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First Attempt at Cocked Hat

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Nice work! The bottom one is great! I have a hawk feather I finally found a use for
 
FWIW and I know opinions will vary, but I copied a Continental Marine "Round Hat" in the 70's and found it almost worthless, except for being correct for that impression. The remaining brim in front was just not large enough to do much of any good at shading the eyes in the sun. After that, I got another hat blank and trimmed the edge a bit, but not as much as the round hat.

Oh, I competed with both my Siler Flintlock Rifle and my larger Brown Bess Flintlock and never had a problem with anything bouncing off the brim back into my eyes with that larger brimmed hat.

Other folks' experiences may have varied from mine, but no more typical round hats for me.

Gus

Oh, I do like the Tri Corn you made.
 
773.10.1.1.1%20Hats_zpswvteknao.jpg


:wink:
 
Rifleman, I was anticipating the heat of the flash being deflected back into my face. Doesn't appear to be a problem from what most have said here, though.

Spence, well shoot that's good to know about the feather. Thanks for letting me in on that.

And cool picture Stophel! The Vogue of the 1700s haha. They were very concerned with appearances I'm finding.

Reckon I might play with this one some more or acquire another blank. Saved a bunch DIY so can do that later. As Loyalist Dave keyed me in on, it's truly custom making it yourself
 
I was off the Forum for a bit, and Spence beat me to it about the hawk feather. It is also a violation of Federal law. I had a friend at work who was a member of the Leni Lenape/Delaware tribe, and had a federal permit to possess raptor feathers for traditional ornamentation. All of a sudden Indians started getting arrested and fined for possessing the feathers.

I found a Cooper's hawk that had killed itself flying into one of my windows, and I called my friend and offered it to him. He told me the above, and wanted nothing to do with it.

Then I called my daughter, who works for the Audubon Society, to see if she could use it, and she said she would need to get papers from the Gov't authorizing her possession for educational reasons.

I left it in the back yard, to feed the wildlife.
 
SgtErv said:
And cool picture Stophel! The Vogue of the 1700s haha. They were very concerned with appearances I'm finding.

People not being "concerned with appearances" is actually a VERY modern phenomenon. Only since the cultural Marxist revolution of the late 60's have we had the "anything goes" mentality, and even still, "fashion" still holds much sway over how we dress.

It wasn't all that long ago when men wore hats, suits, and ties virtually everywhere, all the time.

That said, there actually IS a lot of variation in 18th century mens' clothing (even more in women's, of course). Many today tend to look at the 18th century man and think he must have virtually worn a uniform. Look through enough period images, and you'll see that's not the case. It's the modern clothing vendors that are making the "uniforms"! :grin:

As to the hats in the picture, yes, most are exaggerated for comic effect, but there are two apparently military men (first row, #2, and last row, #3) who are rather well rendered who are wearing very realistically-drawn "fantail" cocked hats, which were the height of military fashion of the Revolutionary period (the brim is cut so that the rear portion is wider than the rest). I like the third guy, first row, and his flat crowned hat with the brim turned up in the back.
 
Hey SgtErv,

That's not a problem at all. I've done Rev War reenactments for about 15 years and will typically go through 30-40 rounds per engagement in a day and it's never even been a concern.

Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:
Dan
 
That is good to know. Thanks. I might do a round hat as well for sunny days. Couldn't quite resist a cocked hat for the first one though :grin:

I watched a couple of videos of slow motion flintlocks and saw that the flash shot forward a bit instead of in a sphere as I'd imagined.
 
Here's my ugly little hat.

round%20hat%20001_800x597_zpse8mkoy88.jpg


Oh, and yes, the hemp rope will shrink! Wear it for a while, get it wet and let it dry (and re-loosen it!) before tacking it in place! :haha:
 
Very interesting thread, just happened to stumble across its existence. Nice job SrgErv, certainly agree it's better than a melon tank for sure...

I actually just purchased a blank in heavy wool felt, hats are a venture I'm not familiar with but I thought it's probably not off the grid to think a Native American along the way surely picked up a fallen milita/ soldiers hat and adorned it onto ones head from time to time. Figured I'd give it a go. Excellent examples from all.
 
Using steam from the iron makes it fold a lot easier. If you mess up you can steam it again to reform it. The round needle helped a ton getting the lining in there, too

Having seen some of your work I don't expect you'll have any issues haha
 
Thanks for the advice, good tip! The iron works wonders, last time I used it my wife called because she couldn't find it... Well I took it to work so I could iron the flags I have hanging in the cargo bay of my plane. Boy I got allot of laughs bringing an iron to work! I'm now iron man, works for me!

Also, thank you for the kind compliment sir, appreciate it.

I'll end up leaving the band out as I like the loose fit. Probably do a single fold on the left, along with trimming the brim down substantially. Of course I'll end up doing a beadwork wrap along with turkey feathers.
 
I got an extra 1/4 inch to put the band in, as I also like a looser fit. The brim will likely need trimmed if it's from Crazy Crow.

Awl punch the holes, tie in some lace. Piece of cake. You may want your lace a little longer to keep more of the brim cocked, if that makes sense. I placed a second lace to the rear of the one pictured, too. Going in an "x" on the inside secures it well, I found.

I'm going to be doing another one, certainly, with just one side cocked. I will likely be spending some time unarmed so may keep it a slouch hat
 

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