Woodturning courses in the UK
Every woodturning course we can find in the UK, from 23 makers and schools. You book with the maker directly, and nobody pays to be listed.
What is woodturning?
Woodturning is done on a lathe. The wood spins and you shape it by holding a chisel or gouge against it, so the tool stays still and the work moves. Most beginner days start with a spindle, a rolling pin or a light pull, before moving to a bowl. It is one of the quickest crafts to get a finished object from, which is why so many taster days end with something you can take home and use.
Where to learn woodturning
Every region we hold a woodturning course for. Where there are enough for a page of their own it goes straight there, otherwise to everything woodwork in that region.
All 57 woodturning courses
We hold 57 courses in woodturning, taught by 23 makers and schools. South East England has the most, at 13. The middle price is £140, below the £176 we see across all woodwork, and most cost between £90 and £275.
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 woodturning course costs
Taken from the 46 courses here that publish a price, checked October 2026. Read it as a spread rather than a going rate: length, materials and group size all move the price.
- Cheapest£70
- Middle£140
- Dearest£460
Who teaches woodturning
23 makers and schools, most courses first.
Questions people ask about woodturning
What does a woodturning course cost?
46 of the 57 woodturning courses we hold publish a price. The middle one is £140, and most sit between £90 and £275. Prices were checked in October 2026 and the provider sets them, not us.
Where can you learn woodturning in the UK?
9 regions have woodturning courses, most of them in South East England (13), Yorkshire and the Humber (8) and North West England (7). 7 of those have a page of their own for this craft.
How long is a woodturning course?
39 of the 57 state a length, most often 1 day (17), half day (13) and 2 days (4). The other 18 do not say, so check the provider's page.
Do you need any experience to start woodturning?
Most of these are taught as a first go. 9 of the 57 state a level, and 4 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 woodturning course?
You book with the maker, not with us. All 57 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 23 makers and schools set their own dates, prices and places.
Getting started with woodturning
How hard is woodturning to learn?
Turning is unusual among woodworking crafts in that a complete beginner can finish something genuinely good on day one. The lathe does the difficult part, which is holding the work and moving it past the tool at a constant speed. What takes practice is the angle you present the gouge at, and most people find that clicks somewhere in the first hour once a teacher has put their hands in the right place. Getting a clean cut off the tool rather than sanding out your mistakes is the part that takes months.
What do you need to start woodturning?
A lathe, a handful of gouges, a way of sharpening them and somewhere you do not mind covered in shavings. That is a real amount of money and space, which is why turning is one of the crafts most worth trying on somebody else's machine first. A taster day costs a fraction of a starter setup and tells you whether you want one. Many clubs and community workshops also have lathes you can use, which is far cheaper than buying.
Can you make money from woodturning?
Some people do, mostly through galleries, craft fairs and commissions rather than volume. It is worth being clear that the economics are difficult: a bowl that takes a morning has to compete on a stall with one that was made in a factory. Nearly everyone who sells turned work started because they enjoyed the turning, not the other way round.
Where can I learn woodturning 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.