Popular Post preprius Posted July 25 Popular Post Posted July 25 I was given some wood that is 1700 years old, to make for a Father and Son Wooden Cowboy hats. I lumber yard has obtained and was certified licensed to cut up fallen tress old growth Sequoia from Sierra mountains. He viewed me wearing my hat and wanted a set of 2 hats made using Old Growth Sequoia. This is the first time I ever played with such soft wood. Redwood ( i have not played with) is soft, but this old growth is slightly softer. Working with it has it's own issues to resolve. Every time I messed with it, I noticed new dents and scratches. I found that it was my finger nails. Constantly sanding out the scratches. At one point you have to just ignore the scratches and finish the project. The cowboy hats I have made in the past start out with 0.75 inch thick hard wood. This gives the stacked rings (board-to-bowl technique) about 0.12" thick glue surface. Since the very soft wood of Sequoia I wanted a slightly wider glue surface. So I started with 1.25" thick board , now that gave me 0.178" glue surface. When I start cutting the board into rings, I have the mindset of focus get in the zone of precision follow the lines that conform to the customer head. I only track time after I am done with each cut of the ring. All my previous hats each ring takes 40min to 1hr 10 minutes. Sequoia hats took 9 mins per ring. Like I said I don't worry about speed while cutting. I just go with the accuracy of line cutting. But wow, nice and fast. Because I started with 1.25" I only need 4 rings total for a 5 inch tall hat. Before 6 rings. 7 to 9 hours on previous hats just got to 40 minutes on Sequoia hats. I have a few more notes I took during this project if anyone is curious just reply and I can paste them. The top artwork was given to me to resize and cut, symbolizes father son Sequoia Trees. Me. Mark Eason FrankEV, JackJones, MarieC and 8 others 7 1 3 Quote
Peter N White Posted July 26 Posted July 26 Would be good to see how you do these because they look great. Quote
preprius Posted July 26 Author Posted July 26 (edited) Start right here on the village. then start asking questions on areas you need help on. Here is the link to the "how to"... Edited July 27 by preprius heppnerguy 1 Quote
artisanpirate Posted July 27 Posted July 27 Fantastic Work! My buddy Jerry Measimer turns the wooden cowboy hats on a lathe but, I've never seen one made in this manner. Great Work! Quote
preprius Posted July 28 Author Posted July 28 (edited) On 7/27/2026 at 2:32 AM, artisanpirate said: Fantastic Work! My buddy Jerry Measimer turns the wooden cowboy hats on a lathe but, I've never seen one made in this manner. Great Work! you should make a confortable wearable pirate hat. Edited August 3 by preprius artisanpirate 1 Quote
heppnerguy Posted August 26 Posted August 26 I love the creativity here and the end product. So very original. Dick heppnerguy Quote
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