Aaron Hats - Aaron’s Hat Blog

Today’s class in on hat brims. Hat brims come in all different sizes and shapes. Here are a few definitions to get you started:

Stingy brim: A stingy brim is usually any hat with a brim of two inches or less though some will argue that a two inch brim is too wide to be considered “stingy”.

Snap brim: A snap brim “snaps”. When most fedoras are blocked by the hatter they are blocked so that the brim is turned up all the way around. The customer can then choose to wear the hat with the brim up or “snapped” down in front or on the side.

Dimensional brim: A dimensional brim is one that is not the same width all the way around the hat. Probably the most famous example of a dimensional brim is the Indiana Jones fedora. On this hat, the brim is narrower on the sides as compared to the front and back.

Pencil rolled brim: The pencil rolled brim is seen most in western hats. This is when the edge of the brim is curled up. I don’t know if the old time hatters actually used to use a pencil to roll the brim but the curl is generally the size of a pencil. People who do competitive “old west” style shooting call these hats “brass catchers” because when shooting their lever action rifles the ejected shell usually ends up on their hat with the pencil rolled brim keeping the brass shell from rolling off the hat.

What kind of brim do you prefer?

Aaron

Most people who aren’t familiar with felt hats think that all felt is the same. Not true. There is wool felt and then there is fur felt. Now I’ll state the obvious…wool felt is made of wool and fur felt is made of fur. Like I said, it’s stating the obvious but for some people they never knew there was a difference and that’s ok. That’s why the “Hats 101″ series of blog posts.

Both varieties of felt hats offer a stiff version and a soft version. The only difference here is the amount of stiffener or shellac added to the felt during the production of the hat.

Within the fur felt hat category there are different kinds of fur used. Most use rabbit or wild hare with the better quality hats using beaver. Most modern manufacturers have their own secret recipe of a blend of furs. As mentioned in a previous post from a few days ago some hat manufacturers are experimenting with Buffalo fur and Kangaroo fur for their felt western hats.

So how do you tell the difference between the different quality fur felts? That’s a discussion for another “Hats 101″ post so be sure to come back and visit.

Class dismissed. Go enjoy your weekend.

Aaron

One thing I’ve learned over the last few years since starting Aaron Hats is that a lot of people don’t know the very basics of hats. Most don’t know that there’s a difference between a hat and a cap and that the two terms are not interchangeable. So I thought I’d begin a series of posts explaining as much as I can about hats starting with the very basics.

First, the difference between hats and caps. Hats have a brim that goes all the way around the crown as shown in this picture:

A cap only has a bill or visor around the crown like a ball cap or an ivy cap as shown here:

So there’s your first class on Hats 101. Go out and spread your new wealth of information.

Aaron