Job Check
Patternmakers, Wood
Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for castings.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Read blueprints, drawings, or written specifications to determine sizes and shapes of patterns and required machine setups.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws.Mostly human for now
- 03Lay 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.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 04Trim, smooth, and shape surfaces, and plane, shave, file, scrape, and sand models to attain specified shapes, using hand tools.Mostly human for now
- 05Divide patterns into sections according to shapes of castings to facilitate removal of patterns from molds.Mostly human for now
- 06Verify dimensions of completed patterns, using templates, straightedges, calipers, or protractors.Mostly human for now
- 07Correct patterns to compensate for defects in castings.Mostly human for now
- 08Set 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.Mostly human for now
- 09Finish completed products or models with shellac, lacquer, wax, or paint.Mostly human for now
- 10Estimate costs for patternmaking jobs.AI could speed this up a lot
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job loss3%of this job’s work time goes to tasks that people already do with Claude at work, counting tasks where AI only helps as half (2026).Anthropic, 2026
26%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 40% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 77% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Fit, fasten, and assemble wood parts together to form patterns, models, or sections, using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws.
- 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.