Alamo Fast Draw

Image via Wikipedia

Alamo Fast Draw Episode 46:
LLedslinger: Yes I know gunfighter this posting of the Alamo Fast Draw show episode 46 is out of order but the last posting was about John Stetson and Stetson hats. During the last show we talked about Stetson hats so I decided to add this conversation with the extra information that came up during the discussion
LLedslinger: I had asked earlier in the show about Stetsons thanks to Blackbird we finally got back on the subject after getting off track for a while. So here is that discussion.
Dave Livingston: I think the early Stetsons, they called them the Boss of the Plains,that was the style. I've got a photo of Wyatt Earp and Virgil Earp it was taken in December of 1881 and those guys their clothing and their hats have nothing to do with this Montana slope or Gus or what ever. Their hats look just like the an old Boss of the Plains and they had coats on town coats a guest to call them really crude looking nothing stylish. That took a picture of a picture in Tombstone and the Birdcage theater and it was Wyatt Earp and Virgil Earp and I think John Clumm in December of 1881 which of course would have been after the gunfight. Their clothing the kind of almost resembles some of the early 20th century clothing of seen it was just real plain and their hats were plain.
LLedslinger: There's an article up on Alamo Fast Draw.com right now and at the end of the article that it has a little story I heard years ago or read years ago I don't remember where about Tom Mix and a Stetson hat he ordered.
Blackbird: I think I could say something about that. The Stetsons made today, I don't know about the 19th century Stetson because there is a lot of mythology concerning them but most of those today running up to about seven X. You don't want them in the rain when their new, they are quite serviceable after a rain but they don't have quite the shape or finish that they had before. You have to get up into the 10X and beyond ranges of quality and Stetson doesn't make a lot of models like that, mainly they are special order. I talked with a man named John Siegrest who for many years supplied the hats for Duke Wayne and I got a good idea of where those ideas came from, those were very special orders for a special hat. Unless it was a very high percentage of beaver fur you're not going to get a hat that will stand up to rain.
LLedslinger: Isn't it a 20X that means it's pure fur.
Blackbird: Well what it what it used to mean, it's meant different things over the years but what to 10X used to mean was Stetsons best hat and by their best hats it meant it had 100% of the amount of beaver that should be in a hat along with Nutria or other furs to make up a fine hat. If you are trying to make a hat pure beaver it would be too soft, it would hold up to anything but the brim would blow all over the place like a flag so what 10X meant was as much as you would want in a fine hat. That's not a scientific definition I know but that so I came to understand it from the people who work for them.

If any of you Gunfighters would like to hear more of this interveiw you can listen to episode 46 on the audio player(red) on the right side of this page. If you would like to join in the show live or listen live to the Alamo Fast Draw show or call 1-724-444-7444 show#16056. Whether you are a gunfighter or not its a fun show.