The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-04-15
HOW FELT is MADE.
Legend Says St. Clement. the Hat-Maks
ers' Patron Saint, Was Its Discoverer.

Legend Says St. Clement. the Hat-Maks
ers' Patron Saint, Was Its Discoverer.
ST. Clement, the patron saint of hat
makers, and whose day occurs on the
esd of November, is said to have acct
dentally discovered felt. Starting or a
pilgrimage, he put some wool between
the soles of his feet and his sandals to
make his trip easier. The wool after
an interval became felt, owing to the
continued pressure to which it was sub
jected by the feet of the saint. st.
Clement was not the first to discover
felt, as it was really known long be-
fore his time, but the legend illustrates
the simple manner in which the mate
rial itself may be made.
Great improvements have been made
of late years in the felting industry.
Felt is composed of wool, fur or hair,
of which the tibers are so ~entangled
and interlaced that they can not readi-
ly be separated, and this is done with
out spinning or weaving. It's use for
caps hosiery, 1oor cloth, cloaks and
tents has long been known in the east
by the nomads of the desert. At pres
ent it is largely made from waste
wool, which is first deprived of it's
oil, then carded and placed in a ma
chine. Here it is kept wet with hot
water and subjected to a process of
beating by which the fibers are made to
move upon each other until the inter-
locking of their parts and the curling
of the fiber itself unite the whole into
a compact sheet of felt. The ''fulling'
of cloth is but a partial telling of wool
already woven. This felted wool is
used for carpets, carpet covers, coarse
hats, carriage Innings, pads in %saddlery,
shoulder pads for men, clothing. slip
pers and shoes and even for cloaks and
other garments. The cheapest wooden
rags and other articles are worked into
feltfor covering steam boilers. although
felt is being gradually superseded for
that purpose by asbestos. Roofing felt
is a coarse kind, usually coated and
filled with Goa tar, and sometimes with
tar and powdered slate. Felt stiffened
with deXtrine is used for making sur
geons splints. By far the most inn
portant use to which felt is put is that
of making hats. Technically, felt hats
are of three kinds-"plain soft, "''plain
hard" and mapped" or ''ruff1ed." The
quality of felt hats has a wide range
and in the finer and more expensive
qualities the entire body is composed of
fur. For commoner qualities a mixture
of fur and Saxony wool is used, and for
the lowest kinds wool alone is en-
ployed. The fur used by matters con-
sists principally Of the hair Of rabbits
technically called coneys) and hares,
with some proportion of nutria, mus
quash and beaver hair, and generally
the parings and cuttings that can be
obtained from furriers. Furs intended
for telling are deprived of their long,
coarse hair, after which they are treat
ed with a solution of nitrate of mer-
curry, an operation called c~arroting or
"secretage," which greatly increases
the felting properties of the fur. The
fur is then cut by hand or machine
from the skin, and in this state it is
!, delivered to the hat-maker. Rabbit fur
for hat-making now comes in large
quantities from Australia, and it is also
! largely collected in the United King
dom in northern Europe. A consider
able amount of rabbit fur is exported
from Great Britain to the United States.
Fashion and Tailoring.