Hi: As in most trades, I should think, there are moulders and moulders. Moulds range from simple, one-piece patterns in small bench flasks to vast multi-piece floor moulds for, for example, ships' propellers or Francis turbine runners. All that sand must be shoveled and then rammed so as to be firm but not impermeable to hot gases, and in my apprentice days that was done with heavy rammers operated with muscle-power. Heavy work. Now a lot is done with highly specialized machinery. But you still see a good moulder pick up a fistful of sand, squeeze it, pinch it, and even smell it much as a cook might test her dough. A patternmaker is a woodworker right up there with cabinetmakers, and in my former company the exec suite was filled with superb furniture made in the pattern shop during the Depression. I once worked in a company whose outraged patternmakers were on the brink of striking because some 'efficiency expert' had persuaded the management to colour-code patterns with opaque paint instead of the previous clear varnish, thus obscuring the artistry of their fine woodwork. The patternmaker must also allow precisely for the shrinkage of the particular metal to be cast, for the 'rap' to loosen the pattern in the mould and the 'draft' to allow it to be withdrawn. Sorry. That didn't have much to do with genealogy. But someone asked a question that I, for once, could contribute to. Bruce Dodd -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 514 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message