The Making of Cowboy Hats
A felt cowboy hat is made in four basic steps: carroting, blowing, forming and shrinking. These steps are used by most cowboy hat makers, but may vary a little depending on the type of cowboy hat being made and type of finish the cowboy hat will ultimately possess. Each step requires highly skilled labor to turn light fluffy fur into a felt cowboy hat.
Carroting is the first process in making a cowboy hat. When using animal fur, only the soft, downy, under-fur is used. Long coarse hairs are removed, and the remaining fur undergoes carroting – a chemical process used to open the tiny barbs found on each fur fiber. These barbs lock together and only get tighter as the fur is exposed to water and steam.
After carroting, fur fibers are fed into a machine which separates the fur from other useless matter. This is called blowing. Out of the machine comes usable fur resembling gray cotton which is very soft and light. Portions of this fur are then weighed carefully for each cowboy hat before forming