Having a career in a museum,I have seen this exact crap go on forever. The trouble is,their MASTERS,those who hand out the money to perpetuate this nonsense have NO IDEA about something like a lathe. We could all write letters to the academics who grant this money,and they would not be able to grasp what we are saying. Most likely they would think we have a vendetta against their"farmer scientists".
Where I worked,the academics insisted upon hiring a total con man to make a piano. they sent him to England for 6 weeks to study. I could see from the garbage he created that he had spent no time studying the original piano. Then,they paid him to make the abomination. I'll bet they wasted at least $50,000.00. That's a conservative guess,too.
I had warned them not to do it,having had the experience of hiring him myself earlier. He had also bilked a major antique dealer in town. Would they listen? No. it was only after the piano was built from green wood,cracking everywhere,with the veneer bubbling loose from contact cement that they SECRETLY tried to GIVE the damned thing away. I found out about it,but the informer swore me to secrecy for fear of his job.
They also paid $250,000 for an 18th.C. library table. When they turned it over to the technicians,they found that the TOP,the GALLERY around the top,and 3 LEGS were replacements. So,they paid $250.00 for 1 leg,and the apron of the table,because they were too damned educated to ask the grunts anything. The tech. grunts,BTW,were highly educated in their own right,but none the less grunts to the elite.
You can't try to tell these elite anything. They hold themselves superior to you and others who work with their hands,while they WORSHIP objects made by people like us 200 years ago. silly,isn't it?