Best Woodworking Classes NYC: Find Courses & Onsite Training

Learn More About NYC Woodworking Courses

Woodworking is the process of creating items from wood using either hand tools or power tools. As with many crafts, woodworking can be done as a hobby or as a profession. People use wood to build things such as pencil holders or birdhouses, as well as tables or chairs. Professional woodworkers, including carpenters, also work on building doors, window frames, and kitchen cabinets, along with other constructs in homebuilding. Woodworking requires knowledge of tools and procedures, as well as precise measurement skills combined with practical aesthetic instincts for crafting objects. Choosing woodworking as a hobby can help people express their creativity in practical ways for results that provide a useful function such as birdhouses or kitchen tables. Woodworking also represents a hobby that could lead to a career if a person’s talents prove useful, high-quality, and aesthetically pleasing.

Working with wood may be among the few activities that people today have in common with our earliest ancestors. The ability to carve, shape, and join wood is one of the things that drove humans to evolve from cave dwellers to earthmovers. Wood may have initially been used for building fires before people realized that the material could also be cut apart, shaved, and tied together to create shelters, tools, and boats.

Why Learn Woodworking?

People can learn woodworking as a skill that is both creative and practical. Woodworking requires specific tools and knowledge to build items that both look good and serve a functional purpose. Taking woodworking classes can provide students with an understanding of wood grains, working with hand tools, and applying the right techniques for a given circumstance for creating a range of products using wood.

Building with wood is more than practical. Because wood comes from trees, it possesses a certain vibrancy, texture, and fragrance that reminds anyone working with it that they are working with something that once lived. The nature of wood allows crafters to connect with their work creatively, whether as a hobby or a fulfilling profession.

Taking woodworking classes offers a great way to learn a craft that can be both relaxing and productive. People can enroll in a variety of classes, including workshops in-person or online. Many online woodworking courses are on demand and use training videos that allow students to learn at their own pace, on their own time. There are also advanced courses for learning how to build specific items like tables, cabinets, and canoes. Woodworking skills can be used to build everything from household items like chairs to bookshelves.

What You’ll Learn in a Woodworking Class?

It may be a good idea for anyone with an interest in crafting wood to enroll in a woodworking class for training to develop skills for working on projects with better knowledge of terminology and required tools. Learning how to shape and craft wood could be a person’s first step toward working with wood as a practical hobby. Any course for woodworking must emphasize safety to ensure that students not only avoid injury in class but develop habits for working with wood and tools by always keeping safety in mind above any project itself. Training from woodworking classes may provide options for developing a relaxing hobby and jumpstarting a practical career. Skills for working with wood can open opportunities through knowledge of grains for recognizing patterns in the wood as well as crosscutting against that grain for creating angle cuts, curves, or rip cuts, as well as gaining skills with using tools like squares or with creating pilot holes in constructing projects. Woodworking requires patience with sanding to remove and smooth sharp, jagged elements on wood before finishing, giving the final product both an appealing look and protection.

A woodworking course provides knowledge in basic terms for working with wood such as jointing, which is preparing the edge of boards for gluing together with another board for flat surfaces and angled joints; planing, which involves using a hand tool or electric planer for smoothing over raggedness on wood surfaces; and finally, routing, which involves shaping, cutting, and trimming wood. Working with wood also requires knowing how to use hand tools and power tools for cutting and joining wood, as well as being able to properly use any variety of measuring devices. Woodworking requires using hand tools like handsaws for sawing, chisels for carving wood, a hand plane for shaving, smoothing, and shaping wood, and basic tools like hammers, screwdrivers, and clamps.

Successful woodworking also requires knowing how to use power tools like circular saws for basic woodcutting, jigsaws for cutting wood in curves or angular shapes, table saws for precise cuts, and bandsaws for cutting heavy-duty wood and other materials. Although most people working with wood usually buy their boards from retail stores, some take advantage of wood they find from fallen trees or may cut down a tree themselves. For this, a person must be able to work a chainsaw to cut a tree down or wood into pieces to use in woodworking projects.

While beginner-level classes will likely focus on training students in basic terms and tools for working with wood, advanced woodworking classes typically focus on making specific objects from wood, like furniture, cabinets, or musical instruments.

How Long Will It Take to Learn Woodworking?

For people interested in learning about woodworking who have no experience in the activity, acquiring basic skills can take anywhere from weeks to months to develop some level of capability. However, if someone is considering going into a career in woodworking, like carpentry, training could take years and may require an apprenticeship. Once a person has gotten comfortable with woodworking, simply working on wood projects regularly can help significantly with honing skills. The amount of time and complexity of working with tools can help greatly for whatever progress someone will make. Beginner-level classes, books, and free online video tutorials on woodworking can all aid with gaining confidence. Skills with learning anything grow from knowledge and experience through trial and error. For people considering woodworking as a career, enrolling in an aforementioned online class as well as an apprenticeship can contribute tremendously to developing the skills for working professionally.

What Are the Advantages of Taking a Woodworking Class?

There are many advantages gained from taking woodworking classes. People can enroll in woodworking classes to learn how to work safely with wood as a hobby or as a smart way of starting a career in something like carpentry, which may include seeking out an apprenticeship to gain skills in furniture building or cabinet making. Because woodworking is a practical craft as well as a creative art, a woodworking class could help sharpen skills and apply greater precision for crafting combined with aesthetic talent.

Woodworking requires attention to detail to create quality products and place safety first above everything else. Taking classes can help with establishing good habits with woodworking and using tools properly to avoid devastating and traumatic injuries that can occur from being careless around saws or large pieces of wood. Classes can also help with developing woodworking as a creative hobby for building things at home that might not only save money but may provide a relaxing outlet for creating furniture, cabinets, musical instruments, or Christmas decorations.

Taking up woodworking can also help with dexterity from working with tools and using muscles in performing tasks. This can help improve motor skills along with hand-eye coordination, from needing to be visually precise in putting things together to the physical work involved with crafting wood. As a hobby or work, woodworking can help people keep themselves fit by giving their muscles a workout, which can increase strength while lowering stress. As a bonus, woodworking provides evidence through physical items that result from efforts that testify to a person’s hard work, which can also enhance anyone’s self-esteem by gaining a sense of accomplishment.

Best Woodworking Classes in NYC

Woodworking is a skill that can serve as both a creative hobby and a functional purpose. Woodworking requires knowledge for handling specific types of tools for building things. Therefore, enrolling in woodworking classes can help in developing skills that serve a variety of functions. Taking woodworking classes can provide students with knowledge of wood grains, working with hand tools, and applying the appropriate technique for a given circumstance to create a range of products using wood.

Woodworking classes available in New York City can help people learn fundamental skills for using basic tools, as well as take advanced courses on how to build tables, cabinets, or canoes. Woodworking can be used to build everything from household items like chairs and bookshelves to Pinewood Derby cars and whiskey barrels. Woodworking classes offer an effective way to learn a craft that can be simultaneously relaxing and productive.

Craftsman Ave: Craft a Side Table (An Introduction to Woodworking and Furniture Making)

117B 11th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11215

This beginner-friendly workshop introduces participants to training in woodworking for making furniture. The purpose of this class is to teach people the skills needed for getting a hobby off the ground for designing and building furniture on their own.

Lessons focus on constructing a side table using oak wood and half-lap joints. Students will learn how to cut and shape oak into the parts needed for building their table. Training includes learning how to use a miter saw, router table, table saw, and belt sander for constructing their project.

This beginner-level course trains people who have no prior woodworking experience to pick up the basics of woodworking through their project of building a small oak table.

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Build Your Own Skin-On-Frame Canoe

86 Rondout Landing, Kingston, New York 12401

This woodworking course focuses on training participants in skills for constructing their own watercraft through six class sessions. Aside from building fires, among the earliest uses for wood may have been with crafting boats. The instructor for this class will train students in building their own skin-on-frame double paddle canoes.

Lessons will focus on constructing a wooden frame and stretching a nylon skin over that frame for building a water ready canoe. The fruits of this labor can be transported easily on top of a car for weekend paddling trips on lakes and rivers.

The Hudson River Maritime Museum has the mission of preserving the maritime craft traditions of the Hudson Valley by teaching about the area’s history through hands-on lessons in woodworking, boat building, and maritime craft.

Students have the option of enrolling with a partner as a second builder for this course through the Hudson River Maritime Museum Joint Instruction option for an additional fee.

New York School of the Arts: Wood Carving

315 E. 62nd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10065

This eight-session program trains participants in the techniques, tools, and materials needed for carving and sculpting wood. Lessons cover the history of wood carving and how that history applies to contemporary sculpture. Students will learn how to sharpen tools as well as select the size and type of wood needed for a carving project. Lessons will also include learning about finishing wood surfaces.

Students will need to purchase a set of 3.25-inch gouges (curved, semi-curved, and flat), a mallet, and sandpaper.

This program requires completing a wood carving project as part of the course.

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Make a Bird House

86 Rondout Landing, Kingston, New York 12401

Woodworking can become a hobby that provides a creative outlet and fulfills practical functions. This includes building things that can help in everyday use such as furniture, bookshelves, or containers. Woodworking can also enhance a family’s living environment, which includes learning how to build a birdhouse.

Hudson River Maritime Museum offers a class that teaches participants how to build birdhouses that can help improve the landscape and the livelihood of various species of birds. This course provides hands-on training that helps sustain species of local birds and allows them to enjoy their presence in the backyard. The Hudson Valley itself has experienced a decline in several bird species such as the American robin, barn swallows, chickadees, wrens, and the Eastern screech owl.

Training for this course will focus on hands-on projects that guide beginning wood crafters in building birdhouses that provide shelter and nesting places for a variety of species.

Restoration Oak, Inc.: Bottle Opener

133 Glenwood Road at School House Hill Road, Glenwood Landing, New York 11547

Skills in woodworking can provide both a relaxing hobby and fulfilling practical functions. For anyone interested in learning about woodworking, Restoration Oak offers a variety of classes for picking up skills with techniques and tools for the activity. This course focuses on creating a bottle opener as a starting point for a hobby focused on working with wood.

Students will learn basic woodworking skills through crafting a bottle opener that they will not only be able to use but also have as a keepsake, which serves as an example of their mastery of wood. Participants can also approach training in this workshop as a way of having a fun night out.

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Build a Picture Frame

86 Rondout Landing, Kingston, New York 12401

This course focuses on training in how to make picture frames. Students will learn how to apply the corner spline joinery technique to create durable wooden picture frames. Lessons will cover techniques such as cutting rabbets with a Dado blade, cutting miters, sanding and finishing wood, and cutting mats. The resulting frames can be used for wall-mounting artwork, photographs, and other mementos.

Students must have experience with using table saws, chop saws, and bandsaws to participate in this intermediate-level class.

Restoration Oak, Inc.: Workshop to Build a Birdfeeder

133 Glenwood Road at School House Hill Road, Glenwood Landing, New York 11547

This woodworking class trains participants in how to build birdfeeders. Woodworking can serve as a creative hobby for building things as everyday as tables, chairs, and cabinets or as artistically oriented as musical instruments, toys, or, in the case of this class, birdfeeders, which all serve useful functions.

This three-hour workshop teaches students how to build a birdfeeder that can be an attractive addition to the property landscape and welcome and serve feathered visitors. Of course, the newly created birdfeeder can also be given to someone as a gift.

Restoration Oak also urges students to wander around its boutique and enjoy snacks during this workshop. Participants are encouraged to bring along a companion so that this event can serve as the perfect date night.

Live Online Woodworking Classes

For anyone looking for online training to learn woodworking, there are several options available. Many online woodworking courses provide on-demand training through videos that allow students to learn at their own pace and on their own time. There are also advanced classes for learning how to build things ranging from tables to barrels to boats. Woodworking skills can also be used to build practical household items like cabinets and bookshelves.

WoodSkills: Woodworking Course

This on-demand course trains students in woodworking for being able to make furniture. Lessons focus on helping students develop skills for crafting furniture that can be used daily. Students will learn about woodworking in a structured environment to help them understand the fundamentals along with learning advanced techniques related to the craft. Training includes video lectures on how to use hand tools, chisels, hand planes, related machinery, and power tools. This training helps students develop skills in woodworking that will prove to be a good investment of their time.

This on-demand (asynchronous) course includes an eBook.

Udemy: Woodworking: Fundamentals of Furniture Making

This on-demand course trains participants in fundamental skills for making furniture. Lessons focus on learning about jointing edges, getting color and grain matches for tops, and designing solid wood tops that expand and contract with changes between seasons. Students will also learn about mortise and tenon joinery, tapering legs, and adding decorative accents when creating furniture.

Training focuses on design projects for creating furniture like tables and chairs, which includes learning about edge-to-edge glue-ups for strengthening and beautifying works.

This course provides three hours of on-demand training videos that have been produced in cooperation with the Woodworkers Guild of America.

Domestika: Woodworking: Mid-Century Modern Furniture

This woodworking course trains students in skills to create wooden furniture. Lessons help students explore methods in woodworking for building their own furniture by learning about design, cabinet construction, drawer assembly, finishing techniques, and template routing.

The final project for this class requires building a modern Mid-Century nightstand. Upon completing this course, students will be able to showcase their creations on social media platforms or sell their works online.

To enroll in this class, students will need to have basic experience using power tools. While experience with woodworking equipment is helpful, it is not required.

Students will need to purchase materials, including wood and tools, to be able to work on woodworking projects readily.

This on-demand course consists of nearly three-and-a-half hours of training videos.

Craftsy: Fundamentals of Cabinet Making

This course focuses on teaching students about the fundamentals of cabinet making. Training will be broken down into comprehensive units to help participants make sense of the process of making cabinets. Lessons cover designing cabinets, managing large sheets, dimensioning a face frame, calculating door dimensions, and accenting cabinets with decorative caps and molding along with selecting the appropriate material for a particular project.

Upon completing this course, students will possess fundamental skills in cabinet making and can move on to building cabinets in their homes, like bathroom vanities, bookcases, and dressers.

This course provides three and a half hours of instructional videos as well as detailed woodworking drawings for building cabinets.

Eric Benac

Eric Benac is a copywriter, marketing content producer, researcher, and AI specialist for Noble Desktop. He earned a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in Writing from Northern Michigan University. Before working with Noble Desktop, Eric worked for over 15 years as a copywriter, project manager, and marketer. Since graduating, he's continually expanded his knowledge base by completing project management courses, digital marketing classes, artificial intelligence programs, and programming certifications. Currently, he works full-time as a project manager for an AI firm. Eric’s certifications include Google Project Management, Google Digital Marketing & E-Commerce, and Generative AI Fundamentals.

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Key Insights

Learn More About NYC Woodworking Courses

Why Learn Woodworking?

What You’ll Learn in a Woodworking Class?

How Long Will It Take to Learn Woodworking?

What Are the Advantages of Taking a Woodworking Class?

Best Woodworking Classes in NYC

Craftsman Ave: Craft a Side Table (An Introduction to Woodworking and Furniture Making)

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Build Your Own Skin-On-Frame Canoe

New York School of the Arts: Wood Carving

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Make a Bird House

Restoration Oak, Inc.: Bottle Opener

Hudson River Maritime Museum: Build a Picture Frame

Restoration Oak, Inc.: Workshop to Build a Birdfeeder

Live Online Woodworking Classes

WoodSkills: Woodworking Course

Udemy: Woodworking: Fundamentals of Furniture Making

Domestika: Woodworking: Mid-Century Modern Furniture

Craftsy: Fundamentals of Cabinet Making

NYC Woodworking Corporate & Onsite Training Noble Desktop

Woodworking Training Locations in or Near NYC

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