#102 Hanno Börner on the Bowyers’ Dispatch

Available on these platforms: Spotify | Anchor | Apple | PocketCasts

Hanno Börner is a bowyer and the owner of Bogenschule Stellmoor, an traditional archery school in Hamburg, Germany, where only bows of natural materials are permitted. Hanno and his wife have taught archery at Stellmoor since 2004, and teach about 120 youth during the summer.

“Now it’s quite normal that kids are going on their bike with with a quiver on their back and bow in hand, and everybody knows where they are going.”

— Hanno Börner

Please enjoy this episode of the Bowyers’ Dispatch on Salish Wolf with Hanno Börner.         

Episode Links:

https://www.stellmoorbogen.de/

https://www.instagram.com/hannoboerner

https://www.youtube.com/@stellmoorbogen7401

Bowyers’ Dispatch

Quiver at Anchor Point Expeditions

Summary:

Bowyer and archery school founder Hanno Börner joins Todd to discuss teaching children with natural material bows, building traditional bows, and the history behind the Stellmoor name. Todd also shares his experience teaching archery in Costa Rica and experimenting with tropical woods, creating a practical conversation about craft, community, and how climate affects bow performance.

Show Notes:

Hanno and his wife have taught archery since 2004, growing from a small field to a school and range serving around 120 children in summer.

The range requires organic-material bows and arrows, with no fiberglass or carbon equipment; Börner builds bows and offers bow-building classes.

Children learn safety and responsibility through an archery-captain role, games, target practice, and rounds through a wooded course with 3D targets.

The Stellmoor name refers to nearby archaeological finds of arrow shafts with string notches, estimated at roughly 12,000 years old; no bow was conclusively identified.

Börner traces his path from childhood stick-and-string bows to bow making, describing traditional wooden self bows, bamboo laminates, and horn-composite bows.

He explains why bow-building classes need manageable materials and workpieces, and why hand tools offer quieter, cleaner work than power tools.

Todd describes bow failures in Costa Rica’s humidity and his experiments with local lemonwood and other tropical woods; Börner discusses seasonal stability and dense woods.

Chapters:

00:00 A natural-material archery school in Hamburg

02:52 From a small field to a growing club

06:08 Natural bows, bow building, and a workshop reset

09:14 How the school found its first students

12:11 Getting kids outdoors and earning neighborhood trust

15:09 Teaching safety through games and group roles

18:08 Play, meditation, and different reasons to shoot

20:59 The Stellmoor name and ancient arrow finds

23:59 A replaceable foreshaft from prehistoric archery

26:59 Hanno’s first bows and the pull of woodworking

30:14 Learning bow making through trial and error

32:53 Finding bow wood and developing as a craftsperson

35:56 From self-made bows to traditional archery

38:52 The range of bows Hanno builds today

41:56 Choosing materials for a two-day bow-building class

45:11 Why students need room to make mistakes

48:07 Leaving power tools behind for quieter handwork

51:05 Balancing craft, efficiency, and customers’ bow preferences

54:08 Inspiration from Dean Torges and the Bowyers Journal

57:12 The ambush bow challenge and a second-place finish

59:59 A damaged horn-composite bow and a hand-carved self bow

01:02:53 The crooked knife and its maker’s story

01:05:53 Greenwood tools and working wood before it dries

01:09:01 Finding Hanno’s work and the archery school online

01:12:02 Todd’s search for Costa Rican lemonwood

01:14:52 Tropical wood, humidity, and bow performance

01:18:04 Local woods and lessons from dense tropical species

01:20:53 Seasonal draw weight and closing reflections