For designers, makers, brands & anyone with a drawing
The wooden thing that does not exist in a catalogue.
One-off and short-run objects, turned and machined to your drawing — presentation pieces and awards, lamp bases, sculptural forms, prototypes, replacements for something nobody makes any more. One piece is a real order.
Describe the object → Sizes and materials- Minimum orderOne. And several small pieces usually fit inside the minimum charge.
- Largest run so far75 finished objects, individually packed and insured.
- Free before you commitA rendered visualisation with something in frame for scale.
- Made inBirmingham, England, at 9 Milk Street.
What this page is for
You know exactly what you want. Nobody sells it.
That is the whole category. A shape you have drawn, a piece you have seen and cannot buy, a component for something you are building, a presentation object with your own detail on it, or a part for an antique that stopped being manufactured in 1890.
Farwinger is a small Birmingham turning and machining workshop that works almost entirely to other people's drawings. Bespoke wooden objects are the horizontal underneath everything else it does: if the thing can be turned, bored, machined, laminated, carved or CNC-routed in timber, it can usually be made here, in one or in several hundred. There is no range to choose from and nothing is made twice unless you ask for it twice.
A drawing, a photograph with a rule in it, or a sentence and two dimensions. All three are workable starting points.
The work divides roughly into four kinds, and it is worth knowing which yours is because it changes how it is priced. Presentation pieces and awards — a designed object, repeated, finished to a standard. Functional objects — a turned lamp base, a bowl form, a stand, a box, something that has to work as well as look right. Sculptural and art pieces — turned or built forms for artists, galleries and installations, often as a blank for someone else to carve or finish. And prototypes and first articles — a designer or a product team needing one real one before committing to a hundred.
Specification
How big, in what, and how many.
Real workshop limits. If your object is outside them we say which of the routes past the limit applies and what it costs, at quote stage rather than after you have committed.
| Object type | Size envelope | Material | Finish | Run size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turned forms — spheres, domes, cylinders, cones, discs | 300 mm one-piece sphere; 450 mm dome; 700 mm × 250 mm on long work; to ~2 m rib-built | Pine, oak, walnut from stock; tulipwood, sapele, ash, beech, mahogany to order | Bare, sanded, oiled, waxed, lacquered, stained to a sample | 1 to several hundred |
| Presentation pieces, awards and trophy bases | Typically 100–300 mm; combined turned and machined detail | Hardwood, stained where a dark tone is wanted | Furniture-grade; metal collars and fittings incorporated | 1 to 75+ delivered |
| Lamp bases and lighting components | To 700 mm tall × 250 mm diameter; e.g. 170 × 170 × 420 mm | Solid hardwood; customer free-issue timber accepted | Satin furniture-grade; drilled for cable, brass hardware fitted | 1 upwards |
| Sculptural forms and carving blanks | Edge-jointed to width; dished and compound profiles turned to a drawn radius | American tulipwood, sapele, oak, lime | Usually supplied unfinished for the artist to work | 1 upwards |
| Small machined parts at volume | From ~25 mm; bores from ~6 mm | Birch ply, pine, hardwood | Natural or finished | Quoted to four figures — 1,152 has been priced |
| Replacements and matched parts | Bench size | Yours or ours; free-issue accepted | To match the original | 1 upwards |
| Prototypes and first articles | As drawn | As specified, or in a cheaper species to prove the form | As required | 1, then the run |
The three numbers that decide most of it. A turned part is limited to about 700 mm between centres and 250 mm in diameter; short work such as a dome or a dish reaches 450 mm. Blank thickness comes in multiples of 70 mm, so ⌀66 is the practical ceiling from a single board and anything fatter needs a same-species glue-up — a real extra operation. And below about ⌀50–80 mm over a long length the work chatters, so keep slender sections short and near a centre or expect the difficulty in the price. Past the lathe there are three routes: a partner workshop with longer capacity, a cored-and-veneered build, or a rib-built form from CNC-cut laminated board that reaches roughly two metres.
Actual orders, not a wish list
Objects that have left this workshop.
Described by what was made rather than by who bought it — we do not publish a client's name without asking them first, and where something was quoted rather than delivered we say so.
- A design studio — 75 presentation bookends 120 mm wide × 150 mm deep × 180 mm high, ebony-stained hardwood, each with a turned judge's gavel and a brass collar, individually packed and insured for shipping. Seventy-five identical finished objects to one design, which is the honest measure of what "short run" means here.
- A sculptor — 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, turned to a controlled drawing revision. That is the kind of geometry a drawing exists for.
- A garden buildings manufacturer — 15 walnut balls at 100 mm Hardwood, each with one flat end so it seats without a fixing showing.
- A private client — a 300 mm pine ball; another — four walnut balls Single large turned spheres, which is the commonest single-object order this workshop takes.
- Quoted — a bespoke lamp base in solid African walnut 170 × 170 × 420 mm, hand-turned, drilled through for cable, fitted with premium brass hardware and finished to a furniture-grade satin, sized for a 400 mm shade. Quoted with an option to work from the client's own free-issue blank at no extra cost.
- Quoted — sculptural reeds in sapele Four turned forms 600 mm long at 100, 120, 150 and 200 mm diameter, each with an internal channel and moisture-resistant adhesive, turned in one piece to the artist's design.
- Quoted — 1,152 wooden wheels for a school design department 30 mm diameter × 12 mm thick with a 6 mm centre bore, half birch ply and half pine, inside a one-month lead time. Small parts at four-figure volume are a normal enquiry here.
- Quoted — an 18th-century wall clock bezel Fabricated in the client's own free-issue mahogany to match the original from a template.
How a one-off runs
From a sentence to the thing itself.
| Stage | What happens | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Describe it | A drawing, a CAD file, a photograph with a rule in frame, a reference image with dimensions written on it — or just a description and two measurements. All of those are workable. | Nothing |
| 2. We ask the awkward questions | Species, finish, how it is fixed or held, whether it has to survive handling, and what it is actually for. The answers change the price more than the size does. | Nothing |
| 3. Fixed quotation | A written price, normally within one working day, with carriage as its own line. | Nothing |
| 4. A free visualisation | A rendered image of the object with a familiar object in frame for scale, before you commit. Free, no obligation. It is the cheapest way to find out that the thing in your head and the thing in ours are different, and it is why we offer a render rather than a physical prototype at this stage. | Nothing |
| 5. Make | Turned, machined and finished. Typically two to three weeks from approval for turned work; a run or a complex object is quoted with its own date. | Agreed price |
| 6. Packed and sent | Wrapped, boxed and insured. UK and international, with freight and any import duty priced as separate lines. | At cost |
A physical prototype is a separate priced stage. It is worth paying for on a long run or a detail nobody has made before, and it is usually not worth it on a single object — the free render answers the same question for nothing.
Describe your object and get a price →Related
Where to go next.
Straight answers
What people ask about a one-off.
Will you make just one?
Yes. One piece is a real order and most of what leaves this workshop is a one-off. There is a minimum bespoke order charge on very small items — it covers setting up for a shape that has never been turned here — and several pieces usually fit inside it, so ask before you cut the quantity down to save money.
I do not have a drawing. Is that a problem?
No. A photograph with a rule or a coin in frame, a reference image with dimensions written on it, or a description with two measurements are all workable starting points. What we cannot price is a picture with no indication of size — one dimension anywhere on the object is enough to unlock it.
Do you sell wooden lamp bases?
We make them to order rather than selling them off a shelf. A turned lamp base is quoted to your height, diameter, species and shade size, drilled through for the cable and fitted with the hardware you want. If you are looking for a lamp base to buy today, a retailer will serve you better and faster; if you want one that is the size and timber you actually specified, that is this workshop.
Can you make awards, trophy bases or presentation pieces?
Yes, and runs of that kind are well within reach — seventy-five identical presentation objects have gone out from here in a single order, each with a turned element and a metal collar, individually packed and insured. Tell us the quantity, the deadline and whether anything needs engraving or plating, because those are usually the long-lead items rather than the timber.
Can I send my own timber?
Yes. Free-issue material is normal here — a client's own mahogany, walnut or teak is machined to the drawing just as ours is. We tell you honestly how much we expect to need, including for setting up, so you send enough the first time and we are not stopping halfway through.
Which timbers can I have?
Oak, walnut and pine are held in stock at the workshop. Tulipwood, sapele, ash, beech, mahogany and most other commercial species 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 notional rate. We will not substitute a species without telling you, and we will say if a timber is a poor choice for what you are making.
Can you make a blank for me to carve or finish myself?
Yes, and it is a good use of a lathe. Turning a dished or compound form to a drawn radius, edge-jointed to width and left unfinished for the artist or maker to work, is normal here. Give us the profile and the radii; if you have only a shape in mind, the free visualisation is the fastest way to agree it.
How large a run will you take?
Larger than a one-off workshop usually implies. Seventy-five finished objects have been delivered and four-figure quantities of small machined parts have been priced. Setup is the expensive part, so cost per piece falls sharply with quantity — give the real number even if the delivery is phased.
How long does it take?
Turned work typically runs two to three weeks from approval. A run, or an object with several operations in it, 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.
Describe the object.
A drawing, a photograph with a rule in it, or a sentence and two dimensions. Any of those is enough to price from, and none of it costs anything.
- Fixed written price, normally within one working day
- A free visualisation with something in frame for scale — no charge, no obligation
- Minimum order one piece
- We say if a timber or a detail is a poor choice, before it is made
Farwinger Limited, 9 Milk Street, Deritend, Birmingham B5 5TR. Registered in England and Wales, company 16047814.