For milliners, leadworkers, pattern shops & makers
The wooden tool your process works over.
Formers, blocks and patterns turned and shaped to your original, your sample or your drawing — millinery hat blocks, leadwork formers, foundry and pottery patterns, and bucks for vacuum forming and fibreglassing. One-offs or repeat sets.
Send the shape → Sizes and species- We makeThe wooden tool — not the hat, the casting or the moulding.
- FromYour original, a sample, a rubbing, a drawing or a 3D file.
- Minimum orderOne. Sets and repeat runs quoted per batch.
- Made inBirmingham, England, at 9 Milk Street.
What a former actually is
A shape held accurately, so another process can be done on it.
A hat block, a leadwork former, a foundry pattern, a vacuum-forming buck and a fibreglass plug are all the same object seen from different trades: a piece of timber cut to a shape precisely enough that whatever is pressed, beaten, laid or moulded over it comes off right, and does so again next time.
That is a turning and machining job, and it is exactly what this workshop does all day. Farwinger works almost entirely to other people's drawings — holding a curve to a struck radius, edge-jointing a blank to width, turning a dished shell whose front and back sweep on the same dip. Whether the finished shape then has felt blocked over it, lead dressed onto it, sand rammed round it or glass laid up on it is your trade, not ours. We make the tool.
We build our own formers as a matter of course. A large cored cylinder here is built on CNC-cut ply formers with staves screwed between them, then clad and veneered.
So be clear on the division, because it saves everybody a phone call. Farwinger does not block hats, cast metal, throw pottery, lay up fibreglass or run a vacuum former. If you have arrived here wanting a hat made, you want a milliner. If you are the milliner, the leadworker, the pattern shop or the fabricator, and you need wooden formers or a wooden hat block in a shape nobody sells, that is this page.
Specification
What we can shape, in what, and how big it goes.
Real limits from this workshop, not marketing ones. Where a former is bigger than the lathe there are three routes past it and we say which one applies, and what it costs, at quote stage.
| Type | Size in house | Usual timber | How it is made | Supplied |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millinery hat blocks — crowns | Up to 450 mm diameter on short work; 70 mm per board thickness, glued up beyond that | Close, even-grained and stable — lime, jelutong and tulipwood are the traditional choices | Turned, then shaped and sanded to your original or drawing | Bare and sealed, or unfinished if you prefer to season it yourself |
| Brim blocks, saucers and flares | Up to 450 mm diameter | As above | Turned dished profiles; compound sweeps struck to a drawn radius | In one piece, or split where the shape has undercut |
| Leadwork formers — ogees, domes, rolls, finial shapes | 300 mm one-piece sphere; 450 mm dome; 700 mm × 250 mm on long work | Softwood or hardwood depending on how many times it will be dressed over | Turned solid, or built and clad where the section is large | Bare, sized for the lead thickness you are using |
| Foundry and pottery patterns | Bench size; larger patterns built rather than turned | As specified — pattern timber is chosen for stability first | Turned, machined, CNC-routed or carved; assembled from parts where the form needs it | To your drawing, with draft and allowances as you specify them |
| Vacuum-forming bucks and fibreglass plugs | To ~700 mm turned; larger forms rib-built from CNC-cut laminated board to roughly 2 m | Timber, ply, or a ply core with a workable skin | Turned or rib-built and faired | Ready for your own filling, priming and polishing, or faired here to a stated standard |
| Repeat sets and graded sizes | Any of the above | As specified | Made to one setup so the set is consistent, not made one at a time months apart | Quoted per set |
Timber choice matters more here than on almost any other job. A former is a tool: it gets worked, wetted, heated or hammered, and it has to hold its shape through all of it. Close, even grain without reversing figure is worth more than looks, and a well-seasoned blank is worth more than a pretty one. Oak, walnut and pine are held in stock at the workshop; block and pattern timbers are bought in for the job, which is a real lead time and, for an unusual species, a real minimum purchase — so we quote the actual buy rather than a rate per cubic metre, and we will tell you if the species you have asked for is a poor choice for the way you work.
On tolerance, an honest answer. We do not publish a tolerance figure, because a number quoted for effect is worse than no number. What we do is work the shape to your drawing, original or rubbing and check it back against that source before it leaves — and if a feature cannot be held to what you need, we say so at quote stage rather than after you have based a production run on it.
Getting the shape to us
Five ways to describe a curve, best first.
| What you send | How good it is | What we still need |
|---|---|---|
| The original block or former | Best. Nothing is inferred, and a worn one can be corrected back to its intended shape rather than copied with its wear. | Whether you want it copied as-is or as-designed. It is returned with the new ones. |
| A 3D file — STEP, STL or a CAD model | Best for new work. Exact by definition, and it drives the CNC directly. | Timber, whether draft or allowances are already in the model, and how many. |
| A drawing with radii on it | Very good. A struck radius is unambiguous where a freehand curve is not. | Overall size, and which face matters most. |
| A profile rubbing plus photographs | Good. A pencil rubbing of the section gives the curve directly. | Largest diameter and overall height. |
| Photographs with a rule or coin in frame | Workable. The scale object is what makes it usable at all. | One measured dimension, and a square-on shot rather than an angled one. |
Before anything is cut you get a free rendered visualisation of the former with a familiar object in frame for scale. It costs nothing, carries no obligation, and it is the cheapest possible way to discover that the shape in your head and the shape in ours are not the same one. A physical prototype is a separate priced stage and is normally only worth it on a repeat set or a form nobody has made before.
Send the shape and get a fixed price →The neighbouring job
Shapes turned to a drawn radius for someone else to work.
Formers are one instance of a broader thing this workshop does constantly: hold a form accurately so another trade can do the next operation on it. A recent example, described by what it was rather than who ordered it — a turned halo blank for a Christ in Majesty carving. American tulipwood, well seasoned and edge-jointed to width, 380 mm in diameter and 40 mm from the crown of the bead to the lowest point of the back; a dished shell with the front and back sweeping on the same 15 mm dip, the front struck to a radius of 1058 mm, made to a controlled drawing revision and supplied for the carver to work.
That is the same discipline a former needs. So is fabricating an 18th-century wall clock bezel in a client's own free-issue mahogany, from a template, to match the original. If your job sounds like either of those, it is the right workshop.
Related
Where to go next.
Straight answers
What people ask before sending a block.
Do you make hats, or hat blocks?
Blocks. Farwinger turns and shapes the wooden block a milliner works over — crowns, brims, saucers and flares — from your original, your drawing or a rubbing. It does not block, steam or make hats. If you want a hat, you want a milliner; if you are the milliner and the shape you want does not exist, that is what this page is for.
Can you copy a block I already have?
Yes, and sending the original is the best possible brief. It is returned with the new ones. Tell us whether to copy it exactly, including any wear it has picked up, or to correct it back to the shape it was meant to be — they are different jobs and the answer is not always the obvious one.
What timber should a former be made from?
Something close-grained, even and stable. Lime, jelutong and tulipwood are the traditional choices for blocks because they hold a crisp shape and do not fight the maker. Figure and colour are irrelevant here — a former is a tool. Oak, walnut and pine are held in stock at the workshop; block and pattern timbers are bought in for the job, so the quotation prices the actual purchase rather than a notional rate, and we will say if the species you asked for is a poor choice for the way you work it.
How large can a former be?
Turned, about 450 mm in diameter on short work and 700 mm between centres by 250 mm in diameter on long work, with one-piece spheres to 300 mm. Board thickness comes in multiples of 70 mm, so anything deeper needs a same-species glue-up. Larger forms are built rather than turned — rib-built from CNC-cut laminated board reaches roughly two metres, and for a big form that is usually the better build anyway: stable, far lighter to handle, and it will not check the way a large solid section does.
Can you work from a 3D file?
Yes — STEP, STL or a CAD model drives the machining directly and is the most exact way to specify a former. Tell us whether draft angles and machining allowances are already in the model or whether you want them added, because assuming either way is how a pattern ends up wrong.
Will you make a set or a graded range?
Yes, and a set is worth ordering together rather than one at a time. Made to a single setup the sizes stay consistent with each other; ordered months apart they drift. Repeat runs and replacement blocks for a set you already own are both normal work.
Do you cast, mould or lay up as well?
No, and we would rather be plain about it. Farwinger makes the wooden tool. Casting metal, throwing pottery, dressing lead, laying up glass fibre and running a vacuum former are all your side of the line, and you will do them better than we would. Tell us what the tool has to survive and we will build it for that.
What is the minimum order?
One. There is a minimum bespoke order charge on very small items, which covers setting up for a shape that has not been made here before, and several small pieces usually fit inside it — so ask before you reduce the quantity to save money.
How long does it take?
Turned work typically runs two to three weeks from approval. A set, or a form that has to be built rather than turned, is quoted with its own date and that date is agreed before you commit. If it is going to slip you are told before the date, not after it.
Send the shape.
The original block, a 3D file, a drawing with radii on it, a rubbing, or a photograph with a rule in frame. Any of those is enough to price from.
- Fixed written price, normally within one working day
- A free visualisation with something in frame for scale — no charge, no obligation
- One-offs, sets and repeat runs
- We say if the timber or the shape is wrong for the job, before it is made
Farwinger Limited, 9 Milk Street, Deritend, Birmingham B5 5TR. Registered in England and Wales, company 16047814.