Crafts
Woodworking
Cutting, shaping and joining wood, from a knife and a stick to a full workshop.
Coffee Girl Wood / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Whittling
Shaping wood with a single knife — the cheapest, oldest and most portable making craft there is.
£25–£100 to start · indoors or out · gentle
Danny6060 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Campervan conversion
Turning a panel van into somewhere you can sleep, cook and sit out the rain — carpentry, wiring and plumbing in a space that moves.
Over £1,000 to start · outdoors · demanding
Doug Coldwell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
CNC routing
Cutting parts from a digital design on a computer-controlled router — a workshop machine that is genuinely powerful and genuinely unforgiving.
£300–£1,000 to start · indoors · gentle
Luthiery
CraftBuilding and repairing stringed instruments, where fine woodworking meets acoustics.
Over £1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
Wood finishing
CraftOils, waxes, varnishes and shellac — the stage that decides how a finished piece is judged, and the one most often rushed.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsGentle
Sauna building
CraftHobbyBuilding a garden sauna — the stove decision, the regulations nobody mentions, and the bench geometry that makes it work.
Over £1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
Shed building
CraftHobbyBuilding a garden workshop or store from scratch — the permitted development limits, the base, and the damp.
Over £1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
Treehouse building
CraftHobbyBuilding a structure carried by a living tree — where the tree, not the timber, sets every rule.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
Knifemaking
CraftMaking a blade from steel — the two routes in, what heat treatment actually does, the grinder that is the real hazard, and where UK law sits for a maker.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsDemanding
Also in this category
Classified but not yet written up.
61 activities in the catalogue, 9 written up so far.
Antique tool collecting
HobbyCollecting pre-industrial and early machine-age hand tools, usually to use rather than display.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Automata making
CraftBuilding mechanical figures driven by cams and linkages, half toy half sculpture.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Bowl turning
CraftTurning bowls and hollow forms on a lathe, distinct from spindle work in tools and risk.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Bowyery
CraftMaking wooden bows from a stave, where reading the grain decides whether it survives tillering.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Carved sign making
CraftCutting and gilding lettered signs in wood, a lettering craft distinct from painting one.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Chainsaw carving
CraftCarving figures and furniture from log with saws of several sizes, finished with grinders and torch.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsVery demanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Chair bodging
CraftTurning chair legs and stretchers on a pole lathe in the wood, the itinerant half of chairmaking.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Chair making
CraftThe hardest thing in furniture: angles in three planes and joints that carry a person.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Chip carving
CraftCutting precise geometric chips out of flat wood with one or two knives.
Under £25 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Clog making
CraftCarving alder soles and fitting leather uppers, with a knife set specific to the trade.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Coopering
CraftMaking barrels from shaped staves held only by hoops and their own geometry.
Over £1,000 to startIndoorsVery demanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Coracle building
CraftHobbyBuilding and paddling the traditional hide-or-canvas river boat, usually on a weekend course.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
French polishing
CraftBuilding a shellac finish with a rubber over many sessions — the traditional furniture surface.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Furniture making
CraftDesigning and building furniture, from flat-pack alternatives to fine cabinetmaking.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Furniture restoration
CraftRepairing and refinishing furniture without erasing its history, which is the whole argument in the craft.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Green woodworking
CraftWorking unseasoned wood with hand tools on a shave horse and pole lathe.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Hand tool restoration
CraftHobbyBringing old planes, chisels and saws back into use, which is cheaper than buying new.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Hand tool woodworking
CraftWorking entirely with planes, saws and chisels, without machines.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Hurdle making
CraftWeaving hazel or cleaving ash into gate and wattle hurdles, worked green straight from the coppice.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Intarsia
CraftPicture-making from shaped and fitted pieces of solid wood rather than veneer.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Japanese joinery
CraftCutting interlocking wooden joints without glue or fasteners, worked with pull saws and chisels.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Knife handle making
CraftFitting scales and handles to blades in wood, bone and composite — the accessible half of knifemaking.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Kumiko
CraftAssembling delicate geometric lattice from thin wood strips with no fasteners at all.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Log building
CraftScribe-fitting whole logs into a structure, a Scandinavian and North American tradition.
£300–£1,000 to startOutdoorsVery demanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Marquetry
CraftCutting and fitting wood veneers into pictures and patterns on a flat surface.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Mechanical puzzle design
CraftDesigning and making burr, sequential-movement and packing puzzles.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Men’s Sheds
HobbyA community workshop where the making and the company matter equally.
Under £25 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Oar and paddle making
CraftShaping oars and paddles from timber, a satisfying single-object craft.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Ornamental turning
CraftCutting geometric patterns with a rose engine or ornamental lathe, a Victorian machine craft.
Over £1,000 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Pen turning
CraftTurning pen bodies onto manufactured kits, the standard first project on any lathe.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Pyrography
CraftBurning images and lettering into wood or leather with a heated point.
£25–£100 to startIndoorsSedentary
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Rocking horse making
CraftCarving and finishing traditional rocking horses, a long single-project craft.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Scroll sawing
CraftCutting intricate curves and fretwork in thin wood on a scroll saw.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Segmented turning
CraftTurning vessels glued up from hundreds of cut segments, which is joinery before it is turning.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Segmented woodturning
CraftTurning vessels glued up from hundreds of cut segments, where the geometry is done before the lathe.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Shepherd’s hut building
CraftBuilding a small wheeled timber hut, a revived form now used as a garden room.
Over £1,000 to startOutdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Skin-on-frame boatbuilding
CraftBuilding kayaks and canoes as a light lashed frame under a stretched skin, in a few weekends.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Small boat restoration
CraftHobbyRestoring clinker dinghies and small craft, which is joinery, caulking and paint over years.
Over £1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Spoon carving
CraftCarving eating and cooking spoons from green wood with an axe and two knives.
£25–£100 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Steam bending
CraftSoftening timber with steam and bending it around a form, for boats, chairs and hoops.
£100–£300 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Timber framing
CraftCutting large joinery in structural timber, for barns, frames and garden buildings.
Over £1,000 to startOutdoorsVery demanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Tool sharpening
CraftPutting genuine edges on chisels, plane irons and knives, and understanding why.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Traditional broom making
CraftBinding birch besoms and bench brooms by hand, one of the oldest surviving woodland trades.
£25–£100 to startOutdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Trug making
CraftSteaming and shaping chestnut and willow into Sussex garden baskets over a frame.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Veneering
CraftLaying thin decorative wood over a stable substrate, the basis of most fine furniture surfaces.
£100–£300 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Violin bow making
CraftMaking bows for stringed instruments from pernambuco and horsehair, a specialism within luthiery.
Over £1,000 to startIndoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Walking stick making
CraftMaking sticks and crooks from shanks and horn, with a strong show tradition.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsGentle
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wheelwrighting
CraftMaking wooden wheels, one of the most demanding and least practised of the traditional trades.
Over £1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsVery demanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Windsor chairmaking
CraftBuilding stick chairs from green wood with a shave horse, drawknife and a pole lathe.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoors or outdoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wood carving
CraftShaping wood with chisels, gouges and mallets, from relief panels to figures.
£100–£300 to startIndoors or outdoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Wooden boat building
CraftBuilding small craft in wood — dinghies, canoes and kayaks — over months or years.
Over £1,000 to startIndoorsDemanding
In the catalogue, not written up yet
Woodturning
CraftCutting spinning wood on a lathe into bowls, spindles and hollow forms.
£300–£1,000 to startIndoorsModerate effort
In the catalogue, not written up yet