Chair making courses in the UK
Every chair making course we can find in the UK, from 25 makers and schools. You book with the maker directly, and nobody pays to be listed.
What is chair making?
Chairs are their own discipline. The angles compound, nothing is square, and a seat has to take weight without racking. Windsor and stick chairs are the usual route in, built green with a drawknife and a shave horse. Most chair courses run several days because you cannot rush the assembly.
Where to learn chair making
Every region we hold a chair making course for. Where there are enough for a page of their own it goes straight there, otherwise to everything woodwork in that region.
All 40 chair making courses
We hold 40 courses in chair making, taught by 25 makers and schools. South East England has the most, at 15. The middle price is £290, above the £176 we see across all woodwork, and most cost between £150 and £800.
Listed with what the provider charges. Every link goes straight to their own booking page. In turn, one course from each maker, the maker with most courses first, so no one school fills the top of the list. Nobody can pay to move up.
What a chair making course costs
Taken from the 37 courses here that publish a price, checked October 2026. The cheapest lasts half a day and the dearest a week, so read it as a spread rather than a going rate.
- Cheapest£70
- Middle£290
- Dearest£850
Who teaches chair making
25 makers and schools, most courses first.
Questions people ask about chair making
What does a chair making course cost?
37 of the 40 chair making courses we hold publish a price. The middle one is £290, and most sit between £150 and £800. Prices were checked in October 2026 and the provider sets them, not us.
Where can you learn chair making in the UK?
6 regions have chair making courses, most of them in South East England (15), London (10) and Scotland (5). 3 of those have a page of their own for this craft.
How long is a chair making course?
23 of the 40 state a length, most often 1 day (11), 2 days (4) and 1 week (3). The other 17 do not say, so check the provider's page.
Do you need any experience to start chair making?
Most of these are taught as a first go. 7 of the 40 state a level, and 6 say plainly that they suit beginners and improvers together. Where a course says nothing, ask the provider before you book, because a hand craft can assume you bring some tool control with you.
How do I book a chair making course?
You book with the maker, not with us. All 40 courses here link straight to the provider's own page. Woodwork UK takes no booking, adds no fee and is not paid for the link, and all 25 makers and schools set their own dates, prices and places.
Getting started with chair making
Is making a chair hard?
It is the hardest thing on this site that a beginner is regularly let loose on, and it is also the one people are proudest of. Nothing on a chair is square. The angles compound, so a small error in a leg mortise becomes a visible lean by the time the seat is on, and the whole thing has to take a person's weight without racking. Courses handle that by giving you jigs and a sequence, so you are not calculating the geometry yourself the first time.
What kind of chair will I make?
Usually a Windsor or a stick chair, which are built from a solid seat with legs and spindles driven into it rather than from a jointed frame. That is what makes them teachable in a week. Upholstered and frame chairs are a different tradition and are far more often a furniture making course than a chair making one.
How long does it take to make a chair?
Most chair courses run three to five days and that is not padding. A Windsor or stick chair is built green, which means shaping the legs and spindles, hollowing the seat, drilling compound angles and then assembling while the parts are still moving as they dry. You cannot rush the assembly and most courses deliberately end with a chair you carry out yourself.
Where can I learn chair making for free?
It is the most asked question in woodworking, and the honest answer is a men's shed or a community workshop rather than a course. We list 933 of them across the UK, and most charge a small subscription or a few pounds a session rather than a course fee. Find one near you. They are not classes and nobody teaches to a syllabus, but the tools are there, and somebody will almost always show you.
Other kinds of woodwork
Most people arrive knowing they want to make something rather than knowing the name of the craft. These are the other ten.