e e W
FELT SPECIAL
Blocking/ heavy
suede pounced Rabbit
Western/ cowboy/ men
Dress/ women
capeline l l i Rabbit
Light/ tissue/ vintage
Extra large size, lots of felt for pulling a very large hat
Dimensionally larger than dress size, thicker felt, more stiffener
Dimensionally smaller than Western, thinner felt, light stiffener
Dimensionally similar to dress cone shape, lighter weight and very soft
Pounce polish Felt textures range from smooth to furry. Factories produce felts with different levels of finish in a process called pouncing, sanding or polishing. To hand finish a felt, Tim Mahovich
advises using a very fine 400 grit sandpaper and to be light-handed and to barely touch the felt when pouncing. Others suggest a 320 grit and warn that a hat can be over-pounced. ‘A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting’
Willee Roberts of Sunrise Hat Supplies has a big project on his plate as well. He is working to rebuild a coypu fur felt industry, as coypu are contributing to the salt water infiltration into the Louisiana Bayou that is changing the local ecology and threatening the native species. Willee’s efforts include working with the Conservation Corps (who pay a bounty for coypu tails), a local Louisiana dog food company (to process the meat), and a Bolivian felt factory who make coypu fur felt.
explains how the sanding pad builds up with partially used pieces of sandpaper stacked underneath, so that you use the newest one first, then move to a piece that is more used up and continue until you’ve achieved the level of polish you desire.
Unpounced Felted furry, woolly surface
1/2 pounce
Sanded down but not smooth
Full pounce Sanded smooth Salome
Confetti
Peachbloom/ velour
Melusine
Rabbit fur with long hare fur
Wool felt with long hare fur
Napped, fur felt with short fuzzy texture
Napped, fur felt with long hare fur
Tim
Mahovich of Pure Beaver
Hat Supply is expanding his business after several years of selling beaver furs. In coordination with FEPSA in Portugal, he will be receiving 250 felt units a week, starting in 2023. He has a focus on providing high-quality beaver fur felt hat bodies to small and medium- sized businesses. Tim has designed several hat bodies to his specification, one of which is the Western weight with the softer crown and a stiffer brim and full pounce.
Stiffener guidance Tim Mahovich and Pierre Huvet both use a 1 part shellac to 2 parts denatured alcohol as a stiffener, while Tim starts with Zinsser Bulls Eye Clear Alcohol- Based Shellac in the 1 quart tin from Lowes, a DIY shop in the US. Pierre follows a recipe using flaked shellac dissolved in grain alcohol from the book ‘Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating’ by Henry L Ermatinger (published in 1919), on page 45. Tim advises doing tests with your
chosen stiffener mix before doing a hat. Another tip is to apply stiffener only to the bottom of the brim and inside of the crown, and avoid letting the stiffener soak through the felt. If using an automotive sprayer then add a little more alcohol than his usual 1:2 to dilute the shellac. Spray 4–5” (10–13 cm) away and make 2–3 passes. Then use a brush to push the shellac into the brim. ‘A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting’
recommends using a felt sponge to apply stiffener. Kiriko Sato uses a-quaraid R212: “It
gives rigidity but it remains very soft to the touch.” It is a water-based primer that can be used on a wide variety of materials, at full strength or diluted with cold or hot water.
Unpounced cone
Felt is a massive topic with infinite avenues to explore. This article has just focused on what felt is and what it is made of, with a couple of peeks into who is doing interesting work in the industry today.
48 | the hat magazine #95 Pounced cone
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