Projects
Hat making projects documented here are part of learning, practicing, and preserving the craft. Each project record follows a hat, tool, restoration, experiment, or other workshop undertaking from its starting point through the work itself and, when applicable, its final result.
These are not simply finished-work showcases. The records include the decisions, problems, revisions, observations, and lessons that emerged along the way.
Hat Making Projects Archive
2026
100% Beaver Pork Pie
Hat Making · Completed October 2026
A 230 g western-weight 100% beaver fur felt hat completed during the Walton, Kentucky workshop. The project documents blocking, pouncing, sweatband preparation and installation, brim cutting, trim, final shaping, and the finished hat.
100% Rabbit Pork Pie
A 230 g western-weight 100% rabbit fur felt hat completed during the Walton, Kentucky workshop. The project documents pouncing, brim cutting and edge refinement, sweatband preparation and installation, trim, final shaping, and the finished hat.
Vintage Dobbs Fedora to Pork Pie
A vintage Dobbs fur-felt fedora reshaped into a low-crowned pork pie through repeated shaping, wear testing, liner replacement, and trim refinement. Although it was the fifth project number assigned, it became the first completed hat project in the workshop—and the first to carry the Maker’s Sword.