Alan Lacer Leads Weeklong Woodturning Fundamentals Course in Indiana, 2026

A five-day woodturning intensive taught by Alan Lacer concluded Friday at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Guilford, Indiana, closing out a week in which students worked through spindle fundamentals, bowl basics, and lidded box construction, each at their own dedicated lathe.

The course ran March 30 through April 3 and centered on the foundational skills Lacer has built his teaching reputation around: tool control, bevel contact, and the development of repeatable forms. Sharpening sessions and in-depth discussions of tool geometry and lathe selection were embedded in the curriculum from the outset, a deliberate choice designed to produce turners capable of sustaining independent practice long after leaving Guilford.

The week's structure moved from lathe and tool basics through shaping and hollowing, then closed with finishing and surface treatment. That progression, spread across five consecutive days with a dedicated lathe at each station, gave students something a single-day demo almost never delivers: enough hours at the tool rest to begin internalizing muscle-memory skills, and enough instructor feedback to correct problems before they calcify into habit.

Lacer's curriculum covered safety, tool handling, and finishing options suited to a range of experience levels, keeping the course accessible to turners still working through basic form control alongside those looking to sharpen skills they already had. Projects including lidded boxes and bowl work sent students home with finished pieces in hand rather than just notes from a demonstration.

The weeklong intensive format has a documented ripple effect in regional club activity. Turners who complete courses like this one routinely return home and begin hosting practice sessions or local demonstrations, carrying what they absorbed in Indiana back into their own communities. For a craft where feel and feedback are everything, five days of continuous lathe time with an instructor of Lacer's caliber is a different kind of investment than a weekend event.