Outlaw Custom Bows

Outlaw Custom Bows Custom Built, hand crafted, target archery and hunting bows, arrows and accessories. I also make leather armguards and quivers/arrow bags.

An avid archer since age 3 when I was introduced to it by my father, I have been around bows and arrows for 25 years now and have progressed from just shooting them to now making them as well. I can make all-timer bows of various styles ranging from authentic Selfbows suitable for the re-enactment community, laminated, high performance English longbows, high draw weight warbows and more modern loo

king, American style flatbows and recurves for target or hunting applications. I also custom make arrows matched to any bow, taking into account the shooters draw length, draw weight, bow style and intended use. I can include self-nocks (cut into the timber and reinforced with binding, horn or both), suitable for re enactors or a modern glue on plastic nock for more modern applications. Both my bows and arrows are sealed with either oil or varnish, depending on the application. I favour varnish as it is hard wearing and protects the bows more than oil from scratches due to use. If you have any questions on anything archery related don't hesitate to send a message and I will do my best to get the correct answer to you. Straight shooting,

Colin

14/02/2026

Selfbow Series video 3 - the rough shape.

This video shows the stave rough profiled to 66" total length with the widest section of limb at 42mm and a taper from close to mid limb down to 14mm width tips.

I have also used some Facet wood removal to thin the limbs down to a uniform 12mm to allow for heat bending corrections to be made, reflex to be added and the. Initial tillering to begin.

Facet removal is the process of removing wood from the corners of the stave to produce a central ridge which is then removed in a final pass. This process allows very controlled removal of timber to keep limbs even from one to the other. The process can also be used to establish taper into a limb when tillering to produce the desired bend in the limb. More on this when the tillering process begins.

Bit of work on the ring chase process in the video here. Just using an accent to remove the bulk of the wood before comi...
13/02/2026

Bit of work on the ring chase process in the video here. Just using an accent to remove the bulk of the wood before coming back through with a draw knife and other knives to remove the wood carefully down to the chosen single ring of growth shown in the photos.

One end of the stave has some splits from drying which I will basically ignore after I center on of them in the tip of the bow. I require some of one split to be left in the stave to maintain adequate bow length for my draw length and the desired bow design.

Once the crack is centered in the stave and the necessary heat straightening and bending completed the crack will be filled with fine dust and superglue and basically disappear. IF the crack was in the working portion of the bow it would require different treatment and potentially mean the stave would require a rawhide or sinew back to maintain integrity.

Experience and practice will help determine what is necessary to fix or work around different cracks in different staves BUT generally longitudinal cracks are not terminal in a bow BUT cracks across the limb will cause failure of the bow once flexion begins.

11/02/2026

Selfbow Series video 2 - backing a stave and chasing a ring.

This video goes over the beginning of the process of chasing the Osage stave I am using for the build down to a single growth ring. It is essential to chase or establish a single growth ring along the back of the bow stave so that as the bow is loaded with tension and compression during the draw cycle there is no place where the tensile stresses on the surface of the stave can lift splinters or the termination of the ring above.

With Australian timbers it's simply a case of carefully stripping the bark and cambium off the stave and the outer most ring of timber becomes the back of the bow, no chasing necessary.

10/02/2026

Self Bow building series.

A short introduction on a bow build series I'll be undertaking as a teaching series on selfbows.

The bow I will be building will be in Osage however I will make comments and suggestions for both exotics (US and European species) as well as Australian species.

Teaching point number one - the back of the bow

As in all timbers, when CORRECTLY seasoned and UN -DAMAGED on the under bark surface, It is not essential to remove the sapwood on Osage staves. The undertaking surface contains the tensile loading when the wood is standing as a tree and thus is plenty sufficient to contain the loading in a bow. The sapwood can be left, chased to leave a small layer or removed entirely in properly seasoned/un damaged staves.

If the sapwood shows signs of rotation, bug damage or damaged from felling then it will become essential to remove it to re-establish a perfect, continuous backing ring.

In the case of Australia timber species such as spotted gum, ironbark, stringybark, tallowwood, cypress, turpentine, soapwood/pink/red ash, mountain ash etc and American white woods like maple, hickory, ash, oak and hophornbeam, its a case of simple carefully removing thr bark and cambium to reveal the first growth ring of wood as the backing ring.

I will cover more in the next video which will be chasing the ring on my stave as it is weather damaged.

06/02/2026

Couple of other bows headed to the NE Experience at some decent discounts!

Taipan TD62, 62" ntn, 65 #@28". Max draw length 30"
Priced at $1800

Pro Hunter Reissue, 58" ntn, 56 #@28". Max draw length 30"
Priced at $1300

Will be with the boys as well so check them out and see if you like them.

Cheers

05/02/2026

The first King Brown model built is headed the meet and greet to be auctioned off for .

The bow is 60 #@28" and 62" ntn, capable of a 32" maximum draw length. It has a Png Rosewood and Gidgee riser with accents of black glass, gidgee and red ironbark on the riser and tips. Limbs are rock maple cores with veneers of QLD maple.

The lads from , and will have the bow for people to look at over the experience weekend before the auction.

Big thanks to Mark from for donating a 5 arrow strap down series bow quiver to go with the bow in the auction.

Honoured to build the bow to raise money for a great men's mental health charity. Get amongst it!

Cheers.

Col.

Completed Trilam "double yew" and bamboo English longbow. 72" ntn, 48 #@28". Belly and core are Pacific yew, backing is ...
06/01/2026

Completed Trilam "double yew" and bamboo English longbow. 72" ntn, 48 #@28". Belly and core are Pacific yew, backing is black bamboo for darker contrast. Sambar antlers for the nocks and a stitched leather grip. Can be shot right or left handed.

For Sale. Price is $1000Aud plus shipping.
Can ship internationally.

09/12/2025

Taipan TD 62 up for sale!

62" ntn and 65 # 28". Max draw of 30" pulling just over 70 #.

Brigalow riser with signature 'wave' accents of maple and mahogany. Figured forest regum limb blocks, Maple limb cores and black glass back and belly. Overlays of black and white glass with red bloodwood for the tips, grip and limb bolts.

Bow is smooth to draw even at 65 # and hits like a hammer with 10gpp arrows.

Comes with a custom D97 String with waterproof silencers from .

Price is $2000AUD plus shipping.

Please PM me if you are interested or have a question about this beast.

01/12/2025

Another good sow down with the Taipan! Team effort on this one. I wish it had been Ollie's alone but not to be this time. Old School tipped shaft off my 57 # Taipan TD64 had her on deck quickly after Ollie's hit went a tad high.

Still have this Custom Peregrine available for sale at a reduced price. 60" ntn and 46 #@28", this would make an excelle...
30/11/2025

Still have this Custom Peregrine available for sale at a reduced price.

60" ntn and 46 #@28", this would make an excellent crossover bow, target shooting and medium game hunting. Max draw 30".

$1500Aud including Shipping.

Pm Me if you have any interest.

Set of "modern" medieval styled target arrows i completed to go with one of the yew bows i built recently. Due to alot o...
25/11/2025

Set of "modern" medieval styled target arrows i completed to go with one of the yew bows i built recently.

Due to alot of clubs rules, "self nocks" cut directly into the shaft and bound or horn inserts as reinforcement are not allowed, so white glue on nocks were used to match the fletchings. Silk binding over the fletchings and "Modkin" target points.

Recently completed this Taipan TD for a very prolific bowhunter. The bow is 66 #@27", exactly to customers specification...
23/11/2025

Recently completed this Taipan TD for a very prolific bowhunter.

The bow is 66 #@27", exactly to customers specifications, built for big mountain Boars. 62" ntn makes this bow a smooth draw and right at the front end of the high performance draw length range.

The riser is Mahogany with a Brigalow foot and accents of Wenge with fine pin stripes of maple.

The limbs are mahogany footed with brigalow and a matching riser accent of wenge and maple between for the veneers and maple limb cores. The glass is ULS Gordon clear.

The riser and limb bolt overlays are inland rosewood and maple or black glass. String groove overlays are red bloodwood, nock overlays are red bloodwood, black and white glass and an inland rosewood cap.

This bow is an absolute hammer but smooth to draw and very quiet to shoot.

Custom D97 string from Judah Holmes at Sticks and Strings.

If you have any interest in a high performance bow custom build like this one, contact me through Outlaw Custom Bows on fb or Instagram.

Address

Deepwater, NSW

Telephone

+432754489

Website

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