Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cowboy Hats

You're the guy that is always thinking and bringing up the homo stuff. 'nuf said there.

JaxonBilt hats our of utah

Their slogan is perfect for rockinbar and many more here, like yourself:
"Jaxonbilt Custom Hats Where "Image is Everything!""

All my hats are some kind of x, mostly rabbit that once knew a beaver. Have been shaped to the style I wanted by "professional s". To do a complete shape on felt you should have a last - something that keeps it the size of your gord. I'd find a hat store that has the equipment and get what I want.

Usually wear a Resistol or a Seratelli.

Never could afford a Stetson.

Always felt.


Grandpa used to say to never hire a man who smokes and wears a straw hat.

If he aint rolling a cigarette he is chasing that damn hat.

Little girl,... Go away.

Nobody pulled your string.

The grownups are trying to talk.

Why do you go fuuk up every thread that you get in?

Damn troll.

Good luck wannabe. As grownups go, you will never get there. Trust me on that.

Just keepin' you honest (not that that is really possible, but someone has to try).

Rarely a day goes by that I don't wear a hat....95 % of the time it's a felt summer or winter. I have a palm leaf that covers the 5% for the very hottest days (and it has to be hot). Have the felts made by Husky Hat of Wichita Falls TX. Lady by the name of Stanlee does a hell of a job and has for more than a few decades. If she can't get the crease right I'll dunk it in the horse trough and wear it til it's right. Can't beat that deal.....

Yeah I can screw my felt on tight enough it won't blow off but a straw needs a stampede string....Every now and then I might get a felt bucked off but never blown off....grin

Sounds counterproductive. Why wouldn't she get it right if she's a custom hat maker?

Too far to drive to town. A horse trough is always closer for fine adjustments....

My old man added cowboy boots to that list......said you can't get close enough to the work to get anything done in cowboy boots.

I wear a Dorfman waxed cotton in the winter and a Stetson Palm Straw in the summer.

I have one full custom from them, had another which got stolen. But about three years ago I got a Stetson re-done by Manny at Texas Hatters and it took over a year and a half to finish. Granted they got flooded during this time but just warning you not to get into a hurry. They make a hybrid hat with a straw crown and felt brim which is the best of both worlds and pretty practical as you can put a rain cover on it and wear it year around. My Akubra hat is practically as old as I am and has held up well but I still think Beaver, Nutria or Muskrat fur is superior to rabbit but this may be one of those opinions based on preference rather than fact. I have had good luck finding used hats like 10x or better Stetsons for around $10 and then I get it molded and fitted to my own style. For about $100-150 you have the equivalent of a $300-400 hat and it hurts less if they get stolen or lost too.

This guy is good and has a lot faster turn around time than Texas Hatters usually while you wait for a cleaning and re-shaping. http://www.visitblancotexas.com/shopping/herbs-hat-shop/

Friends own this company: https://www.tulahats.com/ and they are great palm straw hats if you like their styles. They are more like gardening and fishing hats but are ideal for summertime wear. If they get too out of shape I just mist them and iron them and am back to almost new looking. They sell seconds sometimes that are good as a throw down hat.

So like my answer for guns get one of each and then maybe add a hybrid felt/straw. You can't have too many hats in my opinion.

There have been Resistol, Stetson, Mahan , etc. in my past but these days I favor Akubra.

I've been real happy with my Akubra Riverine (original version). Actually have an unworn spare on a closet shelf.

Dorfman made some real good hats when they were still manufacturing under their own label. I have a Dorfman felt fedora from the 1980's that I still wear in the winter.

That would be Mz Stanley Rater....she has cleaned my Resistols for forty years and I have the third one she ever made once she went into the hat making business. It still looks as good as when newly made several years ago. As far as not getting the crease right, I never had that problem with her. Maybe you’re talking about a straw?

I can remember WAY back in the 1960's my "uncle" Bill used to get Bailey's "Roll Your Own" straw hats so he could get them how he liked them. Anyone know if Bailey's is still in business?

No custom mades in the cowboy hat dept here. Except perhaps one might call the $50 (2013 price) off the rack, Stetson felt crushable that I just stretched to fit my noggin. Wife asked if my head has gotten too big. I had to explain that it's an inexpensive version, doesn't even come in 1/8 sizes, just small, medium, and large. The medium has always been a tight fit so I ordered a stretcher, put the hat over the tea kettle for a bit and have it just about right now.

Retirement and certain priorities will likely preclude a true custom hat ever gracing my hat rack.

Geno

PS, probably never see a custom pair of boots either, except for my handmade (by me) Apache "boots" I learned to make from an old auntie on the Fort Apache Rez. She didn't call them moccasins. Took her mom's from the late 1800's apart to learn how to make them as the art had mostly been lost.

Geno!! Glad to see you posting!!!

Close but no cigar - Jaxonbilt is out of Salmon, Idaho. He makes a good hat at a fairly reasonable price.

I am not a fan of straw hats they make my head hotter than wearing a felt, although I did buy an Atwood Old-Timer last year and it has enough venting in the crown that you can feel the air moving through it when the wind blows, and it is also a looser woven hat than most of the straws. Many of the straws are so tightly woven and treated that they are almost a plastic hat.

My off the shelf hats are both an older Resistol and a Stetson, for custom mades I have a Kirkpatrick (Wisdom, MT), I think they are out of business now, a Jaxonbilt (Salmon, Idaho), and a Rand's (Billings, MT). The Rands is the oldest by far it is about 25 years old and has a lot of miles under it but it is still holding up and still looks good.

I was in Billings about 4 years ago and stopped in Rand's to buy another hat but the prices had increased so much that I couldn't justify it. Given the price of the hat and my age it just didn't pencil out favorably, so I decided to spend the $600 on shooting related items instead.

drover