My reaction when I saw the block was, 'Ugh.' But I'll give myself some time to get used to the idea of attempting the curves. I actually do have a set of curved templates, but I don't know what size block or what sort of block they're intended for.
That darned PDF is very long and confusing. It's going to take me some time to figure out which parts of it, if any, I need to print out.
DJ, thanks for linking to that tutorial. I didn't grasp it on my first try (but it often takes several readings for something to make sense to me).