On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 08:27:54 -0400, "Owen Lawrence"
wrote:

He's too in love with his math to see it was a waste of time even when
someone pointed it out to him, and doesn't seem to quite grasp what
parallel means.

Most of hobby woodworking is a waste of time, depending on your definition
of waste. For some of us the math IS as much fun as the woodworking,
especially when both are done together and done right. (Done wrong and it
can be a nightmare!)

I did the same thing when I built my shed, since I didn't have clue one how
to build a roof. It was blazing hot outside so I spent the time before
breakfast indoors, deriving all the angles and measurements I'd need for the
day. Then I went outside and made the cuts and assembled them. My father,
who was there to help, told me my brother-in-law carpenter school graduate
was taught to make a template by trial and error. I wasted time, not wood,
and my birdsmouths were in the correct spot and correct angle, and I kept my
trigonometry fresh for the next project. I wasn't trying to impress anyone,
just get the job done. I learned later that my father was really impressed
and that meant more to me than anything.

And he should be. It's one thing to say, well there's probably an
easier way of doing this, but I'm going to stick with what I know and
it'll get done right the first time. It's another thing entirely to
make a false assumption at the beginning, come up with an elegant
solution to a non-existent problem and then be so in love with your
solution that you miss the obvious. And it need not be a math
solution that gets you in trouble. You could, for example, and I'm
just making this up mind you, think that there's going to be a problem
with a joint somewhere in a project and then come up with a really
cool solution to avoid the problem. And then when you go put the
thing together it doesn't actually meet the way you thought it was
going to and your elegant solution that you spent hours coming up with
is actually weaker than if you'd just butted the pieces together and
nailed it. Not that that has ever happened to me. Nope, not ever.


-Leuf