New ###### from Vintage Felt

[myronw]

Hi Guys,

I found a nice surprise when I got home from work last night... The new hat I wasn't expecting for another day or two arrived. I don't know if any of you recall the Vintage Felt bodies that Fedora posted about a while back. He blocked two of them out on his Indiana Jones block and posted pictures of them. He also talked about how much stronger and harder it was to pull apart the scraps from those bodies. I guess he was talking on the phone and tugging on them without really thinking...

Anyway, Charlie (The ######) was the one who first drew my attention to the Vintage bodies by mentioning them on the Sterling Beaver Saloon forum. I thought it might be really neat to own a brand new 75 year old hat, so I asked him to let me know when and if he actually got them. When he did get his samples, he said that they were very high quality and that they were definitely the real thing. The old felt was treated with Mercury to make the felt stick together tighter.

Unbeknowns to me, Charlie decided to put one of the bodies on a block to see how it would finish out. At about the same time, I mentioned to him how much I liked the Bone colored hat on a guys avatar on another forum, and Charlie told me that the body he had on the block was that color! And it was being blocked to my size, so I could buy it if I wanted it! Needless to say, I've been on pins and needles every since.

Now that the hat is here, I can honestly say that it is even nicer than I thought it would be! It is just a beautiful hat; but I didn't expect anything less from Charlie.

How does the Vintage felt compare to modern? Well, as you know it is difficult to compare apples and oranges, but the vintage felt is really nice. I bought a vintage Dobbs fedora a while back to see what all the fuss about vintage felt was about, and this new hat has a very similar feel to it. It has a different texture than modern felt, and about the only way I can think to describe it is to ask if you've ever felt a brand new Chamois. It has almost that kind of a texture, as compared to the velvety, butter soft texture of the Sterling Beaver my other hats are made of.

The Vintage felt is also a little thinner and the brim is "floppier", if there is such a word. It doesn't have quite the body of the Sterling Beaver, but it looks like it will hold the block well.

I guess the only down side might be the price. Since there are only about 300 of the bodies left in existence, and due to the fact that there will probably never be another group of them show up, the hatters have to pay considerably more for them. And they have to pass the cost along to us, the customers. Is it worth the extra money to have something that nobody could have dreamed would be possible to own? Is having a brand new 75 year old hat worth it? Only you can make that decision; but I will say one more time that it is a beautiful hat!

Keep smiling,

Myron

http://www.######.com/forumpix/mw/bnbowsd.jpg
http://www.######.com/forumpix/mw/bnbowsd2.jpg
http://www.######.com/forumpix/mw/bnfrt.jpg
http://www.######.com/forumpix/mw/bntop.jpg

[Michaelson]

She's a pretty thing. Looks just like my custom, made for me by Art Fawcett. Regards. Michaelson