****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
The hat is a remake of a hat I wore for 20 years. The crown is tall, the brim wide. The leather is medium thickness and is reasonably stiff. This is not a crushable hat (more on that later). Yes, there is a wire in the brim, so if you deform it, it will try to keep that deformation.The hat arrived in a box that was approximately 2-3 inches too short and at least two inches too narrow for the dimensions of the hat itself. The crown had a significant crush in it and the brim was bent heavily. After some debating, I decided to repair the hat and keep it, as I know how to repair deformation problems in such hats.The hat is not oiled properly. The leather feels completely dry, suggesting it has never been oiled. Even minor drops of moisture want to sink in immediately, leaving visible water stains. Invest in cotton proofing compound or mink oil and apply yourself if you buy this. The previous hat came pre-oiled, so this feels like a major quality drop.In my case, the size (XL) ran about a quarter to a half size small. Usually, I have the opposite problem, that XL hats run almost (but not quite) a quarter size large. I validated that it really was a XL label, but it felt like a slightly bigger large, not a standard XL. A couple hours with a hat stretcher appears to be repairing that though.The hat braid appears to be stapled in one key place to keep it from flying off. I think someone listened to other critiques here. The glue was still well fastened. Since my old hat, the glue has completely come off on the braid over the many years except one place where it is sewn into place, I'm not concerned.The leather is notably thinner than my old hat was. I say was, because the older hat is less than half the thickness it used to be, but it was daily wear in some harsh conditions.This is definitely a lower quality hat than my older one, but it's also the exact same price, despite inflation. There may be better hats out there, but I haven't found them, and the last one I tried drove me back to this hat.Mix of Indiana Jones Fedora and Classic Cowboy Outback. I do not wear hats but, as I was purchasing an Australian Drover Oilskin Duster, this was listed alongside it, and I impulse bought it...now I have yet to wear it outside, but thinking I like the look. I have long hair and if it were white (getting there but still just S&P with white streaks), I think I would look like Doc Brown from Back to the Future 3 (Funny enough that is also MY last name).Anyway when I get the gumption up to actually wear this, I think it will go over well.Well made, I already treated it with mink oil (I have a leather trench coat that I use it on and is great for maintaining leather and weatherproofing), size is perfect and although many have said it is heavy, it IS all leather so don't know what they expected, I think it feels fine and doubt it would blow off my head as I will definitely be using this during Monsoon season here in AZ! Will also go great with either my trench or my new duster.On the few people who have said they had water issues, I am probably not the best person to be a judge for that living in the desert, but it DOES in fact rain here (short, but torrential, usually followed or preceded by a wall of dust!) and I will have to see how it holds up when the rare circumstance I am in both hat and rain occurs. Like I said, I have waterproofed it with mink oil, but mainly did that for general conditioning and protection.Again, new to the hat thing, but having it in hand, it is definitely a quality product.Great quality hat! The leather is nice and thick yet doesn't feel like a horse saddle!But two things to watch for (And this is not the fault of the seller or amazon) But if you got a large head you really must order the XXL, I stuck with the XL thinking that would be good enough but can barely squeeze it on enough so any wind gusts won't make it fly off...I was going to return it but I missed the 30 day mark. So just a heads up (I made a funny!) get the larger one if you're a big guy.. I'm about 6' 250 LBS pretty big guy... When i can scrape up the money I'm definably going to buy the XXL in the near future...You won't be disjointed,,, just get it.. Oh one more thing though, You will need Mink Oil (On the left side of the main page for this hat you'll see the mink oil bundled with this hat) But if you don't get it bundled it's only like $8 separately) This will waterproof your hat... (I think the description it might say water resistant or proof but I didn't want to take any chances)....Recommended!Unique to this hat: The brim stiffener is rather light and springy, unlike over versions of this design, which I've owned, by other manufacturers. It has a strange, shiny coating, which one would think might repel water. One would be wrong though. It doesn't. And it makes it difficult (but not impossible!) to seal it with oil.Not unique to this hat: The stitching is apt to unravel. The decorative band is poorly glued/stitched and will absolutely fall off. Without treatment, it's anything but waterproof. This is a heavy hat. And durable.Overall: this is close enough to other manufacturers, that at ten bucks cheaper, it's a damned good deal. The leather is basically good, and once the stitching is shored up and the whole thing treated with heat and mink oil, it's a perfectly serviceable all weather hat. Once oiled, it'll keep water out (or IN if you so desire!)Finally, a Australian walkabout hat with a solid crown which won't collapse like the crushable walkabouts more common today. It's about as thick as my lost 25-year-old walkabout, the closest I could find. I got size large for my 7 1/8 size head, anticipating a little shrinkage to my size; but it fit - it is accommodating my longer more narrow head shape. I mink-oiled it right away to avoid any shrinkage - another reviewer alerted me - and to ensure water-resistance. It has a wide brim and a slightly tall crown, and it's the right hat for me. The woven leather band around the crown is secured by stitching at the back and some silicon adhesive here and there, which releases perhaps due to oiling - I will re-secure it with some additional stitching.
