Akubra Woomera

[thundurchasur]

I had ordered a Sand Woomera last June during a sale and got the dreaded four month wait. When it finally arrived I was horrified when I realized how huge it was. I boxed it and... hid it from the wife.

A few months went by and I broke it out to give it another chance. A John T. Chance! It’s still a bit large, maybe need to be trimmed to 3.5”. But a woomera can make a pretty good John Wayne cavalry hat.

They definitely give you plenty to work with. I've been wearing mine open crown because I need to shellac it. I was suprised how soft the crown was on mine.

 

[NotHardly]

Did anyone see anything about a Heritage grade Woomera. I found only one post on Instagram about it. May be an exclusive from Strand Hatters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8IL-QgpoJN/?hl=en

I checked their site and saw nothing

 

[thundurchasur]

Did anyone see anything about a Heritage grade Woomera. I found only one post on Instagram about it. May be an exclusive from Strand Hatters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8IL-QgpoJN/?hl=en

I checked their site and saw nothing

Mine has "Imperial Quality" on the liner.

 

[NotHardly]

Mine as well. I have a Heritage Moonstone Fed iv and it is my most comfortable hat because of the sweat.

 

[Redshoes51]

Woomeras... Hats... Guitars...

Forums like this are Hell on my pocket book...

Having said that, I have a Woomera on the way to me... now to figure out how to bash it...

~shoes~

 

[Redshoes51]

I ordered my Woomera... it arrived... looks just like all of the others that have been posted...

That's a LOT of hat... and the possibilities are endless!!!

My question is... how could the brim be manipulated to get this look? I LOVE this hat...

Thanks in advance!!

~shoes~

 

[Gobi]

I ordered my Woomera... it arrived... looks just like all of the others that have been posted...

That's a LOT of hat... and the possibilities are endless!!!

My question is... how could the brim be manipulated to get this look? I LOVE this hat...

Thanks in advance!!

~shoes~

View attachment 252398

I kind of did that with mine. With a little more skill I think the curl could be made even deeper.

 

[Gobi]

 

[Redshoes51]

View attachment 252503

That looks GREAT!!

That's what I want to do to it...

Any tips to share as to how you did this?

Thank you for the photos!

BTW... cool looking Tele in your profile photo!

~shoes~

 

[Gobi]

That looks GREAT!!

That's what I want to do to it...

Any tips to share as to how you did this?

Thank you for the photos!

BTW... cool looking Tele in your profile photo!

~shoes~

Thanks! That's an American Vintage 58 tele. Great guitar.
As far as tips for the Woomera, I just worked it by hand with steam from an electric tea kettle. I did it a few years ago so it's hard to remember exactly. I do remember that it took a little time and patience. Work the large side rolls outward, keep that natural curl going as you work it out towards the edge of the brim. Coax the curl on the the front and back using your fingers. You have to encourage the curl on the front and back. The sides are a little easier since they already have a curled shape to them.

 

[David A Doss]

I had ordered a Sand Woomera last June during a sale and got the dreaded four month wait. When it finally arrived I was horrified when I realized how huge it was. I boxed it and... hid it from the wife.

A few months went by and I broke it out to give it another chance. A John T. Chance! It’s still a bit large, maybe need to be trimmed to 3.5”. But a woomera can make a pretty good John Wayne cavalry hat.

It's amazing. I look at all the professional hat makers and they never get this bash right. You sir nailed it. Congratulations. Very nice.

 

[Steve1857]

Had fun playing around with the bash on this, new to me, sandstone fawn Woomera.

Thanks for all the inspiration on this thread and on the Western thread, especially to @Hurricane Jack for a good piece of advice about how not to shape it.

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Another day of weather going from mist to rain, back to mist calls for a Woomera.

U

 

[justinwalker621]

 

[deadlyhandsome]

View attachment 572275

Looks nice.
There is an established Woomera thread so expect a bartender (site moderator) to merge the threads.

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/akubra-woomera.86749/page-10

 

[Hurricane Jack]

This winter reminds me of one about 6 yrs ago.

 

[wedgetail]

OK finally got a pick of my new one in its current state. Actually this was taken a bit before I went away, it's more dirty now. Problem with the dark colours is they show the dirt bad. Mid colours are best for dirt... Pretty happy with the bash, still needing to tame the brim. Haven't brought myself to ironing it yet...

Will update on the sombrero in the other threads

I loved that hat… unfortunately the Sombrero only lasted four years before the brim became too floppy for use.

Not sure what the feelings are about resurrecting a thread this old but… to keep this consistent I’m putting this in the Woomera thread. I’ve always felt the Woomera is the ultimate Akubra. A flagship, brand defining hat - revered by cattlemen working on small-country-sized stations in some of the most extreme conditions in the world.

So it was with severe irritation when went to replace my current (above mentioned - I started using this as a work hat in 2020, the crown is suffering and the brim has lost all rigidity so no good on a bike or horse when working cattle in the sun) Woomera I’ve discovered Akubra has dropped all its colours bar sand, which I don’t want. I seriously considered getting a sand and dying it but I chickened out given the enormous price rise since last buying an Akubra.

Seeing as there’s been a huge sea change for Akubra recently - dropping many classics and bringing in a heap of new styles (is there a thread here on this?) I had to familiarise myself with what’s now on offer. It turns out there is nothing else with the crown and brim dimensions. There are a few other local options but nothing with the felt quality, dimensions and colour in the price range.

So I ended up with one of the new “Big Smoke” models. Same brim width (102mm) as Woomera, essentially the same colour (Woomera Tanbark Brown, Bike Smoke Bitter Chocolate), but a lower crown - despite having subjectively the highest crown of the range. Once I opened the crown out I measured it at 155mm, the Woomera is 170mm. The Big Smoke (an inappropriate name for a rural orientated had?) comes with a routine cattleman bash and pro rodeo gutters - not my style, but the kettle makes this a non issue.

Like my previous Woomera I made a six plait round band to replace the felt one.

All up I really like this hat - the felt is really firm which I need for a work hat, and although I’d prefer a slightly higher crown it is still a good height and holds the (original
Akubra Border) bash well. Will see if I get 6 years from this one…

When I was a jackaroo two decades ago and got my first Woomera - my boss, a true old time Ringer said to me “you’d better live up that hat, there’s been a lot of good blokes with that hat”