Every January invites us to turn over a new leaf. This year, you might have already embarked on a new project, started a new diet, or implemented a new workout routine. In 2026, we’re inviting you to turn over a new leaf at the lathe.
Whether you’re brand new to woodturning or decades in, this year’s challenge is simple: attend a woodturning class near you.
Not because you have to, but because in-person learning can sharpen your skills, expand your perspective, and reconnect you with why you fell in love with turning in the first place.
To help you reach this goal, we’ve put together a set of reasons you should take on this challenge, even if you’re not someone who typically attends classes, as well as a list of classes in Minnesota that might pique your interest.
Before you head to the nearest woodturning class, you might be asking, “why would I need to attend a class? Can’t I learn everything I need to on YouTube?” or maybe, “why would I bother with classes when I’m experienced enough to be teaching my own?”
No matter what your level of expertise, there are multiple benefits to attending woodturning classes in person. Woodturning classes can help you learn how to use tools you may not have tried before, give you the opportunity to practice new techniques on the lathe, or see how an item you are not familiar with is made.
*We understand that it may not be possible for everyone to find or attend woodturning classes in their immediate vicinity. If this is you, please take advantage of the information you can find on YouTube and Zoom, which is truly remarkable. However, nothing quite replaces the learning that happens when you are face-to-face with an expert.
The first and perhaps most obvious reason anyone attends a class of any kind is to learn something new. The classroom setting is specifically meant to give an expert a platform to share their knowledge. While woodturning classes look a little different and more hands-on than your average high school math class (thank goodness!), the principle is the same: the person conducting the class has information he or she is willing to share with others, and attendees are there to learn that information.
Remember, your job as a student is to forget what you know. Really take in what the instructor is saying. Mimic their stance, use the tools in the same way they do, and be open to new ideas. You can add this new knowledge to your existing information. Often, a hybrid of others’ styles and techniques can be combined to create your own unique style.
Attending a woodturning class can help you learn not just information but can give you practical, applied experience as well. When you watch a person on a video, you have only the angles they have chosen to share with you. When you watch an expert live, you can see and hear exactly what the instructor is doing from any angle.
You also then have the chance to try out what that instructor has shown. While watching someone do something can be useful, there is no replacement for experiencing the vibration of the wood on your own lathe and really feeling the difference between a scraping cut and a slicing one.
Another extremely helpful benefit of attending a class in person is the chance to receive feedback from the instructor in real time. Especially if you are trying something new, it can be hard to understand if you are approaching the lathe with the wrong stance or holding your tools incorrectly. For some cuts, moving the tool 1/10 of a degree can make all the difference.
When you attend an in-person class, your instructor can see your stance, your tool positioning, and your grip and offer individualized feedback immediately.
Yet another great reason to attend a local class is to build your woodturning community. While woodturning is in some ways a solitary endeavor, having a group of others who share the same passion and interests can be uniquely refreshing after spending hours alone in your woodshop.
Having a woodturning community can give you the chance to share ideas and ask questions of those who have tried turning similar items. Mentorship opportunities are also more easily found when you are face-to-face with other woodturners, whether you are looking for a mentor or mentee.
Working with other woodturners (whether the instructor or your fellow workshop attendees) can even make you more efficient as a woodturner.
Months of trial-and-error can be condensed into hours as you learn and benefit from the time someone else has spent at the lathe. Someone who has spent months or years perfecting a technique can show you exactly what works and what doesn’t. And hopefully, in a community-minded spirit, you will be able and willing to share some of your breakthroughs so that others can become better, more efficient woodturners as well.
Yet another benefit of attending classes in person is the chance you might have to use tools and equipment that you don’t personally have in your workshop. Often, a woodturning association might invest in specialized tools and equipment that you would not need or use often in your own shop, but which might come in handy for specific cuts or when making a certain type of project.
It also might give you the chance to try out new tools or equipment, which can help you decide if you want to use them going forward. For instance, perhaps you’ve never used carbide tools before, even though you’ve been turning for thirty years, because you started with high-speed steel tools when you were a beginner and you never thought to switch. Having the opportunity to try out something different with very low risk or cost could be the start of something new for you!
One overlooked benefit of attending local classes is the chance for you to develop your artistic side. While woodturning can be a practical enterprise, focused on making bowls and vases for everyday use, it can also lend itself to an expression of artistry. While you want your projects to be sound, you also want them to be beautiful. And what better way to learn what’s beautiful than to hear from those who turn wood with this principle in mind?
You can even find classes dedicated to artistry (see below for a class from the Minnesota Woodturners Association devoted to Developing a Style). Classes like these often focus on proportion, curve flow, and visual balance, which will elevate your work from “well made” to “beautiful.”
You’ve been convinced that this is the year to expand your knowledge of woodturning by attending some local classes. The only thing left is to find a class offered at a time and place that works for your schedule! See the list below for some Minnesota-based associations that host regular and specialized classes for woodturners of all levels.
The Minnesota Woodworkers Guild is in the process of putting together a wonderful new woodworking education program. In the meantime, they have a few monthly meetings coming up this spring that may be interesting to beginner and advanced woodturners alike.
For example, during their February meeting, they are hosting virtual shop tours of various Guild members’ shops. In March, the Guild is hosting a discussion on grain graphics with Tom Caspar. More information can be found on their calendar page. These meetings are open to the public.
They also have an entire webpage dedicated to other classes woodworkers might find interesting. Several of these classes go beyond woodturning to explore different aspects of woodworking, from cabinetry to canoe-making. Most of these classes require specific registration.
The Minnesota Woodturners Association (MWA) is a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW), which is the largest national woodturning association. The Minnesota chapter offers many unique classes for woodturners, which can be found on their website.
Weekend classes are offered all winter long, and although January hasn’t been quite as cold this year as it often is, it’s still a good time to find some indoor activities to keep you busy until spring.
Some of the upcoming classes include German ring turning, pen turning, and casting. Classes continue in the spring and summer with unique topics like off-center turning, urn turning, and developing your own unique turning style. Whether you are a member of the MWA or not, you are sure to find a class of interest.
The Mid Minnesota Association of Woodturners hosts classes throughout the year at the Paramount Center for the Arts in the Studio Art room in St. Cloud. Each of their monthly meetings includes a demonstration and is open to the public. These meetings take place on the second Saturday of each month; the next one is set for February 14.
The MMAW also hosts evening classes at the Arts Underground that include various topics like “Introduction to the Lathe” and “Turning Lidded Boxes.”
The next meeting is on Monday, January 26, when Andrew Cockroft will be teaching about how to make a charcuterie board and cheese slicer. If this is something you haven’t tried before, now is the time! You can perfect your technique in time to make a wonderful gift for Mother’s or Father’s Day or save it until next Christmas.
Sometimes people forget that hardware stores also often host classes during the year, and Rockler is offering several in the upcoming months at their Minnesota locations. These classes are especially helpful for beginners; the one coming up on February 14-15 in Maplewood is open to woodturners ages 14 and up, perfect for the budding woodturner in your life.
There are other kinds of classes as well if you’d like to try turning something new. At their Minnetonka location, Rockler is hosting a pen turning class on multiple dates in January and February, and there is a handle turning class taking place at this location as well.
In addition to the associations and chain stores listed above, local woodworking venues also host classes. For example, Mullins Woodworks is a woodworking shop in west central Minnesota. The classes they offer are hosted in their studio shop in New Prairie Township near Cyrus, MN, and Milan Village Arts School in Milan, MN. They are also set up for traveling and host classes at various regional venues. Their focus is on turning bowls and they offer both beginner and advanced classes.
Another local shop in Bloomington, MN is called Woodcraft of Minneapolis, and they offer woodturning classes for all levels on various topics from casting with epoxy to making a Viking cup.
Take a look at your own local woodshops to see what classes might be offered near you!
Your growth as a woodturner doesn’t have to plateau. In 2026, challenge yourself to keep learning—hands-on, in real time, alongside others who love this craft as much as you do.
Make this the year you step into a classroom, stand at a new lathe, and let someone else’s hard-earned knowledge move you forward.
The 2026 challenge is simple: find a class, show up, and grow.
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