Established in 2025, Newstead Wood School is a place for aspiring craftspeople to gather, learn and pursue the art & craft of fine woodworking. Small classes, patient teaching and a focus on practical making allow students of all levels to build confidence at the bench. The aim is simple — to pass on knowledge that can be carried forward, practised and enjoyed for a lifetime.

Fine Woodworking - view courses
Traditional Carpentry - view courses
Curriculum - view calendar

Our Team

Lachlan Park

Lachie has pursued a passion for woodworking for over 20 years. An educational journey which took him from RMIT University, Melbourne to The Centre for Fine Woodworking in New Zealand and then abroad to pursue further education and opportunities to learn and practice the craft.

Since 2015 Lachie has furthered pursued this passion from his workshop in the small country town of Newstead in Central Victoria, Australia. 2025 saw the offical launch of Newstead Wood School.

Founder and Tutor at Newstead Wood School

John Shaw

A dedicated woodworker for 50 years, John has always seen himself as a designer/maker. He has worked as the educational director of a fine woodworking school. As a woods focused design tutor in a visual arts programme and for the last 15 years as a mentor to woodworkers at his own access workshop in NZ.

John’s work has always been informed by his time as a student with James Krenov at the college of the redwoods in California.

Lead Tutor
Lead Tutor

David Fleming

David Fleming took a break from his life of subsistence hunting and fishing in the Arctic to study furniture making with James Krenov for two years (1984-1986). In 1993 he and his family relocated from Alaska to Arizona, where for the past 30-plus years he has been a full-time furniture maker and educator. In his spare time, he is an avid photographer of birds and other wildlife.

With 6 dedicated bench spaces and essential tool kits for students use, Newstead Wood School is well equipped and typical of a small fine woodworking workshop. With outdoor workspace space also for those sunny days, onsite saw mill and special collection of classic fine cabinet-making woods, NWS aims to be a place where passionate craftspeople can immerse themselves in a supportive and creative environment.

While at NWS, students have access to traditional European cabinet maker’s style workbenches and essential tool kits.

A space for all seasons

ALL COURSES
CALENDAR
FAQs
MENTORSHIP
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

  • Framing at Newstead Wood School

  • Custom made workbench

  • Inside the workshop

  • Handmade plane

  • Canine in residence

  • Campfire knockoff beers

  • Side table made from American Maple

  • Custom made bedside table

  • On the handtools

  • Directly from the source

Testimonials

  • "I did the two day hand plane course with Lachie and really enjoyed it. I had very little woodworking experience and found Lachie a very patient and clear teacher who was able to guide me to produce a hand plane that looked really nice and worked well. The course was fun and I learnt a lot of processes and techniques along the way. Lachie was also very generous as he helped me to make a hammer and offered plenty of advice about tools, techniques and other woodworking matters. I'd be keen to do other courses in the future!"

    - Patrick

  • "I highly recommend Lachie’s timber framing course to anyone interested in the art and craft of timber framing. It was an action packed five days and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Lachie is a generous and patient teacher who skilfully guided me through the process of laying out, mapping and scribing timbers and who helped me turn a few milled timbers into a complete cross-frame. It was a thrill to see the frame come together and to raise it on the final day. During the course I was introduced to the tools and techniques needed to timber frame and Lachie was very generous with his knowledge. He tailored the experience to my goal to build a small timber frame cabin. We discussed design considerations, design tools, site considerations, milling, timber selection, timber assessment and handling. It’s a testament to Lachie’s skill as a teacher that he was able to guide me, a novice with very little wood working experience, through the process and fire me up with the confidence to begin building.

    - Ben

  • "As a beginner, this was a fantastic course for me.  The great thing was that we were at the bench, actually making something, most of the time; in other words, we were ‘learning by doing’ after having been given clear demonstrations and instructions each step of the way.  Lachlan kept an eye on us throughout, encouraging us, picking up problems and mistakes and responding to our individual questions and needs for support.   The course is brilliantly designed to help build skill and confidence over the week as each step involves multiple opportunities to get some degree of mastery over the different skills covered.  I learned so much that the course fee felt like a bargain."

    - Charles Potter