Daniel Fitzpatrick
Master craftsman. Founder of Spindles Woodturning and Stairs Parts. Hand-turning wood in a small Yorkshire workshop since 1995.
Traditional wood turning is a dying trade. Daniel and the few remaining masters of the craft have become its keepers — quietly ensuring these skills survive for the next generation.
Daniel Fitzpatrick · The workshop, Honley
One pair of hands,
one workshop.
Daniel was born and raised in Yorkshire. He began turning wood at 17, apprenticing under a reputable Yorkshire wood-turning company, followed by a year studying woodworking machinery at Huddersfield College.
He opened his first workshop, Pine by Design, in 2000, and founded Spindles Woodturning and Stairs Parts in 2007 to focus exclusively on traditional turned work — spindles, newel posts, pilasters, table legs.
In 2016 he was accepted into the Guild of Master Craftsmen. He chose to let the membership lapse in 2019, but the standard, he insists, hasn't changed.
He still does every job himself.
The path
Forty-eight years,
one craft.
- 1978
Born
Born and raised in Yorkshire. Strong moral values, work ethic, true Yorkshire grit.
- 1995
Apprenticeship
At seventeen, begins a three-year apprenticeship in wood turning and cabinet making under a reputable Yorkshire firm.
- 2000
Pine by Design
Opens his first workshop, making handmade kitchens and solid wood furniture — the platform every later venture would grow from.
- 2007
Spindles Woodturning and Stairs Parts
Founds Spindles Woodturning and Stairs Parts to focus exclusively on traditional turned work — spindles, newel posts, pilasters.
- 2016
Guild of Master Craftsmen
Accepted into the Guild after a rigorous entry process — the formal recognition of two decades at the lathe.
- Today
Still at the lathe
Hand-turning every piece personally, from a single replacement spindle to four hundred matched balusters for a Knightsbridge restoration.
Hands in
From a Knightsbridge floor
to a Yorkshire farmhouse.
A sample of trade clients.
- Retail · Display
Knightsbridge Department Stores
Showcase fittings and turned display pieces for some of London’s most demanding retail interiors.
- Restoration · Yorkshire
Traditional Windows Co
Newel posts and balusters worked from photographs to match existing period staircases.
- Commercial · Furniture
Flexiform
Turned table-leg work for a leading UK office furniture manufacturer.
- Cabinetry · Bespoke
Taylor Made
Custom turnings for handmade cabinet and joinery commissions.
- And —
hundreds of private homes across the United Kingdom and beyond.
I was happy with the timescales which you adhered to and the fact that you were open to changes in plan. You flagged up potential issues in advance and offered solutions. The quality of the product was good — especially as you worked from photos for the newels. I’d be happy to come back to you the next time we need any work of this nature.
Dave Jackson
Traditional Windows · Yorkshire
One pair of hands for the next commission.
Whether it’s a single replacement spindle or four hundred matched balusters, every job goes through the same Honley workshop, by the same hands. Send a sketch, a photograph or a phone call.