave up the ghost. 20 years wear wasn't too bad for a wool felt I suppose.

Anyway I got a brown Resistol 4xxxx beaver, had it trimmed down like the Stetson Open Road, ( the one LBJ wore ) and was going to reshape the crown when I learned Resistol was discontinuing brown in the lower price levels. So it stayed a cowboy hat.

Got three black Bailey Tuscarora's with open ( rounded ) crowns. One I had the ribbon edged brim left as was. Still have it. It's my Normal day hat. I gave Pala an identical one - even to the same size fitting both of us, and the third I got one size too small, trimmed the brim, and used it as a wind hat jammed down over my head.

Well a week or two back I grabbed a 5xxxxx Stetson Silverbelly, and finally got around to trimming the dog bites off the brim, and shaping it to open crown. Wore it for a day of two. But I still preferred the fedoras over western hats. So a couple days later I reshaped the crown into an Indiana Jones style, using some spray starch as a thickener. When dried it looked lovely. For $3 bucks and a ittle work.

So the next day I took the black Baily wind hat, shaped it's crown and brim, and stirffened it, and stretched it a tad. It turned out gorgeous. The Silverbelly ( off white ) looked like a beautiful girl in a one-piece bathing suit. The black looks like the same girl witout a swimsuit. Very classy

And finally, I took the brown Resistol, and shaped it according to the pictures on the Indiana Jones website ( www.indygear.com/ ). It didn't turn out as lovely, but what it lost in beauty, it gained in authenticity. It looks more like the hat worn in Raiders than any official hat. Took 4 years and a bit of courage, to cut up and bash $100+ hats, but it paid off with the jackpot.

Anyway, there are dress felts, outdoor felts and western felts.
Some of the outdoor felts look like the dress felt hats with a 1/4 or 1/2 inch wider brim. Those are the kind I feel comfortabe wearing. I've finally got my brown Indy I'd worn for most of the last 20+ years back, but in a thicker, 4xxxx beaver fur felt instead of a cheap wool felt. With a 5xxxxx silverbelly and 4xxxx black that look even better.

PS: Josh , saw somethhing like yours the other day. Will post a link if I find it.
 
A period piece thart I made out of a round crown wide brimmed black felt hat. Invlove cutting two inch radial slits alll around the outside brim, then you wet and tight roll the edges up in curls, then pin in place until dry. Makes the hat rim look kinda serrated, which matched the slashed clothing look of the time among german mercenaries.

Keith
 
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