For cabinet makers, joiners & shopfitters
The workshop cabinet makers send the turning to.
We make the turned and machined parts that go into bespoke cabinetry — legs, feet, columns, plinths, finials, dome caps and bored spheres — to your profile and your carcass dimensions. We do not build the carcass. That is your job, and you are better at it.
Send a drawing → What we can turn- Minimum orderOne piece. A single replacement leg is a real order.
- QuoteFixed price, normally within two working days.
- We do notFit kitchens or wardrobes, or build carcasses.
- Made inBirmingham, England — and we say so if any part of it is not.
Where we sit in your job
You build the cabinet. We turn the bits that hold it up.
Most cabinet making workshops are set up for sheet and solid carcass work, not for a lathe. So when a drawing calls for a turned leg, a bun foot, a fluted pilaster or a bored sphere, the choice is to buy something close from a catalogue, or to have it made properly.
Farwinger is the second option. We are a small Birmingham turning and machining workshop that works almost entirely to other people's drawings, and cabinet makers, joiners and shopfitters are among our steadiest trade accounts. If you are doing custom cabinetry or bespoke cabinetry and the design has turned elements in it, those elements are what we do all day — matched to your profile, your species and your carcass dimensions, so the part arrives ready to fit rather than ready to be argued about.
We are not a cabinet shop. We are the shop your cabinet shop phones.
That distinction is deliberate and we would rather be blunt about it than take an enquiry we have to hand back. Farwinger does not build carcasses, does not make or fit kitchens, does not make or fit wardrobes, and does not do site work. What it does is the turned and machined content of a cased piece: the parts that come off a lathe or a router and have to be right to a tenth of a millimetre before anything else can be glued up. On a whole-piece enquiry we price the parts we genuinely make, rather than quoting for a carcass we would have to sub out.
We also alter and match existing cabinet work. One of our repeat accounts sent three finished kitchen doors that were 50 mm too wide for a re-planned run; each was cut at the shaker line, reduced, and biscuit-jointed back together so the rail widths still read correctly (INV-000147). That is unglamorous work and it is exactly the sort of thing a busy fit-out cannot afford to get wrong.
Specification
What we can turn and machine, and how big it can be.
Every figure below is the real limit of this workshop, not a marketing number. If your part is outside it, say so at enquiry stage and we will tell you which of the three routes past the limit applies and what it costs, rather than discovering it after you have committed.
| Component | Maximum size in house | Species | Bores & fittings | Typical lead time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legs, columns, pilasters, stiles | 700 mm between centres × 250 mm diameter | Oak, walnut and pine from stock; any species to order | Dowel, threaded insert, M8/M10 stud, blind or through bore | 2–3 weeks from approval |
| Bun feet, ball feet, turned plinth blocks | 450 mm diameter on short work | As above; paint-grade softwood for finished-painted work | Blind bore, dowel pin, screw plate recess | 2–3 weeks |
| Finials, dome caps, bosses, rosettes | 450 mm diameter; 70 mm deep from one board | Oak, walnut, tulipwood, softwood | Through bore, counterbore, spigot, cross-grain turning where a reeded face must run true | 2–3 weeks |
| Spheres and half-spheres | 300 mm one-piece sphere; 450 mm dome; to ~2 m rib-built | Softwood, oak, walnut, tulipwood | Square internal socket (42–44 mm supplied), round through bore, flat ends | 2–3 weeks |
| Hollow dowels and machined bar | 450 mm lengths machined from free-issue or supplied stock | Customer free-issue accepted (e.g. teak) | OD/ID to drawing, e.g. 25 mm OD × 7 mm ID | Quoted per batch |
| Cored and veneered cylinders | Not limited by the lathe — built, not turned | Ply core, bendy-ply skin, real-wood veneer | Fixings to your detail | Quoted per piece |
| Alterations to existing cabinet work | Bench size | Your material | Cut down, re-joint, re-profile, re-bore | Usually inside a week |
Read the two numbers that catch people out. Blank thickness comes in multiples of 70 mm, so ⌀66 is the practical ceiling from a single board — anything fatter needs a same-species glue-up, which is a real extra operation and a real extra cost. And a slender section over a long run vibrates: below about ⌀50–80 mm over length it can be done, but it is not easy, so design slender details to be short and near a centre, or expect the difficulty to be priced in. Past 700 mm between centres there are three routes — a partner workshop with longer capacity, a cored-and-veneered build, or segmenting where a visible joint line is acceptable — and we will tell you which one your part wants.
Actual orders, not a wish list
What the trade has had off this bench.
Real jobs, described by what was made rather than by who bought it — we do not publish a client's name without asking them first.
- A joinery and shopfitting contractor — perch table turnings, repeat order Two matched sets in American tulipwood, each a 290 mm ball and a 360 mm half-ball, turned to a revision-C drawing and delivered to site. A repeat of an earlier purchase order, which is the part that matters: they came back.
- The same contractor — bored post terminals A solid paintable softwood sphere at 270 mm diameter and a hemisphere at 350 mm, each with a 42–44 mm internal square bore and flat ends, so they drop straight onto a square post.
- A furniture and cabinet workshop — 180 domes and 8 socketed balls African walnut domes at 32 mm diameter in two batches of 90, plus 170 mm balls each with a 63 × 63 mm square socket 32 mm deep in one end, all to the client's own drawing.
- A London joinery contractor — bored oak finial spheres 97 mm diameter × 95 mm high in European oak, 12 mm through bore with a 25 mm × 15 mm counterbore, sanded and supplied unfinished, to a controlled drawing revision.
- An interiors company — three kitchen doors made narrower Each cut at the shaker line, reduced 50 mm in width less the kerf, and biscuit-jointed back together so the stile widths still look deliberate.
- The same company — a cylinder table base Plywood core, bendy-ply skin, veneered in real-wood oak. Larger than the lathe allows, so it was built rather than turned — and for a big plain cylinder that is usually the better build anyway: stable, lighter, and it will not check the way solid hardwood does at that section.
What is deliberately not on this list: a kitchen, a wardrobe, a fitted run, or a carcass. We have not built one, we do not claim to, and if that is what you need you want a cabinet maker — quite possibly one of ours.
Recent work
Cabinet components that have left this workshop.
Photographs of parts made for cabinet makers, joiners and shopfitters.
How a trade order runs
From your drawing to parts on your bench.
| Stage | What happens | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Send the detail | A CAD file, a dimensioned sketch, a profile rubbing, or a photograph of the original with a rule in shot. Any of those works. Tell us the species, the finish and how many. | Nothing |
| 2. We read it back | We confirm the sizes, the bore and fitting, the grain direction where it matters, and flag anything that cannot be made as drawn — before it is priced, not after. | Nothing |
| 3. Fixed quotation | A written price per piece and for the batch, with carriage as its own line. Normally within two working days. | Nothing |
| 4. A free visualisation | Where the shape is not obvious from the drawing, you get a rendered image of the part with a familiar object in frame for scale, before you commit. It is free and it carries no obligation. A physical prototype is a separate priced stage and is usually only worth it on a long run or an untested detail. | Nothing |
| 5. Make | Turned, bored and sanded to the drawing. Typically two to three weeks from approval for turned components; a batch is quoted with its own date. | Agreed price |
| 6. Delivery | Boxed and delivered, or collected ex works if you prefer. Carriage is priced separately so you can see what it is. | At cost |
Repeat and volume terms are set per account. Several of the jobs above are second and third orders from the same workshop, and those are quoted on the setup you have already paid for rather than from scratch.
Send a drawing and get a fixed price →Off the shelf, if it saves you a drawing
Some of it we already stock.
If the part you need is a plain shape at a standard size, it may already be a product rather than a commission — cheaper and faster than having it made.
Straight answers
What cabinet makers actually ask.
Do you make cabinets, or parts for cabinet makers?
Parts. Farwinger is not a fitted-kitchen or wardrobe company and does not build carcasses. It turns and machines the elements that go into bespoke and custom cabinetry — legs, bun and ball feet, columns, plinths, finials, dome caps, bosses and turned mouldings — made to your profile and your carcass dimensions. UK cabinet makers, joiners and shopfitters are among the workshop's steadiest trade accounts. On a whole cased piece we price the parts we genuinely make rather than quoting for the carcass.
Will you match an existing profile?
Usually, yes. Send the original and it comes back with the new parts; if you cannot part with it, a photograph with a rule or a coin in frame plus a profile rubbing is normally enough to work from. Matching existing turning is core work here rather than an exception, and it is how most restoration and extension jobs start.
What is the smallest order you will take?
One piece. A single replacement leg or one missing finial is a real order and is quoted like any other. There is a minimum bespoke order charge on very small items — it covers setting up for a shape that has never been turned here before — and several pieces can usually be supplied inside it, so ask before you cut the quantity down.
How big can a turned part be?
About 700 mm between centres and 250 mm in diameter on long work; 450 mm in diameter on short work such as a dome or a cap. A one-piece sphere reaches 300 mm. Blank thickness comes in multiples of 70 mm, so ⌀66 is the practical limit from a single board and anything fatter needs a glue-up. Past those limits the part is turned at a partner workshop with longer capacity, built as a cored and veneered cylinder, or segmented — we say which at quote stage. The full table is above.
Can I send my own timber?
Yes. Free-issue material is normal here and we machine it to your drawing — we have machined customers' own teak into hollow dowels that way. We will tell you honestly how much of it we expect to need, including for setting up, so you send enough the first time.
Do you supply paint-grade as well as hardwood?
Yes. Paintable softwood is a normal specification here for anything that will be sprayed on site, and we turn it as carefully as we turn oak because a poor surface shows through paint faster than it shows through oil. Oak, walnut and pine are held in stock; other species are bought in for the job, which affects both the lead time and the minimum quantity that makes sense — we will say so rather than quietly substituting something else.
What does a bore or fitting cost to add?
It is part of the quoted price, not an extra. Round through bores, counterbores, blind bores, square internal sockets, threaded inserts and studs are all normal work — give us the size and the depth on the drawing. Where a face has to be reeded or figured a particular way, tell us, because that sometimes means turning cross-grain rather than long-grain and it changes the blank.
Do you work with the trade on account?
Yes — cabinet makers, joiners, shopfitters, fit-out contractors and furniture makers are most of this workshop's work. Volume and repeat terms are set per account. Trade enquiries can also go through trade and B2B enquiries if you would rather start there than with a drawing.
Where is the work done?
In Farwinger's own workshop at 9 Milk Street, Deritend, Birmingham. Where a part exceeds our lathe and goes to a partner workshop we say so on the quotation rather than after delivery. Delivery is UK-wide and international, with carriage priced as its own line.
Send the detail.
A drawing, a sketch with dimensions on it, or a photograph of the original next to a rule. Any of those is enough to price from.
- Fixed written price, normally within two working days
- A free visualisation before you commit — no charge, no obligation
- Minimum order one piece
- We tell you at quote stage if it cannot be made as drawn
Farwinger Limited, 123-131 Bradford Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B12 0NS. Registered in England and Wales, company 16047814.