Woodworking classes in NYC, from one afternoon to a furniture course
10 places to learn woodworking in New York City — an oak side table built in an afternoon, six-week joinery courses in working furniture shops, whittling and spoon carving, Japanese hand-tool classes with no machines, and the shared shops where you keep going once you know the saws.
6 of them are in Brooklyn. Manhattan has the carving, the kumiko and the one small shared shop; the machines are across the river.
$265
finished side table in a day
The short answer
For a first go at woodworking in New York, Craftsman Ave in Industry City builds an oak side table with half-lap joints in a single afternoon from $265, and Makeville in Gowanus runs a one-afternoon Wood Shop Basics class for $175–$195. RESOBOX in the East Village teaches a 90-minute kumiko lattice workshop for $80.
To learn properly, Makeville's four-Saturday step-stool course ($560, about $140 a session) and Bien Hecho's six-week Introduction to Woodworking in the Brooklyn Navy Yard ($795) are the two full beginner courses. The Compleat Sculptor in Chelsea teaches whittling and wood carving as monthly four-week classes for $375. After a course, shop time runs $12–$15 an hour at Makeville or from $225 a month at MakerSpace NYC.
One-afternoon woodworking classes
One session, something finished to carry home. Prices as printed, per person.
| Where | You make | Length | Price |
|---|
| A wood-burned piece (no saws) | 90 minutes | $79 |
| A small vase with your own kumiko lattice panel | 90 minutes | $80 |
| Wood Shop Basics — a first project on the machines | One afternoon | $175–$195 |
| An oak side table with half-lap joints | 3–4 hours | from $265 |
| A pintail longboard | 3–4 hours | from $305 |
| A live-edge walnut bench or coffee table | One day | $850 |
KraftStories publishes this site; its wood-burning class is a craft evening rather than woodworking, and is listed on the same terms as everyone else. Craftsman Ave's bowl-carving class is on hiatus.
Woodworking courses, priced per session
The entry-level course divided by its sessions, cheapest first. Most sessions are three hours.
| Where | Neighbourhood | Per session | Format |
|---|
| Financial District | $79 | 90-minute wood-burning workshop |
| East Village | $80 | 90-minute kumiko workshop |
| Chelsea | $93.75 | Monthly 4-week classes, one 3-hour session a week |
| Brooklyn Navy Yard | $132.50 | 6-week courses, one 3-hour session a week; 4-day intensives; 3–5 week hand-tool and carving courses |
| Gowanus / Park Slope | $140 | Group classes of one to five 3-hour sessions; lathe, bowl turning, spoon carving, furniture |
| Sunset Park (Industry City) | $265 | One-session project workshops of 3–4 hours |
Our arithmetic, not a studio figure. One-session classes count as one session, which is why Craftsman Ave, RESOBOX and KraftStories appear here at their full price.
Full course prices at the two schools: Makeville — Start Woodworking! $430 for three evenings, Intro to Woodworking: Step Stool $560 for four Saturdays, Lathe 101 $395–$495, Greenwood Spoon Carving $350 for two sessions, Furniture Making: Table $560. Bien Hecho — Introduction to Woodworking $795 for six weeks, a four-day side-table intensive $695, Introduction to Hand Tools $695 for five Saturdays, Introduction to Carving $575 for three Monday evenings.
Joinery, carving, turning or hand tools
Joinery and furniture
Cutting joints that hold without screws, and assembling them into a stool, a table or a bench. Makeville (including a women+ furniture course), Bien Hecho and Craftsman Ave.
Carving and whittling
A knife or gouge and a block of wood; no machines. The Compleat Sculptor teaches whittling from a cedar block and direct carving; Bien Hecho and Makeville (greenwood spoons) teach carving too.
Turning
Shaping wood spinning on a lathe into bowls and handles. Makeville runs Lathe 101 and bowl turning, with a separate $50 lathe certification for shop time.
Japanese hand tools
Pull saws, chisels and planes instead of machines, and kumiko — geometric lattice assembled without glue. Nihonsan Tools in Park Slope teaches joinery, toolboxes and a hinoki bath stool; RESOBOX teaches kumiko.
Shop time after the class
Where you can keep building once a class has taught you the machines.
| Where | Terms |
|---|
| Studio time $15/hr on the membership page, $12/hr in the FAQ, after a $100 workshop certification (lathe certification $50); private lessons $100/hr, $170/hr for two |
| Open studio time included with the class, Mon, Tue, Thu and Sat during store hours |
| Pro membership $325/month includes the woodshop, metal shop and machine shop; Maker $225/month excludes industrial equipment; Associate $225/year. Private lessons $95/hr members, $125/hr non-members |
| Membership by sign-up after a Wednesday 7 pm open house; price not printed |
The price you see is not always the price you pay
Makeville quotes studio time at $15 an hour on its membership page and $12 in its FAQ — ask which applies. The Compleat Sculptor includes open studio time with its classes, but the wood for the carving course is extra. Nihonsan Tools and MakerSpace NYC print no class prices on their class pages; Fat Cat Fab Lab prints neither class nor membership prices, and gives no refunds on classes.
Safety classes and age limits
No shared shop in the city lets you use its machines on your first visit. Makeville requires a $100 workshop certification (and a $50 lathe certification) before studio time; MakerSpace NYC runs a two-hour Woodshop 101 on basic use and safety; Fat Cat Fab Lab runs a woodshop safety class, which was waitlisted when we checked. Expect to wear closed shoes, tie back long hair and leave rings and loose sleeves at home on any machine.
Age limits, where printed: Makeville takes students from 15; KraftStories' wood-burning class is 12 and over; Craftsman Ave has no age limit if a parent or guardian helps, which makes it the one family option on this page.
Free routes into woodworking
Brooklyn Woods in Gowanus runs a seven-week, full-time woodworking and fabrication training programme, free of charge, for unemployed and low-income New Yorkers who want a career in the trade — with OSHA 30 certification. It is job training, not a hobby class, and cohorts are by application after an information session. Nihonsan Tools holds a free Japanese woodworking meet-up on 8 October.
Pratt's continuing-education furniture certificate showed no scheduled sessions when we checked.
Every class and shop, in detail
By borough — Manhattan, Brooklyn. Blank fields mean the shop does not say.
Manhattan · 4
Beginner-friendlyStudio time available
The city’s sculpture supply shop, and the only place teaching whittling and carving as a monthly course. Open studio is thrown in, which makes the per-session figure better than it looks — but budget for the wood on the carving course.
- Format
- Monthly 4-week classes, one 3-hour session a week
- Printed prices
- Whittling Class $375 (October 2026) · Direct Carving in Wood $375
- What you make
- Whittling: a small sculpture from a 2×3×7-inch cedar block. Direct carving: a figurative or abstract sculpture
- Materials
- Tools included; direct-carving students buy their own wood, usually $35–$150
- After the class
- Open studio time included with the class, Mon, Tue, Thu and Sat during store hours
- When
- Whittling Tue 11–2 or 5–8 pm; Direct Carving Mon 5:30–8:30 pm; new sections each month
- Address
- 110 West 19th Street, New York, NY
- Getting there
- 1 to 18 St, or F, M to 23 St
Beginner-friendly
A Japanese cultural centre rather than a woodshop: no machines and no sawdust, and the cheapest woodworking session on this page.
- Format
- 90-minute kumiko workshop
- Printed prices
- $80 per person
- What you make
- A small flower vase with your own kumiko lattice panel
- Materials
- All materials included — kits from Ōminato Bunkichi Shoten
- When
- 26 September at 11 am, further dates by booking
- Groups
- Private, group and corporate sessions on request
- Address
- 91 E 3rd Street, New York, NY 10003
- Getting there
- F to 2 Av
Beginner-friendlyStudio time available
No class price published on its own pages.
A volunteer-run makerspace with a small woodshop in the Village — the only shared shop in Manhattan we found. No refunds on classes, and neither class nor membership prices are on the public pages.
- Format
- Woodshop: Basic Usage and Safety class; membership
- After the class
- Membership by sign-up after a Wednesday 7 pm open house; price not printed
- When
- Woodshop safety class currently waitlisted
- Address
- 224 West 4th St, Ste 206, New York, NY 10014
- Getting there
- 1 to Christopher St–Stonewall, or A, B, C, D, E, F, M to W 4 St
Financial District, Manhattan Beginner-friendlyMin. age 12
Ours, and listed on the same terms as everything else. The only wood-burning class on this page, and a craft evening rather than a woodworking course — no saws.
This is us. KraftStories publishes this site; this entry is held to the same fields as every other studio.
- Format
- 90-minute wood-burning workshop
- Printed prices
- $79 per person
- What you make
- A wood-burned piece taken home the same day
- Materials
- All tools, materials and stencils included
- Minimum age
- 12
- When
- Runs regularly; dates on the booking page
- Groups
- Public sessions up to 12; private groups up to 40; mobile for 200+
- Address
- 93 Pearl St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10004
- Getting there
- 2, 3 to Wall St, or R, W to Whitehall St
Brooklyn · 6
Gowanus / Park Slope, Brooklyn Beginner to advancedStudio time availableMin. age 15
The most complete woodworking school in the city: joinery, turning, spoon carving and a women+ furniture course, all on one calendar, with the lumber included. $140 is the four-Saturday beginner stool; one-afternoon Wood Shop Basics at $175 is the cheaper way in. The studio-time rate differs between two of its own pages.
- Format
- Group classes of one to five 3-hour sessions; lathe, bowl turning, spoon carving, furniture
- Printed prices
- Wood Shop Basics $175–$195 (one afternoon) · Start Woodworking! $430 (3 evenings) · Intro to Woodworking: Step Stool $560 (4 Saturdays) · Lathe 101 $395–$495 · Greenwood Spoon Carving $350 (2 sessions) · Furniture Making: Table $560 · Woodworking II: Hardwood Cabinets $775
- What you make
- A Shaker step stool, serving board, utensils, coat hooks, a side table, a turned bowl or a greenwood spoon, depending on the class
- Materials
- Classes include all materials, safety equipment and tools unless the listing says otherwise
- After the class
- Studio time $15/hr on the membership page, $12/hr in the FAQ, after a $100 workshop certification (lathe certification $50); private lessons $100/hr, $170/hr for two
- Minimum age
- 15
- When
- October 2026 classes listed weekday evenings and weekends; shop Tue–Sun, closed Mondays
- Groups
- Max six a class; 1-on-1 Make+Take and Skill Builder lessons
- Address
- 119 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
- Getting there
- F, G, R to 4 Av–9 St
Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn Beginner-friendly
A working furniture shop in the Navy Yard, teaching since 2014 on the same machines it builds commissions on. These are paid public classes, not job training — the workforce programme on this page is Brooklyn Woods. At $132.50 a session it costs a little less than Makeville and includes the lumber.
- Format
- 6-week courses, one 3-hour session a week; 4-day intensives; 3–5 week hand-tool and carving courses
- Printed prices
- Introduction to Woodworking $795 (6 weeks) · 4-Day Intensive: Intro to Woodworking – Side Table $695 · Introduction to Hand Tools $695 (5 Saturdays) · Introduction to Carving $575 (3 Monday evenings) · Walnut Slab Workshop $850 (one day)
- What you make
- A side table in the intro course and intensive; a live-edge walnut bench or coffee table in the slab workshop
- Materials
- Intro course includes all materials and use of tools; intermediate and alumni classes may require you to buy your own lumber
- When
- Intro: Sun 3–6 pm 20 Sep – 8 Nov; Sat 3–6 pm 7 Nov – 19 Dec; Tue 6–9 pm 10 Nov – 15 Dec. Intensives Mon–Thu 5–8 Oct or 19–22 Oct, 10 am–2 pm. Hand Tools Sat 11–2, 17 Oct – 14 Nov. Carving Mon 7–10 pm, 30 Nov – 14 Dec
- Groups
- Team-building and private workshops priced on request
- Address
- 63 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205
- Getting there
- F to York St, then a walk east along Flushing Av
Sunset Park (Industry City), Brooklyn Beginner-friendlyMin. age No age limit if a parent or guardian helps
One afternoon, one finished piece of furniture, no commitment — the date-night and team-outing end of woodworking. The bowl-carving class is paused, so there is currently no carving here.
- Format
- One-session project workshops of 3–4 hours
- Printed prices
- Oak Side Table from $265 · Classic Longboard from $305 · Hand Carve a Wood Bowl from $195 (on hiatus)
- What you make
- An oak side table with half-lap joints, a pintail longboard, a knife board or knife handle — finished and taken home the same day
- Materials
- All protective gear, tools and materials included
- Minimum age
- No age limit if a parent or guardian helps
- When
- Dates through the online availability checker
- Groups
- Public workshops 8–20 people; private groups of 50+
- Address
- 68 34th St, Building 6, 1st Floor, Ste B124, Brooklyn, NY 11232
- Getting there
- D, N, R to 36 St
Park Slope / Gowanus, Brooklyn Beginner to advanced
No class price published on its own pages.
Hand tools only, in the Japanese tradition, run from a tool shop — the one place here teaching joinery without machines. Prices sit behind the booking buttons rather than on the class page.
- Format
- Japanese hand-tool classes of 3 hours to 2 days
- What you make
- A toolbox (2 sessions, 14 hours), chopsticks and spreaders, carved hummingbirds, a hinoki bath stool, kumiko panels, dovetail and mortise-and-tenon joints
- Materials
- Materials included in the registration fee, with a possible adjustment for market rates and tariffs
- When
- Free Japanese woodworking meet-up 8 October
- Address
- 300 7th Street (Lower Level), Brooklyn, NY 11215
- Getting there
- F, G, R to 4 Av–9 St
Sunset Park (Brooklyn Army Terminal); also Stapleton, Staten Island, Brooklyn Beginner-friendlyStudio time available
No class price published on its own pages.
Fifty thousand square feet and the biggest shared shop on this page — the membership, not the classes, is the product. Class prices are not printed on its own class page.
- Format
- Woodshop 101 basic use and safety (2 hours); Intro to Woodworking (12 weeks); membership
- After the class
- Pro membership $325/month includes the woodshop, metal shop and machine shop; Maker $225/month excludes industrial equipment; Associate $225/year. Private lessons $95/hr members, $125/hr non-members
- When
- Tue–Thu 10–8, Fri–Sun 10–6; closed Mondays. Staten Island by appointment
- Address
- 140 58th St, Building B, Unit 1C, Brooklyn, NY 11220 · 450 Front St, Unit B, Staten Island, NY 10304
- Getting there
- N to 59 St, or the NYC Ferry to Brooklyn Army Terminal
Beginner-friendly
Not a hobby class: free job training for unemployed and low-income New Yorkers who want a career in the trade, and applicants must support themselves through seven full-time weeks. Left out of the per-session column because it is not a price anyone else can pay.
- Format
- 7-week full-time woodworking and fabrication training
- Printed prices
- Free of charge
- What you make
- Machine and hand-tool skills in solid wood and sheet goods, plus OSHA 30 certification
- When
- Cohorts by application after an information session
- Address
- 125 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY
- Getting there
- F, G, R to 4 Av–9 St
Woodworking classes with a date on them
Pulled live from our events index, so this part of the page refreshes on its own.
Closed, moved or paused
Places other guides still send people to. Each was checked on its own site or the nearest thing to it; where we could not confirm a place was open, it is here rather than in the list above.
3rd Ward
Members’ workshop and school at 195 Morgan Ave, East Williamsburg (second space at 573 Metropolitan Ave) that ran woodworking among hundreds of classes
Board & Brush Creative Studio (Staten Island)
Franchise wood-sign workshop studio
Questions people ask
How much is a woodworking class in NYC?＋
A one-afternoon class costs $175–$305: Makeville’s Wood Shop Basics is $175–$195 and Craftsman Ave’s oak side table starts at $265. Beginner courses cost $375–$795 — about $93–$140 a three-hour session — at Makeville, Bien Hecho and The Compleat Sculptor. RESOBOX’s 90-minute kumiko workshop is $80.
What is the best beginner woodworking class in NYC?＋
For one day, Craftsman Ave’s oak side table in Industry City. For a proper start, Makeville’s four-Saturday Intro to Woodworking: Step Stool ($560) in Gowanus or Bien Hecho’s six-week Introduction to Woodworking ($795) in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a working furniture shop.
Where can I use a woodshop in NYC?＋
Makeville in Gowanus rents studio time at $12–$15 an hour after a $100 certification; MakerSpace NYC at the Brooklyn Army Terminal includes its woodshop in a $325-a-month Pro membership; Fat Cat Fab Lab in the West Village has a small members’ woodshop, price not printed.
Are there wood carving or whittling classes in NYC?＋
The Compleat Sculptor in Chelsea runs monthly four-week whittling and direct-carving classes for $375; Makeville teaches greenwood spoon carving ($350, two sessions); Bien Hecho runs Introduction to Carving ($575, three Monday evenings).
Is there free woodworking training in NYC?＋
Brooklyn Woods runs a free seven-week full-time training programme for unemployed and low-income New Yorkers aiming for a job in the trade. It is by application and is not a hobby class.
How this page was made, and who made it
Every price, date and rule above was read off the shop's own site in September 2026. The per-session figure is our arithmetic — the entry-level course divided by its sessions. Where two pages from the same shop disagree, as Makeville's do on studio time, we print both.
This site is published by KraftStories, whose Financial District studio runs the wood-burning class listed above. It is labelled and held to the same fields as every other entry.
Our editorial standards spell out the rest.
Checked September 2026. Prices and schedules change between terms and seasons — if you find a figure here that is wrong, tell us and we will re-read the source rather than take the correction at face value. Send a correction.