About Beaver Fur Felt
Beaver Fur Felt is dense and virtually waterproof. It consists of beaver and/or rabbit/hare fur blended with felt to produce a material that lasts 5-10 times longer than wool-felt.
A fine Beaver and Beaver blend fur-felt hat can be re-worked and shaped numerous times, with just a steam iron and a bit of patience. And is one of the finest materials from which to manufacture quality hats.
In theory a higher beaver content should be denoted by a higher X factor – but unfortunately there is no standard within the hat making fraternity – and a lot of confusion. On the Internet few hat sellers tell you what their fur-felt is comprised of – not to mention that we have even seen straw hats promoted as 100X. As a general rule of thumb if a hat maker just describes their hat bodies as fur-felt, chances are it’s rabbit or Hare.
Hat makers who use beaver fur-felt are proud of it and will state so. We sell 3 quality beaver blends for our fine western hats – 5X, 20X and 100X. 5X is a blend of about 5% beaver with rabbit and felt. Our 20X is 50% beaver and our 100X is pure 100% beaver fur-felt.
For an all weather hat you can’t beat a pure beaver cowboy hat. Light, stiff and fabulous looking it’ll shed what ever comes its way. And consider this if you want a water resistant material: Beavers live in the water, rabbits in the dirt.
True Old West Hats
Order your hat in 100X undyed, pure beaver fur-felt, and be one of the first to hearken back to an era in hat making a hundred and fifty years ago.
Because it has no dye in the hat body, the sun will fade the hat over time, giving it character and making it just as unique as its owner.
The first cowboy hats were made from 100% beaver fur-felt, natural and undyed, and unless the cowboy lost it or had it stolen – the hat lasted a lifetime. For an all weather hat – nothing beats a traditional western hat made from pure beaver fur – it’s what old west cowboys wore.
Questions? E-mail us: [email protected]
Crown and Brim Measurements
We make custom cowboy hats so the crown and brim measurements are pretty much redundant. The hats you see online are our standard hats, if you want a specific crown and brim height we will confirm that after your order is received.
The largest hat we can make has a six (6″) inch crown and a five (5″) brim.
Any hat with a brim width of more than 4 inches we must start with an oversized hat body, which adds a little to the cost. Most of our cowboy hats have a crown height between 5 and 6 inches and a brim width of 3 1/2 to 4 inches. The hat styles shown with a wider brim include the Wasey, Quigley, Everett Hitch, Little J, many of our Rodeo Cowboy Hats and all our B-Movie hats.
Some Re-enactor friends of The Last Best West
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Big Heat Handmade Fedora Hat - our take on Glenn Ford's fedora from The Big Heat. {1953} The Big Heat features great fedoras in almost every scene, and this is our take on the Dave Bannion hat.
- Crown: 5" inches
- Brim 2 3/4"
- Hatband: 2" Black grosgrain ribbon and bow.
- Crown: Fedora
- Brim: Hand shaped snap brim, with front dip. Bound
- Color: Granite
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
- Hatband not sold separately
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Cimarron Custom Movie Hat - Our version of the Yancey Cravat hat from the 1931 best picture winner. This is a very versatile hat style. The crown is a modified tycoon with a big kettle curl and roll to the brim. Musicians seem to favor our Cimarron Custom Movie Hat, and it looks great with a good suit of clothes. Performers hat, Dress Hat, or wear it on the range and impress the critters. What more do you need in a hat!
- Crown: 4 1/2" inches Modified Tycoon
- Brim: 3 1/2" Kettle Curl, hand rolled
- Color Shown: bone
- Hatband: 1" Grosgrain ribbon and bow.
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
- Musician Favorite
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Pinkerton Custom Town Hat hand made by the last best west During the Victorian Era {1837-1901} this short top hat was one of the more common hat styles worn throughout the English speaking world. We have made the Pinkerton Custom Town Hat with everything from a 3 1/4" crown (musician) to a full 6 inch top hat. If you have specific crown and brim measurements, just enter them in the PRODUCTION NOTES below, as you build your hat order. This style also looks dynamite on women, and as a STEAM PUNK hat!
- Crown: 4" inches Texas Straight
- Brim: 2 3/4" Hand Shaped Bound
- Hatband: 1 1/2" satin with bow.
- Color: Black
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
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The General Town Hat - Short Crown, small brim this design goes back to the mid to late 1800s – and was a favorite hat style during the American Civil War. Striking looking hat, it looks extremely good on women.
- CROWN HEIGHT: 3 1/2"
- BRIM: 2 1/2
- Hatband:1 1/2" chocolate brown satin ribbon and bow with matching bound edge.
- Crown:Texas Straight
- Brim:Hand Shaped Bound
- Color shown: Sahara in 20X beaver fur felt
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
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Our version of the Samuel Jones Movie Hat - from The Missing The Samuel Jones Hat is the one worn by Tommy Lee Jones, as Samuel Jones, a white man turned Apache, who returns to his estranged daughter in time to try and rescue his grand-daughter from slave traders. Like the character there is nothing fancy about this hat, a simple open crowned cowboy hat with a bit of a pencil roll.
- CROWN HEIGHT: 5" INCHES Open
- BRIM: 4" 1/2" Pencil roll, with a gentle hand roll - Bound.
- Color: Pecan
- Hatband: Satin Ribbon with bow, with matching bound edge.
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
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Our version of the Daniel Plainview hat - There Will be Blood Hat We show our Daniel Plainview Hat with a contrasting hat band and bound edge; Movie Hat is a Pecan color with a matching Satin Ribbon and Bow and bound edge. If you wish a different color hat band and bound edge please enter it in the PRODUCTION NOTES section as you build your hat below. Similar crown styles Wasey, Byron McCelroy, Conagher
- Crown 5 inches
- Brim: 3"
- Hatband: 1 1/2" grosgrain ribbon and bow.
- Crown: modified Sagebrush
- Brim: pencil rolled with a slight hand roll
- Color Shown: natural with a chocolate brown ribbon, bow, and bound edge.
- Musician Favorite
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Everett Hitch Movie Hat
Our version of the Everett Hitch Movie Hat - from Appaloosa {2008} This big hat could have been copied from our Hickok. Our Hitch hat has an extra wide brim with a kettle curl and hand rolled brim. If you wish a windstring, you can add it during the check out process.- Crown: 5" inches
- Brim: 4 1/2"
- Color Shown: Dyed Natural
- Crown: Telescope
- Brim: Pencil rolled; Hand worked -bound
- Hatband: 1" Satin with bow
- Personalized with your name inside the crown
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Our take on the Virgil Cole Movie Hat - from Appaloosa {2008} Our Virgil Cole Hat is the cowboy hat worn by Ed Harris in 2008s excellent Western Film, Appaloosa. This is also the hat with only minor changes (a front pinch to the crown and a bit more roll to the brim) that Mr. Harris wears as The Man in Black, in HBOs new western hit, Westworld. It's almost like the character is patterned after a mean and vicious Virgil Cole. If you would like The Man in Black version, add the request to the PRODUCTION NOTES. The style is a an adjusted version of a basic Boss of the Plains style cowboy hat. Add a homburg dent to the crown and give a nice dip to the front of the brim and there she be. Pretty close to a Fort Bragg version of the US Cavalry Hat from the 1870s.
- Crown: 4 1/2" inches Modified Homburg dent
- Brim: 4"' inches Hand worked-bound
- Color Shown: Black
- Hatband: 1" Satin with bow
