Many of our members offer training courses for those new to turning, intermediate turners and also for more experienced turners looking for specialised tuition. All our tutors have many hours of hands-on experience delivering professionally structured courses in well equipped workshops, with an emphasis on health and safety, and where you can be assured you will receive top class tuition individually tailored to your requirements and ability.
If you’re a beginner or wish to learn new woodturning techniques our members can offer training in every aspect of woodturning.
When you book a training session with an RPT member, you can be certain that you will receive top quality tuition from a highly skilled turner who has years of woodturning and teaching experience.
Below are all the registered professional turners who offer a teaching service, randomly ordered. Click their name to view the complete details, or use the ‘Show Bio’ or ‘Show Map’ links for a quick view.
I served in Her Majesty’s Grenadier Guards Band from the age of 15 to 25 traveling the world and making lots of noise as a tuba player. For the next couple of years I tried working in a hospital and training as a driving instructor. I then then found my true vocation when I worked for a builder friend who trained me up as a General builder at the age of 27 and I have been running my own business until the present time. I started woodturning in 2010 and found it an easy change. My practical use of timber and carpentry tools and my attention to detail from my Army days where a great help to me. I was encouraged by club members to demonstrate to my woodturning club in 2017 and finaly started demonstrating to other clubs in February 2019. I like to demonstrate things that are different to the normal things that you see and add a little fun at the same time. I also love meeting with other turners and often find that I learn as much from them as they do from me. I have had some success with turning for competition and love to make things that are out of the usual, often not knowing if they are even possible.
Darren works from his premises in Lowestoft’s historic High Street in Suffolk, a stones throw from the UK’s most easterly point. His shop offers a wide range of tools and finishes, some timber and a selection of his own work alongside works by a select few other turners. He is on the demonstrator circuit, both in-person or via IRD’s, and offers 1 to 1 tuition from complete beginners to the more experienced. He has 3 lathes in the workshop, a VB36, a Wadkin RS8, and a Magma 175FU so can cater for most requirements. His passion is for large scale turned, coloured and textured wall hangings, but also turns everything and anything. He is building up a reputation of being the ‘go to man’ in the town, for anything turned, alongside commission work, furniture repairs and restoration, and with years of experience in building and engineering, what he cannot do he knows someone who can. He was recently commissioned to make a Ceremonial Mace for the University of Suffolk with a bespoke display cabinet, and has designed and created various commemorative plaques and other items for the local councils.
I remember being in my Uncle’s workshop, I was around 8 years old, clamping a drill into a vice with a small piece of wood in the chuck, sharpening a screwdriver on a grinder and turning finials…… You’ll be please to know my methods have improved! Ever since that day, I’ve been fascinated with wood. Wood is tactile. It smells good. It looks good. It feels good. It’s amazing what you can do with a beautifully grained piece of wood – turning it into masterpiece that can sit proudly in your home. In 2010 I started to take my turning more seriously and undertook extensive formal training with world-renowned turners and in 2015 I decided to have a change of lifestyle and career from Civil Engineering to full-time Woodturner. I opened a purpose built workshop and now, my greatest pleasure is keeping the craft of woodturning alive – both through my own projects and through teaching others how to turn, passing on my knowledge and enthusiasm. I’m a fully qualified woodturning tutor, trained and certified by the AWGB, of which, I’m also the regional representative for Scotland. I’ve always loved design, having an eye for what looks good and why, and I bring this to every woodturning project I do. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to spend a lot of time training with world class turner Tracy Owen and with Master Turner Stuart Mortimer. My work is varied, covering most styles of turning, from functional items such as bowls, platters and pens, to decorative and artwork including hollow forms, goblets, boxes and spiral work. I enjoy working with texture, colour and sandblasting, sometimes combining some or all of these. I’m very fortunate to be able to follow a passion I love and work from home, family life is very important to me and having this balance is truly amazing.
Woodturner, author and tutor based in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. I like to incorporate colour in some of what I do and over the years have tried a wide variety of techniques and surface decorations. Courses take place in my workshop in the Forest of Dean. More information can be found on my “Woodturning for Woodturners” website. I sell my work through exhibitions, galleries and direct on my website. I also do commissions and commercial orders.
I started turning 1n 1980 not long after completing a 3 year apprenticeship in carpentry and joinery. I bought a coronet elf along with a one day beginners course with Alan Batty , from that day on I was hooked and turning has been a part of my every day life since . I started my own business in 1996 as a production turner /furniture maker supplied other businesses with table legs ,stair spindles, newel posts, drawer knobs a whole manner of things . I also enjoyed making craft items for sale at craft fairs and country shows .More recently I have started teaching and demonstrating and I am looking forward to developing this side of my business along side my production turning. you can always be assured of a warm welcome and a passionate interest in all genre of turning.
Pete Osborn taught Woodwork in various schools in the North West of England for over 30 years. Since retiring from teaching he has concentrated on Woodturning. He uses quite a lot of local hardwood from trees that have fallen in gales and other timbers that are used are either reclaimed or from sustainable sources. The items he makes are sometimes useful (e.g. fruit bowls) or sometimes ornamental (e.g. goblets), but all are finished to a high standard using the best quality polishes, oils and waxes.
He is currently Chairman of the Eden Valley Woodturners group and an active committee member with the Cumbria Woodturners Association.
Having practised as a turner since 1991, Gregory was invited to join the Register of Professional Turners, held by the Worshipful Company of Turners, in 1996. Acceptance onto the register is by invitation only following assessment by a panel of peers who ensure that the highest standards of work and professionalism are met. It is the only professional body in the UK and enjoys a world wide reputation. Gregory was privileged to be invited to address the Company at a number of meetings, and for many served on the committee as membership secretary.
Gregory was featured in the first ‘Diary of a Craft Worker’ series published by the “Craftsman Magazine” in 1997-8 and has been profiled in “Woodturning” magazine. He as also been invited to act on a consultative committee by Channel 4, for a documentary about woodturning.
Gregory specialises in the unique, and welcomes challenge. His more unusual work has included making replacement pieces for antique instruments; willow-workers’ tools; bespoke instruments for reflexology crafted to each individual practitioner; tables made from tree slices and forms for potters and designers. He has even fulfilled a commission to make a bedroom sink. He has collaborated with an unconventional silversmith to create spectacular silvered forms in petrified wood. He also turns unique bowls, platters, vases and display pieces.
Gregory draws inspiration from the individuality of wood and it is very important to him that each piece grows from the grain and inclusions unique to each piece of timber. As a result no two pieces are identical. Furthermore he holds to a strict ecological policy. No timber where the provenance cannot be guaranteed will be used. Enquiries are welcome, and each uniquely numbered piece has a story. Most timbers come from the UK or Australia and are often reclaimed or recycled.
Currently Gregory has a piece selected from the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain 2018 Instant Gallery and it is being used as part of their national display. He also has a piece in the ‘Daniel Collection’, one of the most important British collections of turned work.
Gregory exhibits internationally at select galleries, respected craft fairs as well as the internet. He has been highly placed in several competitions within the woodturning world and has pieces accepted for the nationwide display circuit.
A previous coordinator for the National Festival of Art and Craft in Wood, Gregory offers individual tuition, demonstrations and lectures, both to interested amateurs and other professionals. For an up to date list of venues where Gregory and/or his work can been seen please contact him direct.
I have been a working with wood for most of my adult life. I became a professional turner in about 1981 and was accepted onto the Register of Professional Turners in 2009. I became the Chairman of the RPT in 2016 stepping down from the role in 2021. I was made a freeman of the Worshipful company of Turners of London in November 2020 I am a qualified adult educator and work from home. Apart from working in wood I also carry out repairs to antique chess pieces using bone. As an experienced turner I can turn my hand to most aspects of the craft. I work 7 days a week.
I took up woodturning in the 1980’s as a hobby to keep me sane while I had a job in electronics that had become less enjoyable and more stressful than I needed. At that time woodturning was a niche hobby with little contact between workers. There was limited tool and equipment availability, and little printed guidance (no internet in those days!). Consequently I was largely self-taught, which wasn’t a problem as I had an enquiring, and questioning, scientific/engineering education behind me. I was the lead figure in creating the local hobbyist woodturning group, ” The Hampshire Woodturners Association”. After a few years I was able to leave industry and set myself up as a full-time woodturner, and was accepted into the Register of the Worshipful Company of Turners in 1994. After a few years I was invited to be an Assessor to check individuals applying for membership of the Register. I worked in my own studio in a local craft centre for 20+ years . I did not specialise but made items to order as well as speculative work for sale in my shop in the craft centre. I left the craft centre a few years ago and am now ‘retired’. However, I do still have my equipment and happily work from home to clients’ requirements. Most of my regular clients are in the up-market antique restoration field, but I am happy to make anything anybody wants made to a high quality.
On 24th April 2019, I was awarded the honour of Master in Turning, in recognition of my contribution the art and mystery of the craft of turning. This was awarded to me by an Electoral College, comprising of representatives from the Worshipful Company of Turners, The Society of Ornamental Turners, The Association of Pole Lathe Turners and Green Woodworkers. In 1975, at the age of 16, Gary started a three year apprenticeship with a small woodturning company in Chesham called Joseph Reynolds. After 18 months was put on piece work turning mainly peppermills and kitchen ware. This experience was to help enormously when he became self-employed in 1987. However, prior to this was a 10 year period with another woodturning firm turning stair balusters and chair parts. It was at this point that Gary became involved with Stewart Linford of High Wycombe who makes the famous Windsor Chair and exports world-wide.It is since becoming self-employed that Gary has made his mark on the woodturning scene, with success in competitions, articles of his work in various woodworking magazines, and demonstrating for trade companies. One of these being Racal, where Gary demonstrated their respirator for several years and was involved heavily in its promotion at woodworking exhibitions. Exhibitions include the National Exhibition Centre Birmingham, Wembley, Axminster in Devon as well as woodturning clubs all over Great Britain, Belgium, France, Channel Islands, Ireland, Norway and two Utah Symposiums in Provo, Salt Lake City and Iceland. Gary has also demonstrated twice at the AWGB International Seminar at Warwick University. Gary is also on the Register of Professional Turners. Gary is considered one of the fastest and most accurate production woodturners in the U.K and is one of only a few whose income comes solely from woodturning.
Gary has a customer base of approximately 500, some of these are supplying such places as Harrods and Liberty’s and has also produced work for the homes of the Duke of Westminster and British celebrities. Gary was also asked to turn a wooden baby rattle, which was presented to Prince Harry on the birth of his son Archie.
Gary has also produced tools for the woodturner, notably his round skew chisels which come in different sizes, lightpull drive, Box Scraper and his Easybead tool. He can turn his hand to spindle turning, bowl turning, hollow forms and twists and says that he will make anything from a lace bobbin to a billiard table leg.
Gary has been asked to teach on numerous occasions by Craft Supplies and has been teaching at Craft Supplies in France past two years. Axminster Power Tools plus many individuals. You can often see him taking a Master Class at various shows and has taught for three days at Axminster but due to the demands of his production business does not always have the time.
One of the things I really enjoy about this craft is the range of different types of woodturning , from segmented work , general lathe work such as newel posts, sets of table and chair legs , furniture repairs and lately spinning wheels which have become an interest , even letter carving which can be added to a turned item or as a stand alone piece there is always things to learn and pass that knowledge on to students
Colin has been working with wood for over 35 years. Wood turning is a integral part of my career – working in wood – Furniture, Turning, Letter carving and a select number of wood turning courses. Whether a piece of treen, a turned component on a piece of furniture or using the “practice” of turning to enable a jig to be made on a complex furniture design. As well as everyday small batch turned treen, Colin has a particular interest in geometrical sculptural shaped pieces using the natural beauty of timber, but in addition understanding the selection of timber for such pieces. In addition to this the use of colour to pronounce grain formations using traditional techniques when time permits.
Most of Colin’s designed individual pieces are made to commission, with the majority involving some turning. (This includes public, private and ecclesiastical work)
In addition to commissioned pieces, Colin sells his work from his workshop/showroom by appointment, through the Surrey Guild gallery in Milford (Surrey) and some of the Sussex Guild exhibitions. (others listed on my website).
Colin also runs a limited number of turning courses every year……….
A recent commission as lead collaborator, was part of a four craftspeople job. A new Crosier for The Bishop of Stepney (London) in Laburnum, with Stainless Steel connectors. A Pewter Crosier Head with an Anodised Kingfisher and an embossed leather carrying case.
Other notable commissions in the past have included – Offertory Bowls for Portsmouth Cathedral, Turned Components for the Lord Chancellors apartments, Turned components on Choir stalls and a Thurible Stand (Ecclesiastical) (both part of larger commissions made within the workshop)
Colin mainly uses local timber for his pieces but occasionally does use exotic timbers because of their pure colours that emphasise the turned or sculptural form.
You are welcome to come to my workshop to view products and discuss commissions – however this is strictly by appointment.
I am a qualified joiner and cabinet maker and have been woodturning for 35 years. I am a general turner quite happy to carry out commission work or one off pieces as well as gallery work. I offer tuition on a one to one basis in my home workshop which is fully equipped. I have taught and demonstrated in the UK and abroad since 2001.
I can supply tool’s and timber.
I am based in Darlington, Co. Durham with easy access from the motorway or local road system.
Based at Porchfield Business Park near Newport on the Isle of Wight, The Mulberry Tree Woodturnery was started in March 2013 by Andy Fortune.
Andy had been a hobby wood turner since 1997 with the purchase of his first lathe and later started his full-time wood turning business with the help and support of his wife, Nikki.
Andy has many years of experience and specialises in making bowls, platters and hollow forms from locally sourced timber from the Isle of Wight but can also offer specialist bespoke turning services for most types of turning.
Many of Andy’s one-off signature pieces are laced with leather or copper wire in the style of the Japanese philosophy of ‘Wabi-Sabi’ and are made from individually selected pieces of timber sourced on the island.
Andy sells his own unique hand crafted turnery, takes commissions, and sells direct to the public at the Mulberry Tree Woodturnery workshop where he also provides his 5* rated beginner and intermediate bowl turning courses for individuals or groups of up to four people.
Andy is an active member of the Wight Woodturners which meets twice monthly in Newport. (www.wightwoodturners.org.uk)
The Mulberry Tree Woodturnery is the main Isle of Wight agents for Record Power tools and equipment, Robert Sorby, Chestnut Finishing Products and Hampshire Sheen.
With the recent addition of a horizontal sawmill Andy is now able to process locally sourced trees which he converts into boards and bowl blanks to retail to local woodworkers, hobbyists and the building trade.
Richard is a production turner based in Leicestershire. His background is in woodworking, coming from a long line of professional woodworkers.
It is the variety of work that he enjoys, undertaking commissions for one-off prototypes to large production runs, turning for furniture makers, restorers, architects, designers and joiners.
His work is mainly based in the UK, but his growing reputation for making the highest quality turned work has earned him commissions for items that have gone to the US, Canada and Australia.
Richard is a well known and popular demonstrator, having written for Woodturning Magazine for more than 10 years and demonstrated all over the UK, Ireland and USA.
Began turning in 1990 with ornamental pieces, added production hand turning in 1993. Predominantly do ecclesiastical and restoration work now, but happy to look at a range of turned requirements from one offs to small and large production runs. Can incorporate e.g. fluted sections to turned pieces, working from your designs, or can offer a design and produce service in a range of timbers with a maximum spindle length of 2.4m and faceplate work of up to 0.6m diameter.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
