"Cowboy" hats

[Mumbleypeg]

There are two basic rules regarding hat etiquette.

Rule number 1: Never, ever, under any circumstances touch another man's hat without permission.

Rule number 2: A grandchild can do anything they want to a man's hat.

Here's my granddaughter, with my hat!

Ken

[thefarside]

AMEN regarding rule #2.

[Steve Warden]

Looks like you got yourself not only a cowboy hat, but a little pistol to go along with it!

[jerryd6818]

Well, guess who's wrapped around her little finger.

[ScoutKnives]

Awesome pictures Ken !!!

[jmh58]

Great FUN pics Ken!!! NICE!!
John

[bighomer]

[doglegg]

Mumbleypeg, that little sweetie make my old grandpa heart beat fast. Proud for you to have and love such a little darling. She seems pretty proud to have her papa's hat on as well.

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks y'all. She's a pistol for sure. She's the youngest and our only girl grandchild so everyone spoils her. She thinks she's bigger and tougher than all her older brothers and boy cousins, and they let her believe it! One minute she's out playing in the dirt with the boys, the next she's playing with her dolls. It's really funny to watch her jump in and break up the boys fights!

Ken

[garddogg56]

Grandies can usually get away with most anything

[Colonel26]

Grandies can usually get away with most anything

Ain’t that the truth. I told my parents that if they’d treat me the way they treat my boys, I’d move back in! Lol

Ken, she’s a cutie. I bet she can hold her own with all them boys!

[zoogirl]

My son, Danny, filling his daddy’s boots - and hat! This was about 1989. He’s 6’4” now and a daddy himself!

[DM11]

Great pics Ken and zoogirl!

[carrmillus]

..my favorite was the one john wayne wore in "Hondo". I think luster bayless has it now in his museum in central miss. and someone told me that he turned down a $15,000.00 offer for it srveral years ago!!....... .............

[stagman]

Well here is mine...bought it 12 years ago in Spearfish, South Dakota...
seen a lot of weather, but with one of them brush/sponge deals, stuff
wipes off...its a 7X Beaver hat, figured the Ruger Vaquero 45 long colt
goes right along with it...

Stag
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/

stagman

[Mumbleypeg]

Nice hat - I like that band! A good quality beaver felt hat will last a man a lifetime if properly cared for.
As they get well used they develop "character", sorta like patina on a knife.

Ken

[stagman]

Thanks Ken...I took off the belt like band that came with it and put this
one on bout 7 year ago...bought it up on the Navajo Rez at a little falling
down trading post...he said it was bone on it...I always fancied them bone
Breast Plates the Lakota Sioux warriors wore and thought this came close to kinda lookin like one

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/stagman

[Quick Steel]

Don't much care for the band but the hat was a gift.

[jerryd6818]

Now you've started something Ken.

Bought this one in the '90s in a western wear store in Centerville Ohio. I didn't like the band so I found another I did like but when I went to pull off the original I discovered it was made of CARDBOARD and it was GLUED ON. What a huge disappointment in a $100 ++ hat. My opinion of Stetson took a huge hit that day and I've never really gotten over it. I hardly ever wear it. Mostly it just sits in the closet in it's box.

[Mumbleypeg]

I have just one Stetson and it's probably my favorite - it's the one in the OP. (Also have a Bailey and a couple of Resistols). Nowadays I think most of the top name brands are made by Byer-Rolnick, all in the same factory located in Garland, TX.

Glued on seems to have been the order of the day for at least the past 29 years. I've changed bands on a few and used a hot glue gun to attach the new band. Most western stores and hatters will change out a band for you at no charge (just tip the person who does the work) especially if you buy the new band from them. As for the cardboard part, that's a new one on me.

There's also a number of independent and custom hatters if you can afford them. I can only say that as hats go, $100 is not much. But if you're gonna wear one a lot, a good one is worth the money - the cheap ones won't last. Really good hats are not cheap, but a really good one should last forever.

Ken

[jerryd6818]

I can only say that as hats go, $100 is not much.
Ken

It was for me, plus I expected more from what I considered an old quality name like Stetson.

[Mumbleypeg]

I can only say that as hats go, $100 is not much.
Ken

It was for me, plus I expected more from what I considered an old quality name like Stetson.

I've seen hat bands that cost more! They're mostly for "drugstore Cowboys" though. But I agree, and if you're only gonna wear one a few times a year that should be good enough.

Ken

[Unk]

Here's my old Resistol hat. It's a 3X beaver hat with a bull riders crease (no, I didn't rodeo or ride bulls). I bought it at Fincher's in the Stockyards in Fort Worth about 1980 or so, soon after I graduated from HS. I spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights in the Stockyards back then, honky-tonkin at the bars. Next to the hat is a pair of black Tony Lama Antelope boots from about the same time. They are on their 3rd re-sole, and have a hole in the bottom . Best pair of boots I have ever owned, and I was wearing them when I met my wife 36 years ago. Next to that are some gray Justin Ropers from about 1984- another good pair of boots. And the square toed ones are Ariat that I got for my birthday a couple of months ago. I have only worn them a couple of times, so the jury is still out on those.

I don't ever wear a cowboy hat any more - but seldom leave home without a ball cap on, as I am follically challenged. I do still wear boots occasionally.

[FRJ]

Here's my "Open Road".

[Colonel26]

Here's my "Open Road".

Now that’s a hat! I love the open roads from back when they still put the fedora bash on them. Used to see them a lot down here in the southeast.

Mostly anymore I wear one of three Tilley hats, an airflow in the summer, a hemp canvas one in cooler weather, and a wool fedora in the cold. Those Tilley hats may not be as stylish as the cowboy hats, but they’re light, lifetime warranty, crushable, and won’t blow off your head. I wore my airflow in the ocean for a week this summer. Never once blew off.

And when they get rank in the summer I can wash them.