How hard is it to bash your Adventurer? Not as hard as you think! David and Mike show you how a little steam is all you need to prepare you for your next adventure with Indiana Jones.
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The Indy Bash with Close-Up Photos
Akubra hats are designed to protect you from the sun and rain. The felt is dyed and no powders are added. This means that you do not have to worry that your hat will streak if it gets wet.
When you wear your hat in a brief shower, the water will first bead up — in a light rain, you may never see the felt absorb the water. In a heavy shower or a long walk in the rain, the felt will get wet. However, the water will not seep through the hat. Felt provides good insulation when wet, so you will remain comfortable.
Whenever your hat gets wet, let it air dry. Do not put it near a heat source, since heat may shrink the hat. Hang it on a hook, if possible. If you do not have a hook, rest it on its crown. Leaving a hat on its brim will flatten and distort the brim.
Below we’ve pictured David’s thirty-something year old Bushman. He wears it on his daily walk. In the Pacific Northwest, a hat is essential in the winter.
David’s dry Bushman.
Back from a walk, nice and wet.
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Is there something special about your David Morgan product that you want to tell others? You now have the opportunity to review it on our website!
The review includes an overall rating of one to five stars. You can also mention the pros and cons of the product.
If you want to say more, there is a comment section. Plus, add your own images and videos!
Will Morgan says that “We hope these reviews will not only help people find suitable products but also enable us to improve product quality.”
To write a review, go to the specific product on our website. Under the “Add to Cart” button, you will see a link to write a review. Click the link, and then click a second link that says, “Write a Review” under the “Review Snapshot” header.
Have fun!
With the coming of La Niña, much of the country is set to endure another season of cold temperatures. Stay warm this winter, both indoors and outdoors, with cozy items from David Morgan.
Koru socks are from New Zealand and made of possum fur. The feet are padded with grips in the shape of a koru, which means, ‘fern frond’ in Maori. The smooth fibers of possum fur have hollow cores and soft pointed ends.
Possum fur blended with Merino wool and nylon gives a strong, luxurious yarn that is extremely lightweight and soft. The yarn wears well, is easy to care for and resists pilling.
Our long underwear from Stanfield’s is made of 80 percent wool and 20 percent nylon. Wool is superior to synthetics for wicking away moisture while its anti-microbial properties keep odors from building up.
These will scratch at first, but trust us, after a few washes, they’ll be soft against your skin, keeping you warm and comfortable all throughout winter.
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Will Morgan recently finished another adventure to WESA (The Western and Equestrian Sales Association.) The trip from Seattle to Denver meant the opportunity to drive through some of the most beautiful country in the US.
Through seven states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah) the trip offered majestic scenery and plenty of wide-open spaces. The bright sunshine and wind showed the importance of having a hat. Speaking of wind, as they say in the west, if the wind stops blowing, everyone falls down!
Horses in Chico Springs, Montana
Our Akubra booth
Akubra hats and Karaka whips out on the floor
Jim in his Territory
Dilon Resevoir on the way to Vail, 8,700 ft
Near the Utah/Colorado State Line
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For those of you who love our kangaroo leather chinstraps but don’t have hooks in your hat, you can now use a David Morgan stampede string.
Identical to our chinstraps, except for the ends, they are light and durable. A sliding knot joins together the two, four plait braids. It is ideal for both our Heritage Collection and Panama hats.
Watch the video below to for instructions on attaching the stampede string. You can also get written instructions here.
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All of our Cavin Richie jewelry pieces are top sellers. Cavin captures the spirit of every animal he carves. Each is accurately detailed down to the texture of the animal’s skin or fur. His line includes birds, mammals and amphibians. For the past thirty years he has carved with shed elk antler and woolly mammoth ivory. These carvings became the basis for his lost wax casting jewelry.
We are pleased to offer these solid bronze lost wax castings. A patina complements the earthy metal, giving each piece a unique finish. The fishhook earrings have hypoallergenic (gray niobium) hooks.
Long-Eared Bat Pendant, available also as earrings.
Sea Turtle Necklace, also available as earrings.
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The new David Morgan catalog ships in early September. While we have many exciting new products that we think you’ll like, we can’t tell you about them just yet. But we can give you a small taste.
Black Traveller
The Traveller is one of our best-selling Akubras. It’s perfect as your ‘take-anywhere hat.’ The fabric is pliofelt, a fur felt that maintains its shape. You can push the crown down to fit inside a bag or suitcase and it will return to its original shape. Remember though that the brim contains a memory insert, so you cannot roll it.
Loon Cards
Our loon cards have arrived. The new version is slightly larger at five inches by seven inches. It is still printed on natural card stock. The loon’s reflection is stylized. By Marvin Oliver, whose work merges the spirit of past traditions with those of the present.
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Our hand-crafted chinstraps work great for hats with chinstrap hooks. But how can you take advantage of the quality of kangaroo leather when you don’t have hooks?
David Morgan’s new stampede string work simply by slipping the cotter pins underneath the sweatband and then bending the pins to keep the hooks in place.
Follow these simple instructions and you’re set!
Hold the cotter pins together and slide them between the stitches at the base of the sweatband. A pair of pliers can be helpful.
Pull them all the way through until the leather braid touches the sweatband.
Bend the pins outward, as close to horizontal as possible, so they will not slip back through the sweatband.
This is how it should look beneath the sweatband.
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In the days when hat stores were as common as coffee shops today, most hatters reserved a part of the store for renovating and shaping hats. While ninety percent of customers could walk out the door with a pre-blocked hat, the remainder needed extra shaping. Heads can range from slightly wide or long to potato-shaped.
The shape of the hat does not come from the crown. It is actually the brim that holds the shape. For example, when we steam a hat into a long oval, we smooth out the ripple that forms from deforming the shape of the brim.
The device used to modify a hat is called a conformitor. It is made up of two parts: the conformitor and the formillion. The conformitor sits atop the head, one quarter inch deeper than where the hat would sit. This pushes the keys out in accordance with the variations of the head, which moves the pins at the top.
A piece of paper called the conform is placed at the top and pushed onto the pins. Think of the paper as a negative. When removed, it is cut just barely outside the perforated ring. Then the formillion sits atop the paper conform. Each key is loosened and pushed inward till it just touches the edge of the paper. When all the keys are in place, the thumbscrews are tightened.
The formillion is placed inside of the hat after the brim has been warmed. Warming the felt softens the felt and makes it pliable.
Once inside, a device called a tolliker is used to push at the upper side of the brim. This smoothes out the brim, which then holds the crown shape.
The conformitor atop Will Morgan’s head.
Slipping the paper into place. The cork frame then is pressed down to get the conform.
Close-up of the conformitor with paper. The impression is called the conform.
Paper conform trimmed around the perforation made by the conformitor’s pins
Formillion keys aligned with the conform.
Formillion and conformitor
Conforms of various head shapes, taken from the book, “Scientific Hat Finishing and Renovating” by Henry L. Ermatinger, 1919. Many head shapes are uneven.
