The London Lounge

A couple of years ago I needed to acquire a top hat at short notice. Being a size 7 3/8 there were no second hand hats available and as budget constraints prevented buying a new silk hat I bought a black wool fur hat.

The salesman told me that it was possible to achieve a silk-like gloss by the application of beeswax to the fur.
Have any of the Members tried this, what products and techniques were used and what was the effect?

Thanks is anticipation

Andrew

There used to be a preparation for sealing hunting weight silk hats (someone produced a bottle on another forum) and it might be thsat Patey has some or could make it. However, any kind of polish is going to work only if the hat cloth has a decided nap. Maybe it would work on one of the beaver felts that have come back into use but I doubt whether anything would improve just unnapped black felt.
NJS

I assume this is a wool felt hat. If so, you can't polish it as it has no nap and is never meant to be polished as wool toppers are mourning hats thus requiring that they are not shiny.

Also, if you use beeswax on fur melusine or silk, it will kill the nap.