Pumicing or Pouncing
Pouncing is a term for rubbing down the outside of a hat with a piece of pumice stone, sand paper, or emery paper, whereby the hat is made entirely bare, smooth, and fine, resembling a piece of very fine cloth. These are generally called cassimere hats. This operation is usually performed after dyeing, and previous to finishing. Some makers, however, prefer to singe the hats instead of pouncing, but such hats never feel so fine as the others, as the singeing of any hair invariably produces a hard crisp burnt knob upon the end.