HOWEVER.
I know full well just by the feel of it that it is not a piece of headgear built to last. Moreover, it was more of a purchase of necessity and for "testing" as the sun hat I had planned to wear that day, had been tossed in the wash by my wife with the result that when I wore it I looked like Carol Burnett doing her "washer woman" character. Those who go hatless on hot summer days in Disneyland know how a hat is needed, and I had wanted to try a fedora for a while. Many many years ago, back when RotLA came out, I had one of those Stetson jobbies and I loved it, but lost it when I left it on a bus. So I wanted to see how I looked in one now, some 27 years later, and how it felt wearing one about.
Well, I love wearing it. And on top of that, most people aren't the kind of obsessive fans we all are, and I receive many a compliment on it. It is actually an OK looking hat and it works on me. But, it is so obviously NOT an Indy hat despite its branding as such. And, you can just feel the kind of rough, cheapish quality of it. But you can, and I do, get away with wearing it pretty much everywhere. It serves a purpose and I got it wicked cheap because my wife, as I have mentioned elsewhere, is a cast member at DL and we get crazy discount prices on everything.
So it is serving a purpose as a temporary lid and more importantly has convinced me to buy a hat of quality.
The hat I really want, of course, is an AB. After that, one of those beautiful beaver Penmans. After that, a Camptown Legend. And after that, an Akubra Fed IV. But I am the father of a 3-year-old, with many a bill to pay and many an old credit card debt from my misspent youth to pay off ( a horror show). In other words, we are pinching pennies around here big time, so an out and out hat purchase ain't gonna happen, at least if I want to father any more children if you catch my drift.
So, sitting on my desk is a tin can that used to have McCann's steel cut oats in it. I sealed it with some Krazy Glue and punched a hole in the lid and every time I have a couple of spare bucks on hand I put them in there. It's my "hat fund." So far I have $30 in there. Saving up for that dream hat. . .
But what is the target sum, I ask myself again and again? I am impatient and want a proper hat very very badly and very very soon (this wool felt one is gonna start shrinking if I sweat in it much more, and if I wear it in the rain I am pretty sure it is gonna become the world's first Indiana Jones yarmulke in about 5 seconds). But I will be saving up for a while, clearly.
But if I save up for months more for a more expensive hat than a Fed IV, in most cases it will take longer still to get the hat (not complaining, oh wonderful hatmaking people, I respect and admire your craft -- it is more my own impatience and eagerness to be behatted that is at fault!)
Whereas a Fed IV can come to me in a matter of days for ~$150 delivered, needing only the bash of my choosing. And no additional costly styling.
But then, I think, a real beaver one would be the just the thing and I am so entranced by those photos of the Penman. It looks like a hat that, if it were a woman, I would marry it. Sure, that's twisted. I know. Sue me.
So, I am a little torn. Obviously an AB is right out, until I sell that big screenplay or win the lottery (two equally likely occurrences, I'm afraid). I suspect once I have enough to order the Akubra I will not be able to wait, and though I am extra sure after researching and reading everyone's thoughts on the Fed IV that I would be delighted with the lid. . . aarrrgh, I just want to know if anyone else has been in the same situation, or if you can imagine yourself in it. What would you do? Would you save up for a longer time, like twice as long probably, and then wait 5 or 6 or 8 times as long for the hat to get to ya? Or would you go for the Fed IV and just forget the swankier options?
(By the way, I posted a Marrakesh notice that if anyone has a 7 7/8 / size 63 hat they are looking to sell, and it's been gently used, I am interested, so PM me. Yes I have a huge coconut, you got a problem with that?
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).I have a 4 year old daughter so I know what you mean about being on a budget 
..why not save for the fed(you won't be dissapointed-I have an AB but I still wear my fed often),you'll have a great hat you can wear THIS year that will get you through the winter no problems,and then as soon as your Fed arrives,straight away, start saving up in your AB tin-you could have that AB on your head christmas next year-this way you will always have something to look forward to!(or drop some major hints that you'd like to have an AB ordered for you this christmas and then you'll be wearing an AB next summer 
