High Wind Hat Options

[Chicken George*]

In a post by Edward R. S. Canby, he mentioned that in high winds he wears a railroad cap with an over the head pair of muffs to hold the cap on (great idea). I immediately had flash backs of last year's EOT. We had some very high winds blowing up the bays. With shared bays, you can't go up range without stopping multiple posses. If your hat blew off, it would be long gone by the time you could go up range. I had a hard time keeping my wide brimmed hat on, making it difficult to focus on shooting and spotting. I did take it off to shoot. 

 

I'm curious what other people do. Do you have hat ties, wear different types of hats, or no hat? What are the best/easiest ways to attach hat ties (temporary and permanently)? Pictures would be appreciated. 

 

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

Thank you for the kind acknowledgement.  Stampede strings can hold a hat on in winds.  I don't use them because I don't want to poke holes in expensive custom hats.  However, I think I'll buy a set at EOT for an old hat I wear in the summer.

[Rip Snorter]

1 minute ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said:

Thank you for the kind acknowledgement.  Stampede strings can hold a hat on in winds.  I don't use them because I don't want to poke holes in expensive custom hats.  However, I think I'll buy a set at EOT for an old hat I wear in the summer.

You don't need to poke holes.  There are little wire fitments that slip in between the hat and sweat band.  Hat is entirely intact.

[DeaconKC]

I wear my derby when it's windy in stead of my wider brimmed hat.

[Rip Snorter]

The other thing is to have hats that are not only the right size, but the right head shape.  My made to order hats rarely blow off.  

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy hat wearers,

 

Just a thought on those stampede strings that poke between the hat and hatband. I have a couple of nice horse hair strings that I no longer use because one set started to tear the stitching. I haven't figured out how to solve the problem so they are sitting on the shelf waiting for the appropriate brain cells to connect and deliver a solution.

 

Rev. Chase

[Rip Snorter]

Basically they are just cotter pins.  If you get longer ones and bend them carefully, it spreads the stress.

[Too Tall Bob]

24 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

You don't need to poke holes.  There are little wire fitments that slip in between the hat and sweat band.  Hat is entirely intact.

+1 on this. You can put heat shrink tubing on the ends of the clips once you have them between the hat and sweatband. It keeps them from marring the hat material and reduces the tendency of them abrading the stitching for the hat band.  PLUS remember - any hat blown down range during a stage is a fair, moving bonus target!

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Nah.  Just nail that hummer on!!

[Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971]

This is a useful thread.  I did some online shopping for stampede strings and found that the cheapest strings show installation through grommets with the strings looped outside the hat.  However, the higher quality strings come with the pins RS showed.  It's worth paying for the strings with the pins.

[Rip Snorter]

28 minutes ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said:

This is a useful thread.  I did some online shopping for stampede strings and found that the cheapest strings show installation through grommets with the strings looped outside the hat.  However, the higher quality strings come with the pins RS showed.  It's worth paying for the strings with the pins.

You can buy cotter pins at any hardware store.  It is worth looking for a good braided or hitched horsehair string, many can be retrofitted for pins.  On a cheap hat the punch method works well for permanent installation.  A .223 case makes a good punch.

[Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903]

1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said:

Basically they are just cotter pins.  If you get longer ones and bend them carefully, it spreads the stress.

The leather sweat band will eventually slit down from the holes, but maybe I just keep hats to long.

 

Randy

[Rip Snorter]

15 minutes ago, Randy Saint Eagle, SASS # 64903 said:

The leather sweat band will eventually slit down from the holes, but maybe I just keep hats to long.

 

Randy

By that time, I have to go to Randy at Law Dog Hats, get the hat refurbed!

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

[Rip Snorter]

Velcro tape? Forehead and hatband?

[Jackson Haller]

The wind here in Nevada can be extreme, so stampede strings are a must.  I don't use the cotter pin types; they aren't good for severe wind and eventually they can tear the stitching of the sweat band to the hat  requiring a trip to a hatter to repair (ask me how I know!).  I prefer leather latigo strings to horse hair nowadays, but with either, I take my hat to a local hat maker or hat shaper (or shoe repair guy if I know his work and trust him) and have them put eyelets  in the brim on both sides just in front of my ears. This keeps the felt from being torn by the strings and allows one to cinch up the strings snuggly during high winds. A nice bead of some sort (antler, glass, bone, wood) or even a leather keeper act as a cincher.

One other thing; I loop the latigo all the way around the hat, not just the back.  This distributes the pull on the brim more evenly in my opinion and decreases the chance of damage to the area of the eyelets.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

I wear a big palm leaf sombrero. I actually wore out a stampede string after about 13 years. The hat being palm leaf it is very soft and forms well to my head, even in strong winds. I have only had to remove the hat twice in 20 years of cas. For that I keep a white rag with a red magic marker "blood" spot(Think Emmett in Silverado). There is no requirement for a cowboy hat, except for a couple of categories, in cold weather, or high wind,  a stocking cap is both a good idea and historically correct.

 

Imis (short bristley hair helps too)

[Texas Lizard]

Tie or chase....

 

Texas Lizard

[watab kid]

shave your head and add double sticky carpet tape , 

[Wild Eagle]

At the horse shows I go to, the women use bobby pins and pin it to their hair through the hat band.  Some of the men spray the hat band with hair spray and use that to "glue" the hat to their head.  Sounds weird but it does help.  As noted above, a proper fitting hat makes a huge difference.

[Rye Miles #13621]

In the words of Capt. Call in Streets of Laredo, "Ya might want to get yerself a string and tie that hat down" (James Garner) 

[Totes Magoats]

If I know it's going to be windy, I'll wear one of my custom hats by Griz.  I could probably ride a motorcycle without it flying off.  

 

I have Shorty's building me a new 100X hat currently, I hope it fits as good as my Griz hats.

 

Totes

[Cibola Al]

Of course I have to throw in MY 2 cents.
 

First, I agree with Sacramento Johnson. My wife works on a ranch in Western NM and I have added stampede strings to both of her working hats. The cotter pin style will tear out stitching or even just straighten out in serious wind. Maybe the earlier suggestion of heat shrink on the wire ends would help with that. I have gone with the grommet method on her hats now. It does involve putting a hole in your nice hat, but she prefers that to chasing her hat a couple of miles across the mesa.

 

Second, my high wind hat is a Hats by Grizz hat with a smallish 2 3/4 brim with a pencil curl. Grizz uses a cotton cloth sweatband instead of leather. It serves 2 purposes, one it absorbs sweat, and 2 it sticks to my head better than a leather sweatband does. Anyway, when I screw it down onto my mellon, it stays put.

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

On 2/16/2023 at 8:42 AM, Rip Snorter said:

The other thing is to have hats that are not only the right size, but the right head shape.  My made to order hats rarely blow off.  

you are lucky mine does

[Hashknife Cowboy]

Once you are measured and fitted by a custom hat maker or boot maker.....you'll wonder what took you so long.  Yes they are expensive but worth every dollar.  A properly fitted hat and a stampede string will not come off in the wind.  It is quite possible to actually get lift in our northern AZ winds, those winds which allow a chicken to lay the same egg 3 times........just saying. 

 

On another note, I had a young man at Cavender's in Amarillo properly fit a American  straw for me and they may know a thing or two about wind in that part of the country.  The key is proper fitting by someone in the know.

[ORNERY OAF]

[Texas Jack Black]

On 2/18/2023 at 11:54 AM, Hashknife Cowboy said:

Once you are measured and fitted by a custom hat maker or boot maker.....you'll wonder what took you so long.  Yes they are expensive but worth every dollar.  A properly fitted hat and a stampede string will not come off in the wind.  It is quite possible to actually get lift in our northern AZ winds, those winds which allow a chicken to lay the same egg 3 times........just saying. 

 

On another note, I had a young man at Cavender's in Amarillo properly fit a American  straw for me and they may know a thing or two about wind in that part of the country.  The key is proper fitting by someone in the know.

 This is quite true my Custom made boots never are blown off on a windy day

[Chicken George*]

While getting custom hats would be nice, I was looking for some cheap options with as many shooters as we have. I'd rather not have anything permanent as we rarely shoot in high winds. I also don't want to put a hole in or risk damaging a nice hat. So I came up with my own solution and it actually worked better than I was expecting. Very ugly but functional. We had some very windy weather today to try it out and it worked perfectly. 

 

I just cut some triangles that are about 2 1/2 times as tall as the hat band out of some thin plastic, folded it just wider than my hat band and put a hole for some paracord. The part with the hole hangs below the hat. I used some disposable cutting mats but maybe even cardstock would work. I tried it with just a knot in the cord and while not as convenient, it worked just fine once I got it in the right place. I like that I can keep it handy just in case. Just stick the folded parts in the hat band, put my hat on and pull the cord over my chin. 

[Texas Maverick]

I have seen a number of cowboy movies and pictures of them tying their hat down with a bandana. This way you only do it when necessary and no holes needed. Not sure how feasible this really is but it looks like it would work.

 

TM

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

Bet this will keep ‘em on

[Rip Snorter]

8 minutes ago, Oak Ridge Regulator said:

Bet this will keep ‘em on

Off topic, but when super glue first came out, the shop I was working in had one guy who was kind of a dim bulb.  He was enormous and astoundingly strong, but so good natured the other guys were always playing pranks on him.  They got him to glue his index finger to his thumb.  As strong as he was, they had to use solvent to free him. 

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

I probably shouldn’t admit this but I use this stuff to patch up minor cuts and if you rub it over a burst blister it hardens it right up, burns like hell for a few seconds but after that it’s like the cuts and blisters have healed, probably a few doctors who could find a lot wrong with doing that

[German Jim]

Super Glue works great on small cuts and probably a large one that may need stitches.  It may hold the wound closed until you can make it to a doctor to stitch it up.