The Beginning
It started at an agricultural fair in 2014. I watched someone making garden dibbers on a lathe. Simple work, done with quiet competence. Nothing flashy, nothing complicated. But something about it caught me. Whatever he did with his hands, the piece responded. No screens, no delays, no waiting for renders. Just a direct conversation between maker and material.
I asked if I could have a go. He said yes. That was it.
I'd spent years as a photographer and designer, working with images and layouts. This felt fundamentally different. Ancient, even. The weight of the tool, the smell of fresh-cut timber, the way the wood spoke back through vibration and sound. I didn't understand it yet, but I knew I wanted to.
I went home, found my uncle's old Myford Mystro in storage, and made terrible bowls with enthusiasm that far exceeded skill. Those first pieces were honest disasters. Not great, but they were mine, and each one taught me something the next one needed.
The Journey
Over the following decade, curiosity led to commitment, commitment to craft, craft to teaching, and teaching to community.
I became a Registered Professional Turner (RPT) in 2018. The RPT is the professional standard for woodturners in the UK, awarded by the Register of Professional Turners in association with the Worshipful Company of Turners of London. It matters to me because it represents a commitment to the craft that goes beyond just being able to turn things.
I co-founded The Woodturning School near Alton in Hampshire with Les Thorne, where we run courses for turners at all levels — beginners through to experienced makers looking for focused practice time. In 2020, during lockdown, I started Woodturning360: an online turning club that now has members in eleven countries, meeting twice a month.
My first book, Woodturning: Form and Formula, draws on my background in design to explore how proportion and visual balance apply to turned work. My second book, A Maker's Mindset, is something more reflective: thirty short lessons on what woodturning teaches when you slow down enough to listen.
I've been demonstrating at clubs and events since 2015, across the UK and internationally.
How I Think About Woodturning
Process over perfection. Community over competition.
Woodturning is more than technique. It's about proportion, balance, and form — in the wood and in the turner. My background in photography and design taught me to look at composition, at how the eye travels across a surface, at the relationship between positive and negative space. Those same principles apply at the lathe.
I call mistakes 'design opportunities', not because I'm being precious, but because that's genuinely how I've learned to see them. A catch that takes too much wood? Now it's a chance to explore a different profile. A crack that opens during drying? Perhaps it becomes a feature, filled with something that tells the story of the wood's movement.
The Rule of Thirds and the Golden Ratio aren't rigid rules. They're gentle guides toward pieces that feel right. You can break them deliberately, once you understand them — and sometimes you should.
Finishing is where respect for craft shows. The last ten per cent of a piece takes fifty per cent of the care. Sanding through the grits, building up the finish, polishing until it glows. That's where the magic happens. That's where the piece comes alive.
And teaching? Teaching has never been a one-way exchange. Every class and every question has taught me at least as much as any piece of wood. Students make me a better teacher, mainly by asking questions I can't immediately answer, which sends me back to the lathe to find out.
What gives me the most satisfaction? Seeing other people grow in their craft. Whether that's a student making their first box and realising they actually can do this, or someone writing to say a video gave them the courage to try something they'd been putting off.
Woodturning changed me. I'd like to help it change you too.
Find Me Online
• Website: msabansmith.com
• The Woodturning School: thewoodturning.school
• Woodturning360 club: woodturning360.com
• YouTube: youtube.com/@msabansmith
• Register of Professional Turners: rpturners.co.uk
