Dan Buhler is a self-taught bowyer who has been crafting traditional wooden longbows for the past 15 years. He came to the craft the hard way, teaching himself through trial and error, pushing through several failed attempts before building his first successful bows, and has been refining his technique ever since. For Dan, every piece of wood holds a bow waiting to be found, and the process of shaping it by hand, shaving by shaving, into a functional tool is where he feels most connected to his craft. He believes a well-made longbow should be both beautiful and reliably functional, and he brings that same care to teaching: he is a two-time recipient of the Utah Folk Arts apprenticeship grant and taught a bow making class at the Chase Home Museum in March.

What Dan offers learners is a genuine, hands-on connection to a craft that most people have never seen. Because a full bow takes 8 to 12 hours to build, he’s broken the process into pieces that let people actually participate and walk away having made or done something real, while also giving groups the option of just watching the process up close. Here are a few examples of what he can offer:

Bowstring/Tillering String Making: Participants make their own traditional tillering bowstring by hand, a skill that’s useful on its own, and one they can take home for the first time they start making a bow.

Hands-On Tillering Workshop: Dan brings roughed-out hickory bow staves that he’s pre-shaped on his table saw and bandsaw, and learners do the final tillering work themselves under his guidance. This gives people the most complete “I built a bow” experience possible in a short session, without the many hours of rough shaping that would otherwise be required.

Bow Making Up Close – A Live Demonstration: Dan works on a bow in progress while people gather in close, the way you’d watch a blacksmith at the forge rather than a stage presentation. He talks through the process as he goes and takes questions.

Arrow Making: Part of making bows is having something to shoot and understanding the intricacies of arrows as ammunition. Dan brings materials and jigs for people to make their own arrow — or, to keep it simple, arrow pens are also an option.

In addition to the above, Dan is happy to talk about traditional archery more broadly, string materials, bow materials,and the history and revival of primitive bow making.