Club Obi Wan

[Ok, I know everyone's gonna tell me to search. But I've spent a good amount of time in searching this and really got no place slow]

But, where can an individual get QUALITY hat bodies? I know about hatsupply.com but am wanting to know where else to look.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Randy

Randy,
i asked this very question a while ago. only got a couple of responses. But look into Winchester. they are used by most of the big guns around here. if you search for them on google you can find a phone number. i am under the impression that they don't really want to sell to the average joe, you know the non-pro hat maker. though i think they may if you talk to the right person. i've been meaning to give them a call for some time now but i just haven't gotten around to it.

-Rich.

I found Winchester in my search but I never actually read if they were the one everyone used or not. I'll try calling Monday.

Randy

theinterchange wrote:I found Winchester in my search but I never actually read if they were the one everyone used or not. I'll try calling Monday.

Randy

the search function is the only real downside to this place, in that, there is so much info thrown at you when you run a search that you can spend hours scrolling through old posts and miss the info you are looking for.

Winchester is definitely what you're looking for though. Let me know how that phone call goes.

It's just that the searches are usually ambiguous enough to throw everything in the book at you.

Will do, I'm curious myself.

Randy

Winchester is the way to go. I ordered 2 beaver hat bodies from them in the fall. They sounded a little hesitant at first, but I told them that I was just doing this as a hobby and after a little convincing, they sold them to me. Their phone # is 931-967-0686. The beaver was $55.50. Hope this helps.

Hatsdirect is another option, they have rabbit bodies, I think and for a first time hat maker it might be better to go with a cheaper option to learn on. I was told that when I considered making my own hat. I 'm still deciding,but havn't had time. Good luck and look foreward to seeing how it comes out.

You really need to make sure you use the "search all terms" function.
That usually brings the returns a bit more in check.

Besides, you use a search in a place like this for "hat body" what would you expect to get for search returns???

I did the search all terms for hat felt supplier, and several other options.. I found some threads but they were never very clear on what I was looking for. It seems that many people excell at giving non answers which are open for interpretation..

Randy

jacksdad wrote:Hatsdirect is another option, they have rabbit bodies, I think and for a first time hat maker it might be better to go with a cheaper option to learn on. I was told that when I considered making my own hat. I 'm still deciding,but havn't had time. Good luck and look foreward to seeing how it comes out.

That sounds good.
Can´t see it on their site, do you just ask them if they would sell you a rabbit hat body?

I'm dumb,it's hatsupply.com and look under mens dress hats and it gives hat bodies and western bodies sorry about that.

Greg from winchester told me that he would no longer sell to non hatters.

Also, the price posted is for a stock body. What I buy is more than twice that amount. I have them run me oversized bodies, and you have to buy a minimum in order for them to do it. They come with 6 inch crowns and 4 inch brims. Nothing wrong with the stock bodies though, but they only will make a 5 inch tall hat, open crown, and if you stretch them out beyond that, they will just shrink back to 5 eventually. Marc gets oversized bodies as well. I have to then pounce mine thinner as more fur is used in an oversized body. More work involved, but we try to use the best in our hats, and that includes getting a larger body so we can get a true 5 1/2 crown, and even a 6 when called for. The only way to get a 5 1/2 crown from a stock body is to use a very tapered block, and if you use a fuller Raiders block, you really have to stretch out the top of the hat to pull it off. What is stretched, will shrink to what it is comfortable at being, over time. So, start with the right height raw body to begin with. But, it will cost you twice as much to do so.

If I guy wants a hat that is a small size, say a 6 1/2 to a 7, I use the regular large stock body(supposed to be used for a 7 1/2 to 7 5/8 hat size) for these small sizes as an oversized body is just too big. But other than that, my hats start with an oversized body with a 6 inch crown. And I get an extra run through the felting machine but it costs more to do so, and you gotta order alot at one time to even get them to do it. Fedora

So, do you have any suggestions of where to look then? And, thanks for chiming in Fedora!

Randy

Fedora, is that the price you pay for the beaver bodies?

what if a few of us went in on an order of the over-sized bodies? Do you think they'd let us put in an order? i'd be willing to chip in if they let us buy them.

That wouldn't be a bad idea. I'd order a couple myself.

Randy

Hi!

There is a supplier in the UK called Mc Culloch and Wallis
The link is here : http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk

I have to admit that finding a capeline is not that easy

There is that place too : http://www.judithm.com/

Another one... but he lives 5 minutes from my place and does not have a site.

Regards,

Nicolas

WalkingEye wrote:Fedora, is that the price you pay for the beaver bodies?

what if a few of us went in on an order of the over-sized bodies? Do you think they'd let us put in an order? i'd be willing to chip in if they let us buy them.

Fedora wrote:

Also, the price posted is for a stock body. What I buy is more than twice that amount.

So, apprently the answer is 'no'. He pays is over double the price of a stock body.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:

WalkingEye wrote:Fedora, is that the price you pay for the beaver bodies?

what if a few of us went in on an order of the over-sized bodies? Do you think they'd let us put in an order? i'd be willing to chip in if they let us buy them.

Fedora wrote:

Also, the price posted is for a stock body. What I buy is more than twice that amount.

So, apprently the answer is 'no'. He pays is over double the price of a stock body.

Regards! Michaelson

i don't think you understood what i meant. i understand that he pays over a hundred bucks for the over-sized bodies. i was wondering if that was the price for an over-sized beaver body as campared to an over-sized rabbit body. i should have been a bit more consise in wording. really i was just wondering what the price difference between the two (rabbit and beaver oversized bodies) would be.

I plan to give them a call today, regardless. Just to see what they say.

Randy

theinterchange wrote:I plan to give them a call today, regardless. Just to see what they say.

Randy

This is one reason why they don't want to sell to a person rather than a company. The other is Uncle Sam.

Hi,

I work for a manufacturer (not of hats).
They are pretty picky about whom they
sell to. You might have to make a pest of
yourselves.

And bring plenty of cash. And you'd better
know exactly how much you want to buy
up front.

WalkingEye wrote: i don't think you understood what i meant. i understand that he pays over a hundred bucks for the over-sized bodies. i was wondering if that was the price for an over-sized beaver body as campared to an over-sized rabbit body. i should have been a bit more consise in wording. really i was just wondering what the price difference between the two (rabbit and beaver oversized bodies) would be.

Ah, sorry. Just re-reading your post, and there's no mention anywhere regarding rabbit bodies, just beaver, so I still reached the same conclusion. Sorry for the confusion on my part. With your post above, I now understand your question.

Rergards! Michaelson

jkdbuck76 wrote:Hi,

I work for a manufacturer (not of hats).
They are pretty picky about whom they
sell to. You might have to make a pest of
yourselves.

And bring plenty of cash. And you'd better
know exactly how much you want to buy
up front.

again, not to beat a dead horse but that the reason they don't want to sell to just anyone. Being a pest over 1 or 2 bodies and how they have to deal with Uncle Sam.

MY GOD! Where the devil lives do they expect people to get quality felt starting out? I don't want to use some cruddy felt to start with and get frustrated when I can't do what I want with it. If there's another source why the tight lips about it? It's not like I'm looking for government secrets. I just want a couple of bodies to experiment with hatmaking. Gosh, this is frustrating.

Randy


P.S after sending this, I wanted to make it clear I wasn't attacking or lashing out at anyone. just wanted to be clear on that point.. it's just frustrating to find a source.

I ran into the same problem as well. I had to get the cheaper stuff and work on that for some time. I decided after leaving the fire service that I was going to take the plunge and got my license. Now it's turned into it's own monster. I have not put a dime into my own pocket. I don't expect to see any time soon. Such is life when trying to build/start up any company. I understood this going in.


You have to look at it this way. One or two people contact them for a body or two ounce in a while. No big thing. Then there is a bunch of people at their door distracting them from making and selling to their customers who has been there for years. Try and look at it from the other side of the table.

You are better off with the cheaper stuff to begin with. You will make mistakes and more you pay for a body the less likely you are on throwing it away and grabbing a new body to start over with. I agree that some where down the line you will need a quality body to work with if you are taking this far.

theinterchange wrote:MY GOD! Where the devil lives do they expect people to get quality felt starting out? I don't want to use some cruddy felt to start with and get frustrated when I can't do what I want with it. If there's another source why the tight lips about it? It's not like I'm looking for government secrets. I just want a couple of bodies to experiment with hatmaking. Gosh, this is frustrating.

Randy


P.S after sending this, I wanted to make it clear I wasn't attacking or lashing out at anyone. just wanted to be clear on that point.. it's just frustrating to find a source.

i take it the phone call was a dead end?




and Michaelson, that was totally my fault, i did indeed state my question entirely too vaguely. thanks for catching it!

No problem. All cleared up now!

HIGH regards! Michaelson

You can always try to buy from Greg I reckon, I just know what he told me a short time ago, that he would not sell to individuals who were not hatters with a business. But, in the past he did do so a few times.

My experience with him is that he says NO! alot. And if he does something for a few hatters, he gets mad if this info gets out. I know of a couple of hatters that he does "goes off the system" for, and if this info got back to him, he probably would stop doing anything for anybody! I reckon I should have just kept my mouth shut.

Buying bodies from a feltmaker is generally impossible to do(individuals), and Greg is the only one that has ever done it, to my knowledge. But, he told me he had stopped doing so. Now, if you called him and ordered 12 dozen bodies, he would figure you were indeed a hatter! Think you gotta have a fed tax id number now for your business though.

I bet JW at JW hats would sell you bodies though, as he sells everything else. Just don't mention my name ever when talking to Greg. I don't want to mess up my relationship with him, and lose my CS felt connecton. Fedora

I couldn't buy any felt with out my tax number.

Oh I can understand their point of view. It's just very frustrating to attempt buying, I figured this would be something I'd run in to. Well, maybe not as bad as this. But I DO understand their side.

I don't want to do anything to mess with someone elses business! I wouldn't name drop for fear of that. So no fear of that from me.

Thanks for what help you can/have given Oak, Fedora. It's appreciated to have the advice of someone who's been here before.

Randy

What be be worth considering, is to find out who they do source to so we could maybe use that person as a "retailer."

I know that most of the bodies I've bought from some of the folks I've found online are fairly cheap grade rabbit.
But someone here has bought beaver bodies from Hatsupply.com I think.

Dalexs wrote:What be be worth considering, is to find out who they do source to so we could maybe use that person as a "retailer."

I know that most of the bodies I've bought from some of the folks I've found online are fairly cheap grade rabbit.
But someone here has bought beaver bodies from Hatsupply.com I think.

I would say buying from them is a good place to start off with. The bodies wont cost you a lot. Don't think you can grab one body and presto you made your self a great hat. I have a bunch of bodies sitting in my garage to prove it ( and I'm talking the good bodies, ouch). You will need to treat these bodies as if they cost you a dime each. You mess up on one, cast it aside and grab a new one.

Oh, I don't suffer from delusions of grandeur. I know it'll take time and mistakes to learn, I just assumed like some other things, it's better to start with quality. But I guess if a person can take a piece of junky felt and make something decent, then upgrading.. that'd be smart.

I'm just nervous about the hatsupply ordering process.

Randy

BendingOak wrote: I would say buying from them is a good place to start off with. The bodies wont cost you a lot. Don't think you can grab one body and presto you made your self a great hat. I have a bunch of bodies sitting in my garage to prove it ( and I'm talking the good bodies, ouch). You will need to treat these bodies as if they cost you a dime each. You mess up on one, cast it aside and grab a new one.

I totally agree. In fact when I finally contacted them, I actually bought more then just a few bodies.
But I've been mucking around building hats for a few years now, starting with BCF's.

I was going on the info that Fedora mentioned, that Greg won't sell to "one-offs" anymore.
It would be nice for folks to have a place to go and buy decent quality hat bodies for the reason we're talking here, without having to start their own company.

The fact is, we don't really have a retail/online source for hatbodies.

Based on what Hatsupplys.com sells them for, its a good bet that they may be using Winchester as a source.
But they only offer limited colors (black and brown, who the heck needs those!)
And I've also used their rabbit bodies, and was less then impressed (HS's.)

Dalexs wrote:

BendingOak wrote: I would say buying from them is a good place to start off with. The bodies wont cost you a lot. Don't think you can grab one body and presto you made your self a great hat. I have a bunch of bodies sitting in my garage to prove it ( and I'm talking the good bodies, ouch). You will need to treat these bodies as if they cost you a dime each. You mess up on one, cast it aside and grab a new one.

I totally agree. In fact when I finally contacted them, I actually bought more then just a few bodies.
But I've been mucking around building hats for a few years now, starting with BCF's.

I was going on the info that Fedora mentioned, that Greg won't sell to "one-offs" anymore.
It would be nice for folks to have a place to go and buy decent quality hat bodies for the reason we're talking here, without having to start their own company.

The fact is, we don't really have a retail/online source for hatbodies.

Based on what Hatsupplys.com sells them for, its a good bet that they may be using Winchester as a source.
But they only offer limited colors (black and brown, who the heck needs those!)
And I've also used their rabbit bodies, and was less then impressed (HS's.)

I can tell you right now that they are not getting them from there. If I didn't think I would run into trouble with them I would do it.