See all of our Old West Hats here. Warner Brothers made a western featuring its overplus of sign television actors, with Clint Walker playing the head in the 1959 theatrical secrete, Yellowstone Kelly. very intelligent and well read, it was not rare for Kelly to quote Shakespeare as he went about his business. More about Yellowstone Kelly. The historic Luther S. “ Yellowstone ” Kelly was a fame during his life sentence. Born in New York in 1849 he fought during the Civil War. Kelly finished his army career out west on the frontier. yellowstone earned his nickname during the 1870s and 80s exploring/trapping. At times he besides scouted for the united states army in the Yellowstone River basin. The brim we have is reasonably dang close. And we have used a pate treatment that would have been in keeping with the style exhibited by this civilized warrior. We introduced this hat design in 2008 based on what we think Yellowstone Kelly is wearing in the diachronic photograph from the 1890s. our yellowstone Kelly hat – an authentic old west hat with over sized brim
Options for your Custom Hat
Add a Cavalry Cord $20.00
Cavalry Legend
“Slouch Hats” worn by many Cavalry soldiers since the days of the American Civil War often include a colored cord that slides over the standard satin ribbon and bow hatband, which is referred to as a cord, braid, hobble, wrap, or acorn.
Guidelines for the use of the Cavalry Cord and colors were first outlined in 1890 in Circular 10, from the U.S. Army Adjutant General’s Office. Different colors are used to identify different branches of the service. The most common color, yellow, is worn by all enlisted Cavalry soldiers. Infantry wear white, Scarlet is for Artillery; Black; Chaplains/Staff, Black/Gold; Field Officer, Black/Silver; Warrant Officer.
The original reason for the acorns at the end of the cavalry cords is believed to have been to keep the cavalry man awake in the saddle, from the gentle drumming as the acorns bounced off the brim.
Battle/Combat Knots
There is a Cavalry legend that credits a non-com during the Civil War with tying knots in his cord to signify he’d been battle tested. The idea caught on and many units took to the practice on both sides. You can see an example on our Josey Wales Hat. Today cav cords can be knotted but it does not signify battle tested. Shoulder patches originated in the First World War to identify units, battalions or regiments. Combat patches (to signify a period of service in a war zone) started during the Second World War and continues to this day.
Add Trail Dust $ 55.00 – $ 95.00
Many customers have been requesting that we dirty up their new hats to make them look trail worn. Pictured is a dusty Josey Wales – our Josey Wales hat with several years’ worth of trail dust – as if a hard living horse soldier 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 on our Lt. Col. Kilgore, Our Sabre River hat has a medium dusting and heavy trail dust looks like our Josey Wales.
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This is a similar process that costume designers apply to hats in the movies and t. v. Looks authentic and yore 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.
PLEASE NOTE: NO TWO TRAIL DUST APPLICATIONS ARE THE SAME, AND TRAIL DUST SHOWS BETTER ON LIGHT COLORS THAN DARK.
Add a Windstring/Stampede String $25.00
Our Windstring/Stampede String is made of heavy gauge Latigo lace {brown or black} and includes this complimenting leather slider. click image for a larger version
You can let us choose the right match for your hat or request brown or black latigo lace to go with your hand made cowboy hat.
Just add your request to the PRODUCTION NOTES as you build your hat.
Horsehair Hatbands $20.00 – $55.00
Add a quality horse hair hat band to any hat (ADD during checkout with the purchase of a hat – not sold separately). Can be worn on ANY hat just by sliding it over the satin ribbon and bow {as seen on the Wasey} or wear it alone.
Bound Brim
Binding the brim edge with the same Grosgrain ribbon as the hat band, strengthens the edge, making it stiffer and allowing the brim shape to hold better.
A bound edge finishes the brim off nicely with rich looking detail. Most small brimed, or Town hats, have a bound edge.
The open crowned hat style was perhaps the most common crown style of the late 19th century and sold in the mail order catalogues of the day like, Sears-Roebuck, and the Hudson Bay Company.
Cowboys would crease and mold the crown, to add character to their hat, and make it easier to pick up. Decades later the hat companies started pre-creasing the cowboy hats in the most popular styles.
A bound Brim is more difficult to re-work or re-shape – but can be removed fairly easily.
Open Brim
Not as dressy or showy as a bound edge, this unfinished brim edge was much more common on working hats, cavalry and military hats.
An unfinished brim allows you to shape and mold it to your taste – or easily change the look in the future.
An Unfinished Brim is more for an everyday-do-yer-work type Cowboy Hat and likely the more common of the two finishes for a wide brimmed cowboy hat. It is also fairly easy to reshape the brim of a beaver/beaver blend cowboy hat with just a steam iron and a bit of patience.
Our Sundance Kid Custom Handmade Hat is a good illustration of the typical 19th century nondescript everday cowboy hat