I already get Wood, Fine Woodworking, & American Woodworker. Is WWJ a fine addition to those, or an also-ran. I'm sure I've seen it once or twice a the newstand, but can't recall it. I'm staring at a subscription offer that came in the mail, for $12.97 for a year. Thumbs up or down?
Dave
Dave I like it better than American Woodworker, which I am not going to renew in 2009 when the subscription runs out. It is about on par with Wood and at $12.97 a year . . .
Deb
If I were going to add another magazine to that list, it would be Popular Woodworking and not WWJ. Price is higher, but worth it IMHO.
It seems to me that AWW and WWJ are written at a similar level for similar audiences, and I can't see getting both. Furthermore, the advertising density in WWJ is a bit higher than I care for.
Also, in case you don't know, it's published by Rockler. Not that that's a bad thing, you understand, but their editorial positions and tool recommendatoins are not necessarily completely objective. [Possibly those of other mags aren't either, e.g. it appears that some product reviews in a certain magazine whose name is only one WOrD long may be biased in favor of certain manufacturers who advertise therein, but that's another story.]
I wouldn't bother. I used to subscribe, but I let it run out without renewing. Ditto AWW, actually. I'm pretty happy with the mix I have now: Wood, FWW, and PWW.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
Thanks for the heads up re: Rockler, Doug. I'd doubt they could be completely unbiased when it came to some tool reviews. I just dug up an issue (I didn't think I had any in the house when I posted the thread) from 2002. It doesn't have much in it's 94 pages. hmm...only 6 issues per year. Now it doesn't sound so great.
Let's see what others have to say about it...
Dave
Doug Miller wrote:
I find FWW a good mag, but I did not renew AWW. I also like Workbench.
recommendatoins
manufacturers who
I second that motion!
Ronnie Aldrich Trussville, Alabama
I don't know how experienced you are but for the beginner/intermediate woodworker I don't think that woodsmith can be beaten. No Ads, good plans and good tips/tricks. It is not as longs as some others but it is almost always useful stuff. Shopnotes is the same family but I haven't found it to be as good personally. W
recommendatoins
magazine whose
manufacturers who
Over the years, I've done a LOT of tool tests for WWJ. At no time, not once, not ever, did Rob so much as suggest I should favor one tool over another.
No tool test is totally objective. If it were, no one would read it. Nothing but figures, no interpretations and feelings about how the tool handles or works or anything else. Basically, you could do that sort of thing with a spec sheet, a series of measurements (run-out, etc.) and
12 photos and let the reader do his own interpretation. That's not a bad idea for the highly experienced reader. It is pure BS for the less experienced reader.But, in fact, I've done reviews for several magazines, and no editor has asked for a slant to one brand or another, except when I left out a manufacturer or two--and that usually occurs when the manufacturer or its rep is simply too busy or too something to respond to requests for info and tools.
I didn't mean to suggest that there might be such flagrant bias as that. Something rather more subtle, perhaps: if WWJ runs an article comparing different brands of router bits, for instance, I imagine that Rockler's bits would be evaluated, but I very much doubt that Woodcraft's would be.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
David wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Down. And in my opinion, Wood and American Woodworker offer me little of interest. YMMV.
I look forward to Woodwork, and recently, Popular Woodworking. Somewhat less so to FWW. WWJ won't get renewed. Neither will ShopNotes. I haven't decided yet on Woodsmith.
Patriarch
I think what distinguishes WWJ from the rest of the pack is that it has some damn fine articles about the craftsman, the artisan's and the visionaries in the field of woodworking. Definitely not a how-to magazine even though on occasion there have been articles that show how a piece was made but you couldn't make it from the article - if that makes sense.
As I recall Doug Stowe
If you want to round out your woodworking knowledge and go beyond tool reviews and how to make pointy sticks - WWJ is an excellent choice.
Bob S.
Hi Dave,
Have FWW for 10+ years, Wood for 15+ years, WWJ for 6+ years. Just started "Shopnotes" a few months ago cause it looked a little different. Also TOH magazine 5+yrs which is pretty bad, but SWMBO likes it - not a WW mag anyhow - I like keeping Russ & the boys in champagne I guess!
Some months are better than others.
Once I start, I can't stop! I'm afraid that I will miss a great tip/plan/tool review...
If you step back and think about it, a 1 yr subscription to most of these costs about the same as 2 bf of red oak.
If they get political, I back off, but most stick to woodworking most of the time, so I'm pretty satisfied.
FWIW.
Lou
One positive note, when they have a project, they tell you what Rockler hardware you need so you don't have to search obscure items. I made a circle cutting jig they featured
Certainly not the best, but it has had a few good articles. More of a pinkie up than thumb up.
Shameless plug here: The current issue of Woodcraft Magazine features a cover story, as well as a sidebar or two, on Sam Maloof. (The first issue had a feature on David Marks. And I'm sure they'll get around to Norm, too.) It also has 3 or 4 project articles that do supply sufficient information (instructions, illustrations, cut lists, hardware sources. etc.) should you wish to try your hand at building one. And now for the shameless plug part. I wrote one of the tool reviews and I can tell you that at no time was I given any instruction, explicit or otherwise, as to whether to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. In fact, I don't know for sure whether Woodcraft even carries the tool I reviewed, although I imagine they do. But either way, it has no bearing on what I write or what I am asked to write. For my next review I was offered a choice between two tools, one of which I know for certain is not currently sold by Woodcraft nor will it be in the future.
Lee
comparing
Rockler's bits
If I were setting up a router bit test, I'd leave both out. Reason: they are usually offshore contracted tools and the purchaser has no way of knowing who made what when. The bits you get this week might be wonderful. Next week's bits may come from another small factory and be worthless or nearly so.
They've got a nice "book of the month" sort of thing as well. I checked most of them out, and Woodsmith it the only one I've kept a subscription to. Couldn't see the point in having more than one- after all, a guy can only read so many articles about tuning up your hand plane or the secret to perfect mitered corners. Aut inveniam viam aut faciam
Funny, I just trashed the renewal coupon for WWJ ten minutes before reading this thread. I guess that's a THUMBS DOWN. I agree that the ads are overwhelming at times. I do like AWW, Wood, Shopnotes & Woodsmith.
whether to
After careful consideration of all your responses, I'll toss the subscription form in the round file. Thanks for all the comments, fellas. (As I mentioned earlier, I found a copy of WWJ AFTER I'd posted my question here. I wasn't too impressed with it's content and it's only 6 issues per year.)
Dave
David wrote:
Charlie,
Do you know if that's also true of LV's router bits?
Thanks, Chris
Charlie Self wrote:
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.