Fibonacci numbers

J

johnah5

Active member
I hope I am not wearing out my welcome on this board, but I started re-read an article by Lonnie Bird in the 12/03 issue of Popular Woodworking http://www.popularwoodworking.com/articleabstract?aid=14308.  I am having a hard time posting a link on this site.  I apologize for misspelling Fibonacci in previous posts.

Anyway, Mr.Bird is talking about determining the height of say a leg on a cabinet by dividing the height of the cabinet by a Fibonacci number.  But he says guess (which comes with experience) and if it doesn't look right try another number???? 

Are you guys using Fibonacci numbers this way?

Best Regards
John
 
I don't use them. Mostly because I don't know much about how to use them. There is much information about Fibonacci numbers on the web. I was going to mess around with a Fibonacci gauge. Which is a 3 legged caliper that makes the Fibonacci ratio with out calculating. Several posts say that the use of the golden mean has only become popular in the last 100 years. Others say that studies show that people prefer other ratios more. I have learned that it is best to look at good furniture and trust your eyes. I don't know of many people that pull out a Fibonacci gauge to see if another person is attractive or not, they trust their eyes.
Mike
 
Thanks,

I am asking because I am a bit of a geek, but also trying to find guidelines for designing a piece.  If I want to make something that is a different size than the original.  So if I modify one element, say height, I could have vertical elements to appear to wide.  I also don't work off of measured drawings and maybe spending my time on a cad type program would be more profitable.

Anyway, I am looking forward to reading Mr Walker's info and will keep at it.

thanks
John
 
msiemsen said:
I don't use them. Mostly because I don't know much about how to use them. There is much information about Fibonacci numbers on the web. I was going to mess around with a Fibonacci gauge. Which is a 3 legged caliper that makes the Fibonacci ratio with out calculating. ...
Click to expand...
I don't use it much. A couple time since I receiving this one that was made for me by a friend, I checked some past work as well as laying out for a series of drawers in a cabinet I am making for my wife. I think of it like a story stick (or rather bar gauges), but for design.

http://www.wenzloffandsons.com/temp/fg_0001a.jpg

Take care, Mike
 
John,

My take on this is that using Fibonacci numbers is basically is the same as using the Golden Mean.  As the numbers get larger in the Fibonacci series the closer in ratio they come to 1.614.

Normally, when I am designing a piece of furniture, I use the Golden Mean or Fibonacci numbers to find the rough, overall dimensions, then the final size is determined by the size of stock that I have or the space the piece will fit in, or other similar considerations.

Jim
 
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