Career
Patternmakers, wood
Make patterns from wood.
$49,630
Median pay
-2.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
100
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.
- Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws.
- 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.
- Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools.
- Divide patterns into sections according to shapes of castings to facilitate removal of patterns from molds.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then creation & expression?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Monitoring, Operation and Control.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $49,630 a year and 100 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Cabinetmaking and MillworkCIP 48.0703
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic$58,000 · -22.8%
- Model Makers, Wood$56,550 · -3.3%
- Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic$63,870 · -3.4%
- Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers$62,750 · -15.0%
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters$51,330 · -6.2%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.