Choosing a Stetson

Choosing a Stetson:

Doc Russia wrote the top post on first aid kits, giving us the benefit of his skills and knowledge. I'm going to write about an item of kit that I know a little something about, which you can expect to use more often than a first aid kit -- but which can be just as useful to your survival, if you spend a lot of time outside.

I'm going to say a few words about how to pick a Stetson hat. Most of what I have to say will be useful to you if you prefer another brand of hat, or a custom hat; but a Stetson is what my grandfather passed to me, and so Stetsons are what I wear. Also, I want to warn you a bit about some bad marketing ideas Stetson is undertaking at this time, so you avoid getting a bad hat that ought to have been good.

Don't get me wrong -- they still make hats in the old fashion. They just also now make hats in other fashions, one of which is very good, and the others of which are not. The old fashion is their "authentic X" beaver felt; the new fashion that is very good is the buffalo felt hat.

Stetson is, however, making the same bad mistake that Harley Davidson made a few decades ago. They're letting their brand be affixed to substandard products. They've added their product name to several lines of cheap hats, including wool felt (their "Stallion" line, for example) and various Australian style hats. It took Harley years to overcome the collapse in their value that this marketing strategy brought on. I hope the folks at Stetson will reconsider before they ruin an old and highly-respected name.

By the way, if you want an Australian hat, buy an Akubra -- they're not expensive, they're better than the Stetson variants, and they're the real thing. Don't buy from David Morgan (who sells some fine goods, but overcharges for their Akubras). Rather, buy from the Strand Hatter in Australia. They'll be glad to ship to you, they have more styles on offer, and it's cheaper.

If you're buying a Stetson, though, don't buy online at all. This is one of the few items you will always get cheaper at a bricks-and-mortar store. Find a good feed-and-seed, or a Western wear store, that can order one for you. If you have more than one in the area, shop around. You'll often get prices half of what you can find online.

CHOOSING A STYLE:

The main thing about the style of hat you pick is the use you intend for it. That's why you should pick one style over another.

I will only give you one general rule on style that is aesthetic: the bigger the man, the bigger the hat. This is to to with width, not height. A broad shouldered man needs a broad brim, as a small brim will look foolish on him. If you have a big chest and a thick neck, you don't want to wear something tiny. Get a big hat. By contrast, if you're a relatively slim fellow, a big hat will look a bit awkward.

That said, choose what suits your life. If you're outside a lot in open country, you'll want a broader brim to shade your face and eyes. If you spend most of your time in wooded country, you'll want a smaller or upturned brim to make it easier to move around the trees. If you live in a city, you may want a smaller hat like a fedora that's easy to fit in the tighter spaces of crowds and elevators. Function is more important than look.

CHOOSING A FELT:

Use determines this also. You'll need to know how much rain your area gets, how hot it's going to be, and how bright. You'll also need to know if you want it mostly for horseback riding, or walking afoot, or for use on camping expeditions.

There are three kinds of hats Stetson makes that I recommend: authentic beaver felt, buffalo felt, and woven Panama straw hats. The straw hats are actually made under contract in Panama, but they're very good. I am not going to say more about them than that -- just pick a style you like, in your size, and buy it if you like Panama straw hats. These are good for summer wear in hot climates (like the South). They breathe well, but offer more substantial protection from the sun than the sort of straw hat you can buy at Walmart. I have one of these, but remember, you'll get it cheaper than that if you work with a local store.

You might want a straw hat as well as a felt hat, if you live in a hot enough place. Otherwise, one hat can do you for your whole life, if it's the right hat.

Now, as to the felt hats: never buy a wool felt hat, or a "fur" felt hat that doesn't tell you what kind of fur. It's probably rabbit. They're cheap and good looking, but when they get wet, they get soggy. You can put Scotch-guard on them if you want, but you're better off buying a better hat. (Same for those Aussie hats, by the way: they're mostly rabbit fur felt. Great hats, when it's not raining.)

Also, I wouldn't buy a Stetson "fur" felt hat that isn't either from its American Buffalo collection, or bearing "authentic X" beaver-felt. For example, its "Gun Club" hats have Xs stamped in the hatband, but they are substandard hats. One of them I encountered had water-soluble dye! Great, just what everyone wants: first rainstorm, and black or dark-brown dye is dripping over your face and into your clothes.

What you want is a beaver-fur felt hat, or a hat from Stetson's American Buffalo collection. They have different qualities, though, so let me tell you a bit about how they're different.

First, the buffalo hats are cheaper. You can get them for half the price of a modestly good beaver hat.

Second, the buffalo felt is a lot less stiff. It'll seem stiff in the store, because it's been starched. Once you've used it for a while, in wind and rain, it will become somewhat floppy. It holds its shape well enough, but when the wind hits it the brim will push up, for example.

This has good and bad effects. Buffalo felt hats are ideal for hiking and camping, for example. If you're hiking under trees or through canyons, they'll give against limbs or rocks. If you're wanting to fan a fire to life, they've got a bit more "snap" than a beaver. The best thing I've ever found for kindling a fire, in fact, is my buffalo Stetson.

For horseback riding, they're less ideal. They're fine at the trot, but you get up into a canter or a gallop, and the wind you generate can take the hat right off your head, even if the hat fits perfectly.

They are also not as waterproof. If you live in a climate with a wet season, or you think you might get caught out in a long rain, a beaver is what you want.

The amount of beaver fur felt in the hat is expressed as a number of "X"s. This is not a standard. Every manufacturer uses different percentages. Thus, a XXX hat may have ten percent beaver felt, or only five, or twelve. A XXXX hat may be twenty-five percent, but it may be less. It used to be that 20X was 100% beaver, but that's not true any more either.

I find that a XXXX hat (that's four X's) is good enough for the roughest wear. If you want a purer hat, and can afford it, go for it: but beaver pelts get more expensive every year. That's why even a XXXX hat, far from a 20X or 100X hat, costs twice what a buffalo hat costs.

CHOOSING A SIZE & SHAPING YOUR HAT:

You only need two things to shape a hat. The first is hot water. The second is a hat jack. The hat jack is optional, actually, but it does help.

You want to make sure that you get the right size. The biggest mistake you're apt to make is to try the hat on, and decide which one feels best. That seems reasonable, but it's the wrong way around.

What you want is a hat that fits you all the way around your head. You want to make sure there is no place at which you can fit a fingertip between the band and your skull. A lot of people have more-or-less oval shaped heads. The hat from the factory may be tight front and back, but with a gap at the temple. Though it's too tight, the hat is too big.

You want to find a hat that is the right size for your head. Try on several, until you find the one that seems likely to fit if all the gaps were expanded into the tight areas. We can do that -- I'm about to tell you how. Once it's shaped to your head, this hat will fit perfectly.

Take your hat home, and pour water into a kettle. Boil the water, so a stream of hot steam blows out of the spout. Fold the sweat band inside the hat down, and expose the felt to the steam until the hat is moist and warm all the way around. Now, fold the sweat band up, and put it on your head (or the hat jack). Wear it until it is cool and dry. The hat will now be formed to your head.

By the way, the same tactic will let you reshape the brim or the bash. The bash is somewhat harder to do, but if you're patient, you can learn. The brim is easy: just steam it, put it where you want it, and let it cool.

This technique will also let you repair a hat that's gotten out of shape through use.

OTHER HATS / CUSTOM HATS:

Resistol hats and Stetson hats are closely related these days. Custom hats depend on the hatmaker. I've seen some good results and some bad ones. I can only endorse two from personal experience.

Peter Brothers makes fine hats. I gave one of these as a gift once, and it was beautiful.

Also, Sackett's in Jasper, GA, has a hat maker who goes by the name "the Hat Man." He is a fine old gentleman of eighty years or so, who used to make hats for the Hollywood cowboys back in the heydey of the Western film. They don't have a web page, but you can reach them at 678 454-4677. His stuff is outstanding. I've never owned any of it, but I've seen what he can do close up.

Any kind of felt hat you buy -- rabbit, wool, whatever -- can be reshaped/resized using the steam method I was talking about above. You can put it back into shape that way as often as you like without hurting it.

The only thing it might not work on are those "crushable" hats you see for sale at department stores these days. I wouldn't suggest buying one of those, as they are neither waterproof nor likely to last through hard wear.

CONCLUSION:

A single good hat will last you a lifetime. It can protect you from rain or sun, keep you warm, kindle a fire, or dip water to dump on the head of a pretty girl... I mean, to offer for your horse to drink. This should give you a basic notion of how to buy a hat that will fit you and last, will be well-made of high quality materials, and suit the practical needs of your life.

If you have any questions, shout out.