A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting / Including a Full Exposition of the Singular Properties of Fur, Wool, and Hair

A practical manual written by a professional hatter explains the materials, machines, and step-by-step processes used to make felt and other hats. It opens with descriptions of animal fibres, discusses fulling mills and historical and fashionable contexts, then gives detailed instructions on preparing, bowing, wet-felting, shaving, stiffening, ruffing, blocking, dyeing, pumicing, and finishing, plus silk hatting and forming machines. Emphasis is placed on the interplay of theory and practice, the physical behavior of fibres during felting, and practical shop techniques for producing various hat qualities and related felt goods.