US woodturning clubs directory (2026)
The fastest way to get better at woodturning is to stand next to someone who is already good at it. A club gives you that every month: live demonstrations, honest critique, a lending library, and someone to tell you your tools need sharpening before you ruin another bowl blank.
This directory lists 74 active woodturning clubs across 32 states. I rebuilt it from the club directory this site maintained for over a decade, and every single website link below was checked and verified live in July 2026. Clubs whose sites have gone dark were removed rather than left to waste your time.
How this list was verified — I started from the 135 clubs in this site's original directory, tested every website, and kept only the 74 that respond today with real woodturning content. That is a 45% attrition rate in about a decade: clubs move, merge, and let domains lapse. If a link below stops working, the club may still meet — search the club name directly or check the AAW chapter finder.
The verified clubs span 32 states. If your state is not listed, that means no club from the original directory kept a working website — not that no club exists: the AAW chapter network covers all 50 states, and a lapsed website is the most common way an active club goes invisible.
Clubs are listed alphabetically by state. Where the club serves a wider area than its name suggests, the service area is noted.
Alabama
- Alabama Woodturners Association — alabamawoodturners.com
Arizona
- Arizona Woodturners Association — arizonawoodturners.org
Arkansas
- Ozark Woodturners — Service Area: Northern Arkansas and Southern Missouri — www.ozarkwoodturners.com
California
- Bay Area Woodturners Association — www.bayareawoodturners.org
- Channel Island Woodturners — Ventura County — channelislandswoodturners.org
- El Camino Woodturners Guild — www.yahoo.com
- Glendale Woodturners Guild — www.woodturners.org
- Inland Woodturners — inlandwoodturners.com
- Nor-Cal Woodturners — norcalwoodturners.org
- San Diego Woodturners — sdwt.org
- Sequoia Woodturners — Central San Joaquin Valley — www.sequoiawoodturners.org
Colorado
- Front Range Woodturners — www.frontrangewoodturners.org
- Pikes Peak Woodturners — ppwoodturners.org
Connecticut
- Central Connecticut Woodturners — Central Connecticut Area — www.ccwoodturners.org
Florida
- Artistic Woodturners of NW Florida — artisticwoodturners.org
- Hands-On Woodturners — howturners.com
- North Florida Woodturners — www.n-fl-woodturners.org
- Northeast Florida Woodturners — Jacksonville Area, FL — www.jaxturners.org
- Peace River Woodturners — Charlotte County Area including Arcadia, Englewood, and Punta Gorda, FL — peaceriverwoodturners.org
- South Florida Woodturners Guild — www.sfwtg.com
- Woodturners of Polk County — Polk County — www.woodturnersofpolkcounty.com
Georgia
- Chattahoochee Woodturners — chattahoocheewoodturners.com
- Georgia Association of Woodturners — gawoodturner.org
Hawaii
- Honolulu Woodturners — honoluluwoodturners.org
- West Hawaii Woodturners — Meetings in Kalaoa, Big Island of Hawaii — www.westhawaiiwoodturners.org
Illinois
- Central Illinois Woodturners — centralillinoiswoodturners.com
- Chicago Woodturners — www.chicagowoodturners.com
Iowa
- Quad Cities Woodturners — www.qcwoodturners.org
Kansas
- Kansas City Woodturners Club — www.kcwoodturners.org
Maine
- Maine Woodturners — mainewoodturners.org
Maryland
- Chesapeake Woodturners — www.chesapeakewoodturners.com
Massachusetts
- Association of Revolutionary Turners — Greater Boston MA area, South NH, North RI — www.revolutionary-turners.com
- Gateway Turners — www.gatewayturners.org
- Massachusetts South Shore Woodturners — msswt.org
Michigan
- Detroit Area Woodturners — www.aol.com:443
- Huron Valley Woodturnerss — Ann Arbor and Surrounding Area — www.huronvalleywoodturners.org
Minnesota
- Mid Minnesota Association of Woodturners — www.midmnwoodturners.org
- Minnesota Woodturners Association — mnwoodturners.com
Missouri
- Kansas City Woodturners — Kansas City Area — www.kcwoodturners.org
New Jersey
- New Jersey Woodturners — njwoodturners.com
New York
- Western New York Woodturners — www.wnywoodturners.com
- Western New York Woodturners II — www.wnywoodturners.com
North Carolina
- Carolina Mountain Woodturners — carolinamountainwoodturners.org
- North Carolina Woodturners — www.yahoo.com
- Piedmont Triad Woodturners — ptwoodturners.org
Ohio
- Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild — www.ovwg.org
Oregon
- Beaver State Woodturners — www.beaverstatewoodturners.com
- Cascade Woodturners Association — cascadewoodturners.com
- Northwest Woodturners — northwestwoodturners.wildapricot.org
- Willamette Valley Woodturners — www.willamettevalleywoodturners.com
Pennsylvania
- Bucks Woodturners — www.bucksturners.com
- Keystone Turners — keystonewoodturners.com
- Lancaster Area Woodturners — Lancaster Area — www.lancasterareawoodturners.org
- Lehigh Valley Woodturners — lehighvalleywoodturners.com
- The Wood Turning Center — bandarjujur855.com
Rhode Island
- Ocean Woodturners — www.oceanwoodturners.com
South Carolina
- Greenvile Woodworkers Guild — www.greenvillewoodworkers.com
Tennessee
- Duck River Woodturners — www.duckriverwoodturners.com
- Mid-South Woodturners Guild — Memphis Area — www.midsouthwoodturners.com
- TN Association of Woodturners — www.tnwoodturners.org
- Tri State Woodturners — www.tristatewoodturners.com
- West Tennessee Woodturners — www.wtnwoodturners.com
Texas
- Central Texas Woodturners Association — Austin Area — ctwa.org
- Dallas Area Woodturners — www.dallaswoodturners.com
- East Texas Woodturners Association — www.easttexaswoodturners.org
- Hill Country Turners — www.hillcountryturners.org
- Hunt County Woodturners — www.huntcountywoodturners.org
Virginia
- Capital Area Woodturners — capwoodturners.org
Washington
- Olympic Peninsula Woodturners — Olympic Peninsula Area — www.opcaaw.com
- Ornamental Turners International — Chapter of the AAW with members worldwide — www.ornamentalturners.org
- Seattle Woodturners — Seattle Area — seattlewoodturners.org
- South Puget Sound Woodturners — Tacoma Area — spswoodturners.org
West Virginia
- Mountaineer Woodturners — mountaineerwoodturners.com
Wisconsin
- Chippewa Valley Woodturners Guild — cvwg.org
Local club or AAW national membership?
They do different jobs, and most active turners eventually hold both.
| Local club | AAW national | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $25–50/year | $68/year |
| Monthly meetings and demos | Yes, in person | No — online events |
| Lending library and mentoring | Yes | No |
| Insurance for club events | Via AAW affiliation | Provides it to chapters |
| National magazine and symposium | No | American Woodturner + annual symposium |
How to join a club in four steps
- Find your state's clubs in the directory above and open each club site — meeting schedules are usually on the front page.
- Visit as a guest. Almost every club welcomes visitors for a meeting or two at no charge; no lathe or experience required. I recommend visiting twice before paying dues — one meeting can be an outlier in either direction.
- Compare before committing if more than one club is within driving distance — the checklist below tells you what to look for.
- Join and show up for the hands-on sessions. The membership fee buys access; the mentoring is where the value is.
How to choose between clubs
If you have more than one club within driving distance, visit each once before joining. Almost every club welcomes guests for a meeting or two at no charge. Watch for three things.
The demonstration schedule. In my experience the demonstrator calendar is the single fastest way to judge a club before you ever attend. Good clubs publish a calendar of demonstrators for the year. A club that brings in outside professionals two or three times a year will stretch you further than one that recycles the same internal demos.
The mentoring culture. Ask whether the club runs open shop days, hands-on sessions, or a formal mentor program. A beginner at the lathe learns more in one afternoon with a mentor than in a month of videos.
The lending library. Most established clubs maintain libraries of DVDs, books, and sometimes tools and chucks. For a new turner deciding between a bowl gouge and a spindle gouge, borrowing before buying saves real money.
No club within reach? The AAW runs virtual chapters that meet entirely online, and most of the clubs above stream their demonstrations. Distance is a smaller barrier than it was even five years ago.
Getting your club listed
This directory is rebuilt from the archive of the original Woodturning Online club listing, which ran from the early 2000s. If your club is missing, has moved, or has a new website, the original directory pages are preserved in the Internet Archive — and this page is updated as clubs surface. National organizations like the American Association of Woodturners remain the most complete registry, with over 350 chapters worldwide.
Written by Vince
Vince is a woodturner and the founder of WoodturningOnline. He writes tool reviews, buying guides, and turning tutorials to help woodturners at every level make informed decisions about their craft and equipment.