I just bought an expensive hat yesterday - and on the inside label it says that the hat has “genuine fur felt.” It feels nice and velvety and all, but what is “fur felt”? Is it gulp fur with a close haircut?
There are two kinds of hat felt: wool felt and fur felt. The first is made from wool, the second from fur. Duhh.
Fur felt is better.
In the early days of this country beaver were trapped.That was the greatest drive to open the west,which began at the Cumberland gap IIRC
The pelts were used to make top hats.
You are right sethdallob,animal hide ,fur, with a butch hair cut.
IIRC, it is not the hide with a buzz cut, it is the hairs matted & pressed together. No skin remains (like with a fur coat). Wool felt is made in the same way.
TXLonghorn
I stand corrected
ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA
felting
consolidation of certain fibrous materials by the application of heat, moisture, and mechanical action, causing the interlocking, or matting, of fibres possessing felting properties. Such fibres…
The outer cuticle of wool and hair (fur) gives the fibre a serrated character. To test this you can hold a strand of hair in the middle between your two thumbs and index fingers. If you then try to move your hands apart, the fibre will slide one way.
Felting is the consequence of this serrated or barbed character. When a fibres move past each other one way the serrations prevent a full return. Simply bumping a ball of wool/hair gently, given enough time, can produce a felt with the density of wood. Industrial strength hair balls if you like.
Some hats are graded by the quality of the felt. The rating is given as a series of X’s and the term beaver is used. A 10X beaver hat would be more expensive and supposedly better quality than a 3X beaver hat. I don’t think they kill beavers to obtain the fur to make the felt. I think the felt is composed of sheep, llama, alpaca or other wool fibers. The term beaver has just remained as the rating system.
I don’t know if anyone raises beavers, shaves or shears them and then allows the pelt to grow out again. Sheep can be sheared but they don’t spend time submerged in water.