My Henry fought a cat - advice needed

[havershaw]

Yeah. I'm not too thrilled about it.

So, there's a very very shallow slash in the felt. Anyone here know if there's anything I can do about it?
You can't even really see it in certain light...in certain other light, you can definitely see it.
I was wondering if there was maybe some very fine grit sandpaper or something I could use?
And yeah...it's totally in the front of the crown. Middle of the left bash, running perpendicular to the ribbon.
Maybe John or someone could repounce it? It is very shallow. But that's one of the few really pristine hats I own.

What's weird is that this cat sleeps in my office at night...an office which has 5-6 fur felt fedoras sitting out. He's never touched any of my hats, so I've never really had a reason to worry. I was only home for lunch for an hour!

[jlee562]

Hard to say without a picture. If you have a hat brush, I would try that first. The next step is a hat sponge. If neither of those work, I would go to sandpaper.

[Chewbacca Jones]

I second all of that.

[Indiana Jeff]

And studies show pet ownership is supposed to reduce stress and improve blood pressure.

Sorry to hear about the damage. I recommed sending a picture or two to one of the resident hatters and seek their advice.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Ridgerunner58]

This is not limited to just hats. (which I have collected since age 8 - nearly half a century (but I don't usually admit that even to myself).)

I have found that when something gets a minor cosmetic blemish, like a scratch, trying to fix it only makes it worse. This is true with felt, wood, wood veneers, chrome, paint almost anything that isn't alive and can't heal itself.

If you think about it, the scratch is a thin area where material is missing or has been torn and moved aside. It is obvious to the eye (and fingertip) because it has defined edges Most things we would try to "even it out" do so by removing the edges making a wider area where material is removed. In order to even out the area more, you will remove even more material. Being human, you will probably keep working at it until you really mess it up. In the process you'll weaken the felt more that it has already been weakened and may end up ruining it altogether.

My best advice - brush the area with a hat brush. Maybe mist it with water and brush the broken fibers or smooth them with your fingers to try to spread them over the scratch. Over time and with wear the damage will naturally soften - AND you will get used to it being like that.

If it still bothers you and you don't like the story about your hat losing a one-on-one fight with your cat, - make up a better story about how you caught movement out of the corner of your eye and ducked just in time to narrowly avoid getting mauled by a 9' Bengal Tiger.

[havershaw]

Bengal tiger - I like it.

Don't get me wrong, I have tons of hats with a ton of..."character." This is one of the only hats I had that was completely pristine, and ironically, earlier in the day, I was thinking to myself that I was glad to have ONE hat that was supper classy and dressy-looking.

Yeah, I was pretty concerned about doing anything myself, for precisely the reasons Ridgerunner58 mentioned.

I'll snap a pic of it tomorrow and post it. Thanks for everyone's advice.