On Curves... and current projects

My wife recently called me out on being a nerd. No, it wasn't the first time she's leveled such accusations. I was reading a victorian-era book on mathematical instruments at the time, because I wanted to read about trigonometry from people who had a more intimate familiarity with how it worked. (I learned to push a button on a calculator. It works, but Mr. Thoren, my trig teacher in high school, didn't ever really get around to explaining why. His ability to teach a class, or lack thereof, was perhaps the only thing my father and I agreed on during my high school years.) 

The backstory is that I need to brush up on my trig, so I can take a running start at Calculus. My current intent is to use those trig exercises as an excuse to get back into drafting and design. So, it'll be a few months of using lots of paper and spending time with these books:

-A Treatise on Mathematical Instruments, by J.F. Heather, 13th ed. I think the original was written in 1853.
-Industrial Science Drawing, by S. Edward Warren, 2nd ed, (I think) from 1889. Parts I, II, and maybe III.
-Essentials of Plane Trigonometry, by Rosenbach, Whitman, and Moskovitz, original copyright, 1937
-And, if I'm feeling froggy enough, I might add in some of Walker and Tolpin's book, By Hand and Eye. More likely, I'll use that as a distraction during vacation, after Calculus, and keep the drafting thing going.

I enjoy reading books from the late 1800s, when it comes to technical things. Among other reasons, that pile of books I just listed, combined, weigh less than the average 21st century math textbook. They're also more concise, and they make an effort to be readable.

Another reason I'm taking this route: I've found that drafting things by hand makes me think harder about what's actually getting laid onto the paper, and why it works, or doesn't. Some of that is because my brain, to steal a quote from Doug Stowe, is in my hands. Some of it is because, unlike working in CAD, the hand-drawn page does NOT automatically propagate, and I can't put a detail down on paper very well if I can't see it in my own mind first. Usually both images co-evolve, because I use the paper drawing to help hold the framework for my head, while I focus on the particulars... I think. It's a weird back and forth.

---

...And so it is that I found myself skimming through a section on free-hand geometrical drawing, from part I of Industrial Science Drawing. I got poked in the eye by the following quote:

"Work becomes costly as soon as straight outlines are abandoned, and especially as carved work begins to be employed, that its consequent difficulty of attainment makes it symbolical of the grace and beauty that can only be had under the best conditions, or, as the result of man's best aspirations; while the plain lines of ordinary work represent, by comparison, humbler human industries. Hence a bit of choice carving to crown, or tip, or face a piece of otherwise plain work, happily symbolizes the cheerful co-operation of happiness and honest industry, the meeting of truth and beauty."

Nineteenthth century predilection for male accomplishment aside, the quote stood out in part because it's basically the reason most people I've met as woodworkers, got into woodworking. They just want something that's a little bit nicer than what's typically on offer. It may also have something to do with why so many industrially executed embellishments fail so miserably to look nice: Something that skilled artisans used to do, to show skill and pride, is now done by machine, so the manufacturer can pretend to. It also reminded me of David Savage's telling of the story of the infamous 863, and the personal pride in making things that the 'daft old 863' had in spades. See his book, The Intelligent Hand for more.

Lastly, my mind read the quote, in part, as metaphor. Sometimes it's hard to take a roundabout way to get somewhere, like I'm trying to do with engineering. Like any other endeavor, really, as soon as the straight and well-worn path is abandoned, and the traveler tries to do something a little more meaningful along the way, it's just a little bit harder... and more precious.

Some basic trig, from Mathematical Instruments