Felt Stiffness in the Old Movies

lpa53 · Post by **lpa53** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:05 pm

This weekend I watched several late 30s-40s movies, including "Meet John Doe" with Gary Cooper, and in light of the approaching receipt of my first hats, I especially watched the hats.

One thing I noticed was how flexible and downright "floppy" they were. I swear the wearer would grab the hat by the side brim and it would practially roll up in his hand.

Then yesterday I received my Fed IV (may have to return or exchange - too big!) and noticed how stiff it is. The brims really snap and seem prone to stay turned upwards. More like a cowboy hat than I expected.

Is this pretty normal?

Were the screen hats in those mid-century movies made of very light material for the sake of expense, or were those hats of an entirely different material than the felts I will see in modern offerings from Akubra, Keppler, AB, and others?

Indiana Strones · Post by **Indiana Strones** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:33 pm

Well, Fed IV is a particularly stiff hat, out of the box. My Fed III was a lot more soft, and my brand new AB Henry is very soft and pliable compared to Fed 4.

lpa53 · Post by **lpa53** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 2:59 pm

Indiana Strones wrote:Well, Fed IV is a particularly stiff hat, out of the box. My Fed III was a lot more soft, and my brand new AB Henry is very soft and pliable compared to Fed 4.

I wonder if another dealer has a carbon gray. Or maybe I'll have to go for a light gray, which seems more widely available.

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:16 pm

lpa53, the floppiness of a hat has a lot to do with the amount of stiffener in the felt. The more you wear and break in a hat, the more you loosen the stiffener. Case in point, the Federations arrive fairly stiff, but my FedIV loosened up quite nicely after a couple weeks of breaking it in. It's much floppier now. ;-)

Indiana Strones · Post by **Indiana Strones** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 4:45 pm

binkmeisterRick wrote:lpa53, the floppiness of a hat has a lot to do with the amount of stiffener in the felt. The more you wear and break in a hat, the more you loosen the stiffener. Case in point, the Federations arrive fairly stiff, but my FedIV loosened up quite nicely after a couple weeks of breaking it in. It's much floppier now. ;-)

Yes, you're very right Bink.

darthbish · Post by **darthbish** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:35 pm

WOWWW, this is weird, as I was going to ask a VERY similar question.

I was watching KotCS last night, and in the scene were Indy gets taken out of the carboot and picks up his hat, the felt seems quite soft and "floppy" as he grabs it.
I was going to ask if this is a trait of AB's??...as my Fed IV seems way firmer/stiffer, but it appears from the comments above that this is the case.

JeffB · Post by **JeffB** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 9:13 pm

I picked up a vintage (early 40's) Dobbs earlier this year and it is extremely soft. For the most part it holds its shape, but it is quite easy to modify. I'm sure some of it has to do with it being 70 years old, but I am pretty sure the hats of the day were made with less stiffener.

Marcus Brody · Post by **Marcus Brody** » Wed Oct 08, 2008 10:52 pm

Old hats definitely ran the gamut of stiffness. I have several vintage hats and some are buttery soft while some come closer to the Federation's stiffness.

The Federation's stiffness however is part of it's durability. Because it's made by Akubra it's more like a cowboy hat, and it's the same deal with the PB hats. However, as noted above, eventually it will become softer as it's broken in.

lpa53 · Post by **lpa53** » Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:15 am

Thanks for the help guys. I'm feeling better about this after reading the replies.

Felt Stiffness in the Old Movies

Felt Stiffness in the Old Movies

Non-Fed Carbon Gray?

Feeling Better ...