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The Rocky Mountain Ranger 

Try as we might we've been unable to find any other crown working like this. That's not to say it's never been done - but we can't find any record of it. The design came about by pure happenstance - by Longfellow's attempt to fashion a crown shape reminiscent of a ridge of the Alberta Rocky Mountains. We feel this back crease beautifully compliments the 3 pinch creasing we've worked the front of the crown with. The crown shape can best be seen in the top view to the left. And now you've got a choice of 5 different custom hat bands for your Custom Rocky Mountain Ranger. Click for how we make your hat. :: Our Hat Experts

The original Rocky Mountain Rangers
In 1885 the Riel Rebellion inflamed the Canadian West - and in response militia units were formed throughout the Northwest Territories of Canada. One unit was organized and commanded by a former Cavalry Captain, John Stewart, in 1885. Stewart called the group the Rocky Mountain Rangers, and the unit was made up of 3 troops of 40 men each. The Rangers were composed of former Mounties, Military men, but most were American cowboys who were working ranches in the Medicine Hat area. :: Testimonials

The 1885 Rangers lasted only 3 months, and never saw any action. Called the "Tough Men" by the towns folk of Medicine Hat, the troop spent their time on long, dull patrols and amused themselves by getting drunk and annoying as often as possible the Halifax Provisional Battalion that was stationed nearby. The name: Rocky Mountain Rangers were resurrected in 1900 and to this day remains the name of a prestigious Canadian Infantry Regiment.

1885 South Alberta Light Horse
The original Rocky Mountain Rangers became The South Alberta Horse and now the South Alberta Light Horse and are the direct dependence of the 1885 Rocky Mountain Trooper and they continue to carry the Battle honor on their Battle Flag, Northwest Canada 1885. - our thanks to Jim Ogston; Historian for the South Alberta Light Horse, for adding to our understanding.
Sassy Ladies :: Movie Hats :: Movie Hats Two :: B-Movie Hats :: Old West Cowboy Hats :: Old West Hats :: Cowboy Hat Home
Questions and quote requests should be e-mailed to
ORDERS CALL TOLL FREE: 1-866-207-1909.  :: Overseas buyers please read this :: All Our Contact Info
ORDER DESK HOURS: M-F: 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM MOUNTAIN TIME. IF YOU GET VOICE MAIL LEAVE A MESSAGE!

OUR STANDARD DELIVERY IS STILL 6- 8 weeks for our quality hand made cowboy hats.
For a complete listing of all our hats - click this link for our online catalogue.
The Last Best Cowboy Hat. One of a kind Fur-Felt Art.

Custom Hat Bands for The Rocky Mountain Ranger
Traditional Cowboys would often personalize their cowboy hat by making their own hat band to suit the look of the hat and their personality. Now you can do the same. Except we'll make it when you buy our ROCKY MOUNTAIN RANGER HAT. Select your leather color; Buckskin, Black, or Brown; then select your side concho, Indian head penny, replica buffalo nickel, or a lone star. Or you can have a braided (2 or 3 strand) leather hat band, or we can do a simple, elegant band, using our custom antler slider wind string. That's a passel of different choices to personalize the hat your way. Using top-notch leather hide for the hat band, with it's unfinished edge, adds that final authenticity to a quality custom hat.

Special Custom:
If you have a button, insignia, small badge, or pin that means something to you, and you'd like it incorporated into the hat band, we can do it, but it will be extra. The item should be not more than an inch - inch and a half in diameter, and not too heavy. E-mail us your questions to: Orders call toll free in North America: 1-866-207-1909

FOLKS! OUR CUSTOM HAT BANDS ARE NOT SOLD SEPARATELY - ONLY WITH OUR HATS.

         Rocky Mountain Ranger Custom Hat Bands
  1. Indian Head Penny - Custom Collectable Hat Band
    Not only can you choose the color of your leather (buckskin, black, or brown) but you can select the pennies year. To us the old west years were from 1866 (start of the texas longhorn cattle drives) to 1908 (Butch and Sundance die in Bolivia). Our best suggestion is to choose a year that means something to your family, or you. The penny has value and is collectable (range is average to VG), but because we adapt the penny for the hat band, it's value becomes transferred to the band. The penny is not buffed or polished in any way, and you should leave it as is as well. Penny looks best on the buckskin, where it's dark brown color stands out against the lighter leather. First image in rotation above shows the custom Indian Head Penny hat band. First come first to be served . Choose from these years. 73/1881/82/83/84/89/90/91/92/93/97/98/99/1901/03/04/06/07/08.

  2. Replica Buffalo Nickle is used for the side concho, and the silver color looks best on the black, then the brown, and finally the buckskin leather.

  3. Lone Star Concho is the largest of the three conchos and the gold color looks excellent on the black, brown, and buckskin buffalo leather. Nice thing about black is it looks good on any hat, regardless of color.

  4. Wind strings often doubled as the hat band in the old west, and our custom stampede string looks excellent in that role. Click here to see it on our Custom Western Movie Hat - The Conagher. You can see it on the Rocky Mountain Ranger by holding your mouse over the image at right. The leather thong can be wrapped around the crown as often as you want to get the desired thickness. Polished antler slider adds authenticity to the entire look. Simple yet elegant.

  5. Your last choice is a two or three strand braid of leather, tied off at the back, similar to what Duvall had for a hat band in Lonesome Dove.  See it in the right view, in the image rotation above.

Custom Hat Bands and Stampede String
ABOUT BEAVER FUR-FELT :: PROPER HEAD MEASUREMENT :: TESTIMONIALS :: ABOUT US :: SHIPPING POLICIES :: RETURN POLICIES :: CONTACT US
Happy New Year and all the best in 2012!

ORDER THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN RANGER CUSTOM COWBOY HAT
Hat shown at top is in dyed natural color in 50% beaver fur-felt. Hat Band is 1" Leather in a buckskin color,
with an 1883 Indian Head Penny for a concho. The closest to the natural color in 5X is Sahara.
All customers are contacted within one business day to confirm which custom hat band they want.

FInd Your SIze :: Color Choices :: About Beaver Fur-felt.

5X Price: $325.00  Shipping: $35.00  Total: $360.00 USD | Order Now | Checkout | Did you read our ordering procedures?

20X - 50% Beaver Fur-Felt Price: $445.00 | Shipping: $35.00 | Total: $480.00 | Order Now | Checkout

100X - 100% Beaver Fur-Felt Price: $655.00 | Shipping: $35.00 | Total: $690.00 | Order Now | Checkout

Hat Retainer

Wooden Hat Stretcher/Retainer FITS SIZES 6 7/8 - 8
We recommend all customers who buy our hats, get a hat stretcher. Its a small cost for a tool that will keep ALL your hats fitting properly. As well, if you only wear your hat seldom; or have a number of hats you wear, you will find our wooden hat stretcher a valuable addition to maintaining the perfect shape of your custom cowboy hat.

Order any hat in PURE BEAVER {100X} fur-felt and we'll include a wooden hat stretcher at no extra cost. New hat purchases only.

Order with your hat
Our hat customers pay only $19.50 when they buy a stretcher with their hat. You can easily add the hat stretcher to your custom cowboy hat order during the checkout process.

HAT STRETCHER FITS SIZES 6 7/8 - 8. PRICE: $25.00 :: Shipping: $13.00 | TOTAL: $38.00 USD Order Now | Checkout

Custom Hand Made Hatbands

Freshen the look of your favorite old hat with a new custom hat band from The Last Best West. Introduced in the spring of 2011 our hatbands are all made by hand, and have that authentic Cowboy flavor to help you stand out from the herd. We still won't sell the custom hat bands that go with our great hats, but here's a selection of 8 original hatband's to help you make your own statement.

We've adapted a horn slider so every hat band ties off at the back and is held in place by light pressure. It's surprising fast and you can easily take our hatband off and put it on a different hat. This design innovation gives a dang fine fit every time. :: Custom Hatbands

Sassy Ladies Cowboy Hats

Why should men have all the fun?
Over the years, many of the wives and girlfriends that have ordered hats for their cowboys, have asked when we were going to do some strictly ladies hats. - so here we go, and remember ladies; back in the day all women's hats had the bow on the right.

Exceptional Service from The Last Best West
Ladies, we will give you expert personal service designing your Traditional Old West, or Classic Western Movie Hat. If you don't see what you want - send us a picture - and we'll make our version of that hat.

Sassy Ladies Hats :: Testimonials :: Cowboy Hat Home

Custom Made For. . . .
All our custom western hat's are personalized with your name, initials, or moniker stamped in gold foil on the sweat band, inside the crown. No additional charge.

1898 Bow
This was the most common bow style of the 19th century. If you prefer this bow style for any of our hats, just request it when your hat details are confirmed via e-mail.

LADIES BOW
Back in the 19th century and the first 4 decades of the 20th century, when hats were a very common part of every day dress, women's hats had the bow on the right hand side. If you want the bow on the right - request it when your hat details are confirmed via e-mail.

Click for larger image .

Custom Wind String.

Heavy Latigo lace includes this polished, hand-made antler slider. Never lose your hat again with this handsome stampede string.

Add this custom wind string to any of our custom hats for 25 dollars during the check out process.

See more custom leather

BUY A WINDSTRING FOR $30.00

OUR MOST COMMON HAT QUESTION
Q: I'm looking for a ____ Hat. I checked your product catalogue and didn't see it. Can you make it?

A: Yes. As I'm sure you can appreciate it's just not possible to show all the different variations of crowns and brims. If it's made from fur-felt and you can supply us a good picture - yes we can make it. Generally we already carry the same style of hat, we just shape it based on the photo or if it's a movie hat we shape it from watching the movie and seeing the hat from all possible angles to get the look just so. We can do up to a 7" (inch) high crown and a 6" wide brim. Click for our other most common questions.

What you need to know to order with confidence
On our fact page you'll learn about fur felt, see available colors, and see step by step instructions for measuring your head, ordering your custom hat, shipping, and our refund policy. We also have a section on general hat care, and Cowboy Hat Etiquette. (not to be missed!)
Click here for all our Cowboy Hat Facts.

Custom Hat Customers
Want to order one of our custom made Last Best Cowboy Hats with a check or money order? Or maybe you have a friend or relative that would like to but doesn't have a computer. Now you can order one of our quality custom western hats by printing out an order form and mailing it in. Please click on this link for a pdf file you can save to your hard drive, and follow the instructions. If anything is unclear please call 1.866.207.1909 or email us at:

Questions and quote requests should be e-mailed to
ORDERS CALL TOLL FREE: 1-866-207-1909. 
:: Overseas buyers please read this :: All Our Contact Info
ORDER DESK HOURS: M-F: 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM MOUNTAIN TIME. IF YOU GET VOICE MAIL LEAVE A MESSAGE!

Mister Paxton has us blushing with his comments about his Custom Western Hat from The Last Best West, "Thank you for the excellent customer-service and good advice I received when ordering my Rocky Mountain Ranger hat! The hat arrived promptly, well packaged and the quality exceeded my expectations. This is a VERY nice hat. Having said that (and I just got a look at my wife’s pocketbook and shoe collection), please accept my order for an “Augustus” in bone, with the same material and size as my Rocky Mountain. Throw in a little soiling whilst you’re at it. Again, thank you for producing such an authentic and well-made product. You’All be hearing from me again. . . ." - Frank Paxton :: More Testimonials

 
Trail Dust
Many customers have been requesting that we dirty up their new hats to make them look trail worn. Pictured at right is a Dusty Augustus - our Augustus with about 2 years worth of trail dust - as if a working cowboy had been wearing it.

We've got three different degrees of trail dust. Light (add $55.00) - medium (add $75.00), and heavy (add $95.00). Light would be what you see at the left on the Dusty Augustus; medium would be like the dusting on the Rossiter; and heavy trail dust looks like our Josey Wales.

This is a similar process that costume designers apply to hats in the movies and t. v. Looks authentic and yer friends will swear yer just got off a trail drive, or a hitch in the Horse Cavalry! You can add trail dust during the check out process - or request it when you call your order in. Orders call toll free: 1-866-207-1909.

Dusty Augustus

A Note about Color
Color variances caused by individual computer monitors are beyond our control.
Light colors will reflect heat the best - while dark colors will retain the heat the most - with black being the worst for staying hot (black absorbs sunlight). However black is the most formal color so bowlers and top hats were generally black or dark gray. For the first 15-20 years cowboy hats were marketed - your choice of color was black and about 3 shades of brown.

Click the color for an example of a hat in that color

Bone Silver Mist Silver Belly Sand Willow Rust Black Charcoal Granite Chocolate Pecan Whiskey Undyed Natural Sahara Dyed Natural

True Old West Hats
Order your hat in 100X un dyed, pure beaver fur-felt, and be one of the first to hearken back to an era in hat making a hundred and forty years ago. The first cowboy hats were made from 100% beaver fur-felt, natural and un dyed, and unless the cowboy lost it or had it stolen - the hat lasted a lifetime. Watch the hat fade and lighten, become streaked from all weather wear, and become just as unique as the wearer. For an all weather hat - nothing beats a traditional western hat made from beaver fur - it's what old west cowboys wore.

Indian Riffle Sheaths: Mountain men and trappers were the first whites to wander the wild places of the west, and they soon learned the value of fine leather work from the Indians.

Four different quality levels to choose from. Show your style and carry your prized long-arm in a classic Indian rifle scabbard.

We promise to make no two custom pieces exactly the same - and our originality and individuality bring clients back time and again to our order catalogue.

Click for our custom sheath page.

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