A Craft for Life.

Professional woodturning tuition is a fun, safe and rewarding experience that leads many to a lifelong and fulfilling creative hobby.

Les Thorne and Martin Saban-Smith are experienced tutors, demonstrators and members of the Register of Professional Turners, offering a selection of learning opportunities for newcomers and experienced woodturners right here at the shop.

When you come to the workshop for your woodturning tuition or even to give it a try, you can be assured of a first-class day of skill-learning recommended by Axminster Tools in an informal atmosphere with energetic, knowledgeable, professional and patient tutors.

About Us

Look over the courses available and book for the one that suits your needs or curiosity. Contact the workshop if you have any queries, and we’ll be happy to help.

Booking for someone? Add a gift card to make it more special

Many courses are booked for people as gifts for birthdays or Christmas, which is a super gesture.

We can now help you make the gift even more special.

Add a gift card to the booking and we’ll send you card where you can add the details of their course as well as your own special message.

External Visiting Tutors

We are talking to a selection of top quality woodturning tutors from other workshops to visit out workshop in 2024 to host some specialist courses. Below are the details (when they become available)

Emma Cook: Resin Sphere Turning

From: £185.00 inc VAT

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Emma Cook: Carved Square Platter Course

From: £180.00 inc VAT

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Group Courses

Our group courses are a fun, informative and safe way to learn the craft of woodturning. Running regularly midweek and at weekends, the courses cater for beginners and experienced turners.

Woodturning Experience Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 12 customer ratings

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Beginners 2 Day Woodturning Course

From: £295.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 6 customer ratings

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Bowl Turning Experience Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Get Fruity with Les Woodturning Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Copy Turning with a Skew and Spindle Gouge

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Martin Saban-Smith Improvers Bowl Turning Course

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Pedestal Bowl Course with Martin

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Beginners Woodturning Courses

If you are starting in woodturning, taking a one or two-day course will safely speed up your learning curve. With two Registered Professional Turners hosting our lessons, our students learn the proper techniques straight from the off.

Woodturning Experience Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 12 customer ratings

Select options
Beginners 2 Day Woodturning Course

From: £295.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 6 customer ratings

Select options
Bowl Turning Experience Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Select options
1-1 Full Day Tuition with Les Thorne

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 16 customer ratings

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1-1 Full Day Tuition with Martin Saban-Smith

From: £350.00 inc VAT

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Advanced Courses

Thinking of taking the next steps in your woodturning life? Look no further as we are able to cater for the majority of more advanced techniques in both group and one-to-one courses.

Get Fruity with Les Woodturning Day

From: £160.00 inc VAT

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Copy Turning with a Skew and Spindle Gouge

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Select options
Martin Saban-Smith Improvers Bowl Turning Course

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Select options
Pedestal Bowl Course with Martin

From: £160.00 inc VAT

Select options
1-1 Full Day Tuition with Les Thorne

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 16 customer ratings

Select options
1-1 Full Day Tuition with Martin Saban-Smith

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options
Les Thorne 1-1 Pepper and Salt Mills

From: £350.00 inc VAT

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Les Thorne 1-1 Improvers Natural Edge Bowls

From: £350.00 inc VAT

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Les Thorne 1-1 Basic Course on Colouring and Texturing Bowls

From: £350.00 inc VAT

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Les Thorne 1-1 Improvers Hollowed Forms

From: £350.00 inc VAT

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One to One Tuition

In our opinion, one-to-one tuition is simply the best way to receive the absolute best in tuition. Les and Martin can provide tuition on a huge range of turning disciplines.

1-1 Full Day Tuition with Les Thorne

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 16 customer ratings

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1-1 Full Day Tuition with Martin Saban-Smith

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options
Les Thorne 1-1 Pepper and Salt Mills

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options
Les Thorne 1-1 Improvers Natural Edge Bowls

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options
Les Thorne 1-1 Basic Course on Colouring and Texturing Bowls

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options
Les Thorne 1-1 Improvers Hollowed Forms

From: £350.00 inc VAT

Select options

Demonstration Lathe

The primary tuition room has an Axminster 2030 Trade lathe used as a demonstration machine and for one-to-one tuition. It is a beast of a machine and allows pieces to be turned up to 20″ over the bed and up to a whopping 39″ using the bed extension.

It is used to demonstrate the techniques on the course and can also be used by one of the students.

Five Lathe Stations

There are five additional lathe stations that students use, featuring the popular Axminster 406 lathes as well as OneWay and Vicmarc machines.

Martin Saban-Smith teaching woodturning one to one

Les Thorne teaches one to one woodturning

Other Facilities

Each student has a complete set of woodturning tools and finishes to use on the day and access to a host of other tools for specialist courses.

Each student also receives a welcome pack containing their abrasives, a dust mask, a Les Thorne DVD, lathe stickers and further information.

The workshop also features extraction for each lathe, plus the air in the workshop is completely filtered up to 12 times an hour when sanding with a ceiling mounted Jet filtration system.

Food & Drink

Tree House Coffee Shop

Morning coffee and lunch are included in most of our course costs and they all begin at the Garden Centre’s popular Tree House Coffee Shop.

After a meet & greet, we will get started at the workshop before returning for lunch. There is a good menu with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options.

The workshop has tea and coffee making facilities and bottles of water on-hand, too.