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How many Xs in your cowboy hat?


Wade Butcher

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7 hours ago, Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646 said:

My hat is pure palm leaf, no chubacabras were harmed in making this hat. Actually it is very comfortable, and stand up to rain fine.

 

Imis

And it can provide shelter for several additional people when it's raining, maybe a gun cart or two as well. 

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Some hat bodies are made from the fur of the nutria, a large rodent from South America.  It was imported into the states in the late 19th/early 20th century and has become an invasive and destructive pest!!  The fur is similar to that of the beaver, (also a large and often destructive rodent) and will felt well.

 

 There are also hat bodies imported from Eastern Europe and South America.  I’m not familiar with their blends so I won’t comment on their quality levels.

 

Like Levi said, there are numerous fur combinations that work well. As I explained earlier, the different combinations ascend in quality with the increase in beaver fur content.

 

I have hats in all three of the most popular combinations. My favorite is a standard blend, (mostly rabbit) that has become more or less a trademark that people recognize from long distances. It has been soaked to the point of saturation, covered in mud, streaked and smudged with Black Powder and smokeless powder marks, has actually caught fire once, and was stomped and or sat on more than once! 

 

It still looks great and when I give it its two year cleaning, it’ll probably look like new again!!

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One of the many steps to  building a quality, 100% beaver, broad brimmed hat :)

 

[IMG]

 

Stetson built and marketed Nutria hats in the 1920s as some of their finest hats, labeled, "Clear Nutria".   Beaver was in short supply at the time.   The early Stetson hats of the previous Century are sought after today for their quality.   A big rodent,  "about the size of a raccoon, nutria look more like a cross between a small beaver and a giant rat, with two large, orange front teeth and long, rounded tails."   

 

If you look at Nutria and Beaver under a micro scope and how the two felt the difference is obvious.    Which is why a 100% beaver hat is so highly valued even today.

 

photo edit stetson nutria.jpg

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You must take this into consideration when asking certain questions here(and I don’t mean this ugly either).

The vast majority of SASS shooters have never worn a cowboy hat until buying their “costume” to play our sport of CAS. They definitely haven’t ever ridden a good working horse or worked cattle. So most will reply with their version of a good “cowboy” hat which isn’t a truly a good answer.

I grew up working cattle and in the rodeo circuit loooong before finding sass. Good felt hats were just a part of our everyday wear snd life. Back in the day the ranch workers wore black felt hats and the ranch owners and family wore silver belly hats.

I’ve talked to a lot of custom hatters over the years and they all say the Hat Bodies all come from the same two manufacturers which they all buy from and use. They also say that technically there’s only three grades of hats 10X,  20x or 100x pure beaver(almost).

With that being said we normally wore a Stetson or Resistol 10x while working around the place or for every day and a 20x was our Sunday or dress hat. In my opinion the best hat made today for the money is a Resistol 20x black gold. It’s a nice solid hat that will last for years and years. You can get one from the Resistol outlet in Tx as mentioned by Silver Sam for less than $200. I still have one from over 30 yrs ago and a lot of mikes but it still looks great .

 

just my two cents worth, Merry Christmas and good luck with your hat purchase.

 

Slick 

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On 12/4/2020 at 5:28 PM, Wade Butcher said:

...On a side note, I stumbled upon this glorious photo of what I would consider a holy grail (looking) cowboy hat, originally posted and owned by SASS member J-BAR and seen HERE. I am totally in love with this hat, authentically broken-in and obviously well loved. This is my goal. LOL

 

W.B.

The owner of that hat you linked says he reshaped that Stetson Tom Mix.  The shape he ended up with is (to my eyes) identical to the Stetson Royal Flush hat (btw, I've been told that Stetson names their hatbands, not their hats).  I've got a black Royal Flush and a silverbelly Royal Flush (same color as that reshaped Tom Mix.  My black one got rained on and I was able to push in the crown just like your pic shows.  The Royal Flush is 5X.

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  • 2 months later...

We bought Shanley a Gus hat for Fathers Day 10 years ago...

It is still his go to hat.

Bought from a vendor (pm me for the name)

It has had rain, snow, dust...still holds it's shape and cleans well.

He likes it so well, we bought him a chocolate one last year!

Under $200...

I feel it was the best investment!

0306211634b.jpg

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Wore one from that same company for several years Sue. It was still in good shape just got a bit tight. It was a chocolate Gus but was done on a 1 inch taller crown and 1/2” wider brim than their standard. I was working for a company that sold them at the time. Now I have 2 from D-J a 10x for everyday, and a 20x for nicer occasions. 

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20 minutes ago, Buckshot Sheridan said:

Wore one from that same company for several years Sue. It was still in good shape just got a bit tight. It was a chocolate Gus but was done on a 1 inch taller crown and 1/2” wider brim than their standard. I was working for a company that sold them at the time. Now I have 2 from D-J a 10x for everyday, and a 20x for nicer occasions. 

Yup...loved your new hat!!!

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