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.
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.
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 STILL6- 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
100X
- 100% Beaver Fur-Felt
Price: $655.00 | Shipping: $35.00 | Total:
$690.00 | Order
Now | Checkout
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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