Club Obi Wan

Ok this may be an odd topic, but if anyone can offer advice it would be most appreciated.

I do a lot of camping / hiking / travelling etc with my hat - in fact in a few weeks going off into the wilderness.

Now sometimes it just not convenient to have a hat on your head - its too windy, or you are in a confined space and it gets in the way on your head, etc...

So I am looking for a way that I can temporarily attach it to my backpack. My thoughts were to make some kind of hole in the sweat band and through that something could be threaded through. But does anyone have any better advice? What to use? How to make it as secure as possible whilst also allowing it to be easily dettached again?

Thanks!!

Ken

i think you'll run the risk of tearing your sweatband off if you snag your hat on a tree or something.

if i needed to do that, i'd ensure that the stitching is reinforced on the sweat, and then sew on a loop into the leather ensuring that the loop lies flush to the upper part of the hat against the liner.....could work i guess.

Hello Ken.
Fine quality hats have a little "cord" around the crown like this one:


I used to think that it was just an adornment or something but my hat-maker call them "hilo de viento" (cord of wind), the way you use it is take the cord out of the crown and getting it iside of the eyelet in the lapel of your coat. In that way when the wind take your hat, you don't have to be running behind your hat avoiding getting hit by a car!

In your particular case you could put one of these in your hat attach it in your adventurer clothes and it would look very nice in your hat and you won't ruin your sweat band besides it's very easy to put and practical (IMO).

Regards,
-Alfonso

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the advice

The thing is whatever I do is going to have to be DIY as I am out here in China at the minute so not too many Fedora shops around.

The cord of the wind does look practical but I dont think I like the idea of a little button on the ribbon of my AB. So I think I need to go with something to the sweatband.

Indiana G:

What material do you think the loop should be made from?

Ken

Well if you put the little button covered with the same material and color of the ribbon (like the picture above) it won't look bad at all and it only needs a few stitchings (the width of the cord) that you could put underneath the ribbon and if you dont like it you can remove it. The great 2 advantages I see here are:
1.- You don't have to modify the leather band.
2.- You're wearing the hat at all times, if you put it in your backpack the hat could fall without noticing it.

Just my humble opinion ;-)

-Alfonso

Ken wrote:Thanks for the advice

The thing is whatever I do is going to have to be DIY as I am out here in China at the minute so not too many Fedora shops around.

The cord of the wind does look practical but I dont think I like the idea of a little button on the ribbon of my AB. So I think I need to go with something to the sweatband.

Indiana G:

What material do you think the loop should be made from?

Ken

i don't know......i'm making it up as i go along....... ;-)

i'm thinking something like an athletic shoelace material....something woven/braided would be my guess......or kind of like the material they use on straps that are on today's hi-tech backpacks.....you don't need that big of a loop.....just something you can clip a carabeener (sp?) to, right?

i thought leather at first.....not good to put into tension when it gets wet via sweat/rain/or what have you.

oh forgot to mention.....alfonso, that things cool. i always wondered what those are. could you post a pic of it unwoven in your other thread? just wanted to see how it functions

Indiana G wrote:oh forgot to mention.....alfonso, that things cool. i always wondered what those are. could you post a pic of it unwoven in your other thread? just wanted to see how it functions

I'll do that my friend! ;-)
NOTE: I'll put it in the "How I got a limited edition hat".

Regards,
-Alfonso

Indiana G wrote:just something you can clip a carabeener (sp?) to, right?

Exactly my thoughts

I don't know it such a thing is available where your at Ken, but there are some chin straps at our local western wear store that you attatch with cotter pins. You slide the pins between the stitching on the sweat and then fold them back, holding the strap in place. You can then tuck the strap into the crown if you don't want it to show, and use it to tie off on your pack when you need to. The great thing about this is when you get back from your pack trip and want to remove the strap, just pinch the pins together and pull them out. It will do no damage to the hat, in fact, you will never notice anything was ever there at all.

You can make one of these easily yourself with a trip to the hardware store.

Weston

Akubra does something similar with some of their hats where they end up having internal clips your a chin strap between the sweat and hat.

Just some advice from one who knows....don't trust the wind trolley's of the newer hats. They're mainly there for show. Borsalino puts them on their better hats, and you'll find them on the PB 'Michaelson' version. When I received mine, I was demonstrating to my wife how it works by holding the end of the button in my hand, then dropping the hat, as if bown off by the wind.

The hat immediately hit the floor, leaving me holding the detached elastic band and button in my hand. My wife was not the least bit impressed, needless to say.

On examination, I found that they only put a dab of glue at the end of the trolley where it attaches to the hat. So, though the ORIGINAL trolley's on the OLD hats were made to stop your hat in a wind storm, the current crop are only there for show, so be advised.

Regards! Michaelson

That's good to know Michaelson! I'll check my hats and if one of them is glued I'll stitch em'.

Regards,
-Alfonso

sticky velcro to the back of the brim and backpack?

I would go to a home center and buy a little pony clamp....(spring clamp) usually they have either orange or red rubber coating on the handles and tips. Drill a hole in one side of the handle of the clamp, lash it to a zipper or with a carabener to your back pack....open the clamp and attach to the brim. It will be strong enough to not let the hat fall off even if it hangs up on a branch.....and the clamp should not do any damage to the brim since it is rubber coated.

I think you can get these for only a few dollars....and they make them small....really small...It would probably work perfect!

When you guys mentioned the sweatband, my first thought was of an actual sweatband that you'd wear around your head, rather than the sweatband that's built into and part of a hat. But then... That just may work.

If you got a regular sweatband, the kind made out of elastic and terry cloth that you’d use to catch sweat that drips off your forehead and tie a leather bootlace around the two opposite ends of the circle (the circle of the sweatband), and then slip the sweatband around the outside of the crown of the hat, down over the ribbon and then tie either end of the bootlace to your backpack... It should stay put, as long as the brim of the hat sits flat against your backpack.

Does this make sense?

You could even use those rounded cord black elastic “string” that you may even have on your backpack already… They’re kinda’ like the garment version of a bungee cord and you can lengths of it at the fabric store by the yard. Use that instead of the bootlace too, so that it holds REALLY tight against your backpack.

It’s kind of jerry rigging it, but where you are right now, you might not have a lot of choices.

Fine quality hats have a little "cord" around the crown like this one:

Actually the wind trolley came on the economy versions as well, a long time ago. It was not just on the finer hats.

Ken, you could insert a cut off paper clip, bent on both ends between the sweat and the felt. Then tie a strong piece of nylon thread to it and fasten the other end to your backpack, or whatever you can. If you put one on both sides you would have the makings for a chin strap, but a loose one like the old cowpokes used.

You can push the clip up against the sweat so it would not show, once you tied your strong thread, or small cord to it. A piece of 20 pound fishing line would work. Very small, and very strong. Fedora

Fedora

This sounds really interesting but forgive my feeble brain. I dont quite follow exactly what you mean. But since it sounds secure, hidden and simple to make it could be the ideal solution!

Ken

You could try something like this?

Very interesting... I've gone on many a hike and had to just carry my hat. I always wondered if there was a "better way" but it wasn't until I went hiking with my youngest son that I actually solved this mystery.

I'm sure we've all seen movies with the great white hunter who had a gun bearer, carrying his rifle. Well, I offered my son a buck to either wear my hat, or carry it. I had to up it to two dollars, but then we were in business and I was able to mark this one as CASE CLOSED!

Well, I offered my son a buck to either wear my hat, or carry it

Well Indy did have Short Round to carry his stuff

Misfit, that looks as though it would be ideal, I would maybe put something between the clip and the hat though so as not to mark the brim.

Scott

MisFit

In the end your idea was the simplest and most sucessful for me. I found one of those clips in the shop around the corner from me and was surprised by how rigid they grip! Much more secure than I would have thought.

The only modification I made was to clip it onto the sweatband rather than onto the brim itself - that way no damage to the felt but still secures it in place just as well. I guess this could result in some mishaping of the back of the brim (it would fold up slightly against the bag) but considering I've slept in this hat before I am not too concerned.

Thanks everyone who gave advice! For now its sorted and I am, literally, a very happy camper! First proper field test next week in the Himilayan foot hills.

Ken

Sweet! Be sure to take lots of pictures!

Ken wrote:Ok this may be an odd topic, but if anyone can offer advice it would be most appreciated.

I do a lot of camping / hiking / travelling etc with my hat - in fact in a few weeks going off into the wilderness.

Now sometimes it just not convenient to have a hat on your head - its too windy, or you are in a confined space and it gets in the way on your head, etc...

So I am looking for a way that I can temporarily attach it to my backpack. My thoughts were to make some kind of hole in the sweat band and through that something could be threaded through. But does anyone have any better advice? What to use? How to make it as secure as possible whilst also allowing it to be easily dettached again?

Thanks!!

Ken

I understand and know your problem exactly, Ken! Oh yes, how many times was I looking for a good solution. Unfortunately, the best i could come up with until now was this ...



... which might be a proper way to keep the hat on while climbing, but it sure destroys the "cool adventurer" look. ;-)

Guess, this wasn't very helpful, was it? Sorry ...

Jens wrote:

Ken wrote:Ok this may be an odd topic, but if anyone can offer advice it would be most appreciated.

I do a lot of camping / hiking / travelling etc with my hat - in fact in a few weeks going off into the wilderness.

Now sometimes it just not convenient to have a hat on your head - its too windy, or you are in a confined space and it gets in the way on your head, etc...

So I am looking for a way that I can temporarily attach it to my backpack. My thoughts were to make some kind of hole in the sweat band and through that something could be threaded through. But does anyone have any better advice? What to use? How to make it as secure as possible whilst also allowing it to be easily dettached again?

Thanks!!

Ken

I understand and know your problem exactly, Ken! Oh yes, how many times was I looking for a good solution. Unfortunately, the best i could come up with until now was this ...



... which might be a proper way to keep the hat on while climbing, but it sure destroys the "cool adventurer" look. ;-)

Guess, this wasn't very helpful, was it? Sorry ...

No, but the picture made me smile

I've become accustomed to either tilting my head forward or back to suit the wind direction.. now it's the cross winds that confuse me.. ;-)

Randy