Attaching Hat Brass

[UnionistMarylander]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

Santa brought me a wonderful Dirty Billy's hat for my impression. The material of the crown is much stiffer than that of my forage cap, and I wish to attach some hat brass to it.

How would I go about doing that? I was thinking something along punching a guide hole with a needle or a small nail, to insert the prongs into, maybe?

 

[Salterr]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

Santa brought me a wonderful Dirty Billy's hat for my impression. The material of the crown is much stiffer than that of my forage cap, and I wish to attach some hat brass to it.

How would I go about doing that? I was thinking something along punching a guide hole with a needle or a small nail, to insert the prongs into, maybe?

View attachment 533229

That would work for Insignia that has the stick pins. If it has loops you can bend them or stick a piece of material into the loop to keep it from backing out. That is how the soldiers did it, with strips of leather

 

[Dan Kohli]

A nail should do.

 

[Dan Kohli]

Otherwise pushing it in with a pliers works.

 

[G Low]

@HatEnjoyer will know, he probably has one or more of those hats in his collection…

 

[HatEnjoyer]

@HatEnjoyer will know, he probably has one or more of those hats in his collection…

I have quite a few hats in my collection, but I have yet to pick up a dirty billy's slouch (most of them are WWI era)! I think @Salterr hit it right on the spot. Use a nail to make holes for brass with split-pins and do the same for brass with loops, but make sure to insert a wedge of leather into each loop to fasten it to the hat.

My WWI German pickelhaube is a perfect example to demonstrate the latter option, but I currently have it disassembled for conservation, so here's a Hessen helmet sold by age of kings: