Hat's

[swamprat]

Before I went in the Marines I never wore a hat.This from a boy who grew up on the Kansas plains and put up hay in the summer. Once in the Marines I found out it was called a cover and have worn one ever since. I can't go outside without a bill over my eyes. Not only does the sun hurt my eyes but I feel plumb nude without one. I have seen all the bash the red-neck jokes about having a dress baseball cap. Let me tell you. I got one! I have a formal cover and a work cover. Formal is NRA lifetime member, jet black with gold pipeing. Work has two bullet holes in the front and say's, "My gun cleaning hat". I am not bald but am sure thinning ,so I don't ware to cover-up a bald spot. Just wondering how many other RED-NECKS are out there. Part-timers may chime in (weekends, hunting, vacation). You got a favorite hat? Let's hear about it. If you got the capabilities post a picture.

I would really like to see some work hat's or at least hear about them.

Also favorite hat's that have passed over and gone to a greater reward.

One I dearly miss is the cover I wore I Viet Nam.

 

Swamprat

[724wd]

yeah, i wear hats. i have my lucky hunting hat, a half black/half camo RMEF hat (lucky for a couple years now, previous was a RMEF blue worn out thing), fishing hat is a khaki boonie hat, work is a visor so my headphones doesnt hit the button on top, everyday hat is a grey flexfit with the logo of an organization i was involved with for a while. i didnt get a life memeber hat from the NRA with my membership. all i got was a patch and some decals.

[AzRednek]

If I'm going to be working in the sun, I have a mesh pith helmet. I hear "hey mailman" or "Jungle Jim" wise cracks but I don't give a shoot. When I was in the uniform business I couldn't keep enough in stock selling them to postal workers. The bureaucrats in DC decided Arizona mailmen didn't need the mesh but approved a solid plastic pith helmet instead. These are the same DC bureaucrats that sent sweaters, heavy long pants and ties to Phoenix postal workers in June for a 90 day test run test run.

 

The manufacture of the mesh helmets, a Vietamese refugee, through a congressman got the Post Office to approve the mesh helmets for use in southern states but by then 80% of the ground pounders were already using them anyway, bascially by saying screw the rules. The bureaucrats approved light grey color only but the postal workers continued to wear white anyway and a few women wore pink.

 

The pith helmet not only keeps sunlight off your face, it protects from sunburn on the back of the neck and ears. The mesh design keeps air moving in and out, which may not seem important but when one is standing in direct sunlight in 110 degrees in makes a huge differance. A mist sprayer aimed at the helmet acts like an evaporative cooler, keeping the head and entire body cooler.

[FC]

I don't tend to wear caps or hats, but have to wear my Saddam beanie for the Army.

I do have two Stetson's- one felt, and one straw. It's straw season right now.

[littlecanoe]

I guess I'm a redneck.

Most of the time it's a baseball cap for me. I've stopped wearing it in the house but just like a cap. I have a Columbia Boonie with vented crown for summer wear and sun protection. A Filson Aussie Oil Cloth for some winter and rain protection. My son is 2.5 yo and he just started wearing a cap about 3-4 months ago. It was his Idea. He took over my favorite Kentucky Wildcats cap! But I love it.

 

AZ, Do you have a brand name or a link to that pith helmet? My GP used to wear a solid one when he was out on the tractor farming. Sounds like the right thing for a hot humid summer.

 

lc

[Doble Troble]

I need a pith helmet too!

 

I've been wearing a straw cowboy hat - and get beaner comments that I dis regard. I still sweat out here with the cowboy hat, and its big enough to get in the way. Maybe the Brits had it right.

[fritz]

I would feel naked without a hat (or a cover as the Marines call it). I am a man of many hats. I have a work hat (a western straw), a dress hat (a silver belly Stetson), a golf hat (a Cockney in the winter, a straw in the summer), and have been seen wearing a few of the old caps that tractor dealers used to give out for free (after buying a 50 grand baler).

 

Here is what I wear for the fun of it----

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/fritz/pancho.jpg

 

 

Not practical, but usually gets a laugh. In my younger days, I wore baseball caps for long days on the tractor (I had several straw hats blow off and go through the harvesting machine). But after having several skin cancers removed from my ears, I wear wide brimmed hats now. The skin cancer will not show up until many years after exposure to the sun.

 

fritz

[roscoedoh]

I'm a ball cap guy. Here lately, I've been wearing the cap that the VP of the company I work for gave me for answering a question that he couldn't. Its a good looking ball cap and what you might consider a "dress cap."

 

I have a couple black ball caps that I wear around and when working outside. Both of them are SFA hats that I bought and wore out while I was in college.

 

When it rains, I have an Aussie slouch hat that I wear because it keeps my head dry. I'm thinking of getting rid of it though because its about "___" much too small and gives me a headache. I'm thinking about buying a hat like this buffalo ridge because I like the style and its felt so I can shape it.

 

I've got a black felt Stetson that I wear out when I go honky tonkin'. I used to wear the hat, boots, and big belt buckle, but I guess I grew out of that.

 

Lastly, I usually wear an OD green wool watch cap when I go hunting. That or camouflage ball cap. I have lots of "gimme hats" I've picked up here and there and lots of them are camo.

 

 

 

[karlunity]

I have an old utility cover that I wear to run or to do yard work.

 

The darn thing is groody but I cannot bring myself to get a replacement.

 

Karl

[ShooterTom]

I don't normally wear hats except when cutting the grass, After spending two weeks in Florida without wearing a hat my nose was the color of a strawberry.

 

So before taking My Son to San Antonio to Sea World for his Birthday.

I went looking for a hat, Cabelas wanted around 30.00 for a boonie type hat.

I wasn't willing to pay that so I picked up one that was nicer at Academy for 9.99.

It worked great even when a thunderstorm blew through.

 

 

[fritz]

I have a few caps and hats hanging over the desk.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/fritz/caps-1.jpg

 

The little sombrero on the left is a token from a shopkeeper in Progresso, Mexico. The red cap is a Red Adair cap from a friend who worked with him in putting out the fires in Kuwait. The black hats I usually don't wear, only bad guys wear black (although it is in fad now). The white visor in the middle is a golf visor endorsed by Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gary Player, and Billy Casper. Old guys. And then the old John Deere cap, which cost me more than any cap should have.

 

But it was free.

 

fritz

[ShooterTom]

fritz I know about "free" hats. We bought my Wife a Ford Expedition. They "gave" us four "free" Ford hats, with the dealer logo on it.

They "gave" them right after we wrote the check of course.

 

 

Tom

[fritz]

Tom,

 

What grabs me is that the tractor dealers now charge for those old "gimme" caps. I saw them at the John Deere dealership asking $12.95. A John Deere straw hat was 20 bucks.

 

I got a golf straw at Academy for $9.99. The funny part is this----it says "Austin Golf" on the sweatband, then made in China! I guess there must be a city called Austin in China.

 

Hell, they probably got one called Dallas too. Remember the time, long ago before foreign goods were popular, they would put the letters "made in usa" on them? Small letters---usa---must have been some third world country.

 

Or just a hoax. The USA has always been a sucker for cheap goods.

 

 

fritz

[swamprat]

Keep'em comin! I knew I wasn't the only Red Neck.

fritz,

That little lettered usa was a small island off the coast of Japan. Pronounced USE-A.

 

Swamprat

[ken98k]

I've got a few but only one hunting hat that's my favorite.

[AzRednek]

I guess I'm a redneck.

 

AZ, Do you have a brand name or a link to that pith helmet? My GP used to wear a solid one when he was out on the tractor farming. Sounds like the right thing for a hot humid summer.

 

lc

 

Can't read it, its worn out. I think it was something like Soafa Enterprises. You can buy one at any non-medical uniform store that caters to police, security and postal. Don't let them talk you into the plastic or pressed flannel, insist on a mesh.

 

 

[Jimro]

It's funny, my wife has been temping at a Hat company for the last few months...

 

I didn't start wearing hats until I joined the Army, and I dislike the beenie because it doesn't have a bill. I guess it looks cool or something....

 

My favorite hats are both "Stitch" hats from Disneyworld, the little blue alien experiment from "Lilo and Stitch". The rest of my hats are all "gimme" hats, most of them military oriented.

 

Jimro

[Horsefly]

I have little hair left,so I go without a hat as much as possible.My grandpas were both bald,and the top of their heads were snow white and looked so funny,so I decided I'd tan the top of my noodle.I wore caps and hats all my life,especially my welding and hay hauling years.Some of the more seasoned guys will remember when no one would even think of wearing a hat in the house.There was a hat rack by every door,and it was considered so rude to wear one inside,and you dang sure didn't go outside without it.My grandpa's would jump your butt if you walked in the house with a baseball cap on.Jerry

[roscoedoh]

Jerry,

 

Isn't it also rude to wear a hat in a restuarant? I was taught the same thing about wearing hats inside as you were and that it was a special no-no to wear one a restuarant. You sure see lots of people my age doing it though.

 

 

Jason

[Horsefly]

You bet it was bad manners to wear a hat in a restuarant.Any building at all.I remember being pretty small and forgetting to take my hat off,and walking through the door,someone slapped it off from behind,and me thinking"dang sure better be more careful''!My Grandpa decided me and my twin brother were big enough to help him sow oats.He wore stripped Tuff Nut overalls,blue chambray shirt,and a straw hat that was really straw,that had vent holes around the top,and a band of leather about 1/2'' wide weaved in and out on the ouside where the hat band was inside.One Saturday we took a bull to the salebarn,and when finished there,we stopped in the hardware store in Muenster,and he bought us a hat,shirt,overalls,and a pair of Broganes just like his.We wore the stuff out of the store 'cause I reckon he wanted everyone to see us.He stopped at Fishers grocery store and bought a 6-pack of Pearl and Dr.Pepper in the little bottle,and once out of town,he said boys,it's time to have one.He drank his beer room temp and figured Dr.Pepper could be drank the same.My brother drank his too fast and foam came out his nose,and man did we get a kick outa that.After we finished our beers,he pulled out his little tin of Garrets Sweet snuff and said it was time for a dip,and ours was in the glovebox.We sneaked snuff before and knew we wanted no part of it,be he had each of us one of the little cans like his,so he had to do what he said.Ours had Hershy's coa-coa powder and sugar in it,so we were so relieved,and we swallowed it.He put us on the grain drill and had us stirring it so it would go down the planters evenly,and we really thought we were a couple of bad-asses.He was the greatest Grandpa that ever lived.I still have my little snuff can,and Grandpa's too.Thanks Tom for the hat topic and bringing back such good memories.Jerry

[AzRednek]

When I went to the NRA convention in the early 80's. Just about all the vendors were giving hats away but all were very selective about whom got a freebie and who paid. Celebrities, and there were plenty all got freebies. The final day, my buddy and I brought family. My friend's tall, beautiful blue-eyed blonde 15 year old daughter that was blessed with huge ta-tas and had learned she had ability to manipulate men at about age 13 got her dad numerous hats, all gun related. Best my kids could do was gather patches. I managed to talk him out of a Beretta hat that I wore for years. A couple of years ago my friend sold an Iver Johnson and a Mauser hat on Ebay for well over a hundred for the pair.