Patternmakers, Wood
Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings.
220 people do this job in the US. $49,630 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 12%
- 0%
- 88%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 10%. Today's estimate: 11%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 20 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construct wooden models, templates, full scale mock-ups, jigs, or molds for shaping parts of products.Done daily by most who do it. | 19% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | Stays with people | |
| Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 12% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Set up, operate, and adjust a variety of woodworking machines such as bandsaws and lathes to cut and shape sections, parts, and patterns, according to specifications.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Lay out patterns on wood stock and draw outlines of units, sectional patterns, or full-scale mock-ups of products, based on blueprint specifications and sketches, and using marking and measuring devices.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h17 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | 95%Half by now | |
| Correct patterns to compensate for defects in castings.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Repair broken or damaged patterns.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Divide patterns into sections according to shapes of castings to facilitate removal of patterns from molds.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.1 h17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Estimate costs for patternmaking jobs.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Finish completed products or models with shellac, lacquer, wax, or paint.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Glue fillets along interior angles of patterns.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic16% now, 35% by 2028
- Model Makers, Wood12% now, 18% by 2028
- Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic10% now, 13% by 2028
- Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers32% now, 52% by 2028
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters5% now, 5% by 2028
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028