Being a newbie...I need a hat! Just what makes a hat cost $300.00 plus dollars! Help with any info for a big headed newbie to get a hat at a newbie price..."One size fits all size doesn't work for this head". 7 5/8 hat size.
Failing to find it in a thrift store. The pride and joy of my hat collection is a jet-black Resistol. Wear it daily fall, winter, and spring, and for CAS. Get compliments on it every time I do wear it. Only 4x's of beaver, but enough to look really sharp. It's a Tycoon. Steamed it to take the dents out. Now it looks halfway between a modern hat and a period cavalry slouch hat. I found it completely unused, with new tags inside, at a thrift store for $25.00.
What justifies a $300.00 price tag is the amount of beaver fur, which has a lot to do with durability and wear. What
makes the price tag is luck and thrift stores...
By the way, I wear a 7 1/8, and this Resiistol is a 7 1/4. Very nearly too big. Some use foam tape to make a hat smaller. The historical (and somewhat modern approach) is rolled newspapers stuffed just inside the hat band. I used a pigskin liner sewed to the right diameter for my head, then stuffed inside the hat band. I used cowhide 1/8" shims to adjust it further. My personal take is that adjusting a large hat to a smaller hat by more than 1/8" will be tough. Also using steam and streching a hat more than 1/8" is pushing it in my opinion. Others with better techniques are encouraged to reprove me. ...Especially Delmonico and his like, who are experts...