I was getting some woodworking mags today and wondered what the best and most informatives one were. I want to subscribe to some but it looks like a bunch are ads, same old " which is better" tools, stuff like that. Which ones are most informative, have tips, plans and not a waste of money? What do you susscribe to?
Thanks
Jimmy
My current preferences are Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking, Woodworking, and Woodwork magazines. Woodwork is a quarterly publication that has no advertisement and it is published by the same company as Popular Woodworking. Then there are the August Home publications, Woodsmith and Shop Notes that have no advertising. Most of these have web sites you can visit and make up your mind form what you see.
I guess I over-subscribe, but here is my (somewhat biased) view:
Fine Woodworking the best - makes me dream about my future goals
Popular woodworking and Wood - has good articles that I sometimes share with my high school students as well as some relatively "do-able" plans for my kids
American Woodworker - an interesting read, but nothing to write home about
Woodcraft Magazine - Usually one good plan per issue that I put in the "optional project folder" for my students
Your milage may vary, but this is my consensus.
If I can make a suggestion, go to a good magazine/book store and peruse all the offerings that they have. Make a note of which mags have the most articles or other stuff that fit your interests. Do this for a few months and then subscribe to the one tht best fits your needs.
Glen
Jim,
When I was younger, and yearly subscriptions were *reasonable* {about $10-12}, I got a LOT {Woodworking, Sailing & Boatbuilding, Shotgun & Pistol shooting, and Photography}. NOW - when they are so outrageously priced, and seem to be mostly a regurgitation of already well-known information . . . I almost never 'subscribe'.
While I continually get these 'Fantastic Discount Offer for the Professional . . .' - which are the same pricing as the magazine 'insert cards' - most go into the recycling. I DO read them, because there is the occasional 'slip' where they offer MY price. I am now getting 'Popular Woodworking' . . . for $19.96 for TWO years.
To 'keep up' with the field - a}Most of the well-known periodicals are available at the local library - including back issues. I either make notes, or copy pages of 'Projects & Plans' that interest me. b}If there is something that I MUST have, or Joanne wants while we are in the 'Local', I get her to buy THAT issue.
Right now I have 4 Subscriptions. 'Popular Woodworking', 'Sail', and 'Chesapeake Bay' at $10 per. The last is 'Small Craft Advisor' because it is rather specialized and only ONE bookstore ['semi-local'} carries it.
Regards & Good Luck, Ron Magen Backyard Boatshop
If I could only subscribe to two, they would be "Shop Notes" and "Woodsmith" from
Standard disclaimer applies, no affiliation, etc.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
I've subscribed to a lot of them over the years but now I'm down to just two: Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking. The first is obvious, I think it's one of the best magazines out there for anyone interested in doing higher-end work. The second, I was originally given a subscription by my wife's parents and it's usually got some interesting things in it so they just keep renewing it every year for Christmas. I've subscribed to American Woodworker for a couple years but it's really not all that interesting to me, and have bought Shopnotes and Woodsmith for years but they turned me off when I tried out one of their "free issue" deals and they absolutely refused to take me off their "pay us for the subscription that you cancelled or we'll sue you" crap.
I used to get a lot of different ones, but now just get 2, Fine Woodworking is the 1st choice, after that I like woodworking magazine. Actually subscribing to the Fine Woodworking site is very good. You can search past articles & download them as PDF's
Just left Barnes & Nobles where perusal of all the ww mags on the shelves simply had nothing worth plunking down the cash for, IMO.
What is becoming more noticeable are the "methods of work/tips and tricks" sections in the mags have gotten dumbed down to the point of many being downright laughable ... they're really stretching for material with some of the utter nonsense being printed in these sections ...and the letters sections seem to have gotten more argumentative in the last few years. Seems like every other letter was someone wanting to take issue over some minutiae.
I still prefer FWW, but that said, haven't seen anything lately that even remotely justified a purchase.
More and more I appreciate my subscription to Fine Woodworking's web content. You can zero in on what interests you at the moment without having to put up with all the extraneous BS.
I have subscribed to and have all but the first 12 issues of WoodSmith. No advertising, and the magazine gives you step by step instructions of the entire process of building 2 to 3 projects per issue. I have build few of the projects but have learned lot's of tricks. IMHO a must for a beginner.
Same here, as well as FWW's excellent subscription site and .PDF capabilities.
PW does come up with some interesting features and angles on a regular basis. I especially like Adam Cherubini's perspectives, even as a guy who uses lots of power. I can't think of a single issue of PW that I didn't totally enjoy. Both FWW and PW, frequently concentrate on design, which is where I think I have the most to gain personally.
Occasionally, "WOOD" has an interesting jig or technique, but I think a lot of their furniture projects look amateurish. I do recommend "WOOD" to lots of beginners, as they seem to try to keep an angle that's the most beginner friendly, using commonly available materials. I can remember being turned off as a beginner by FWW.
"Shopnotes" and "Woodsmith" don't really interest me, as I feel the jigs and tips are often way over the top in a Rube Goldberg sense, and the furniture is often uglier than "WOOD". I see "Shopnotes" as the perfect source for the person who is genuinely fascinated by the actual tools and processes, vs. furniture. That is NOT intended as a knock, slight, or put-down, different strokes for different folks!
Personally, I get awesome support when I drop $250 on a hand plane, or $1500 on a drum sander when I make things that make my wife and the occasional customer happy. I doubt that would happen if my products were mostly shop items, and it certainly didn't happen when I built giant scale r/c's for sale.
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B A R R Y wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
What Barry said, mostly, although I've never built airplanes...
I would add that Woodwork magazine is another that has great design running through it, and a focus that includes the West Coast more than FWW seems to. And the Aussies and New Zealanders seem to show up there at least as much as their population base would seem to indicate. The magazine is good at showing people in the craft.
Woodworking is another one I like, from the PopWood boys. No advertising, but for me, that's not critical. I like the straightforward, no frills approach, and the cool detailed projects. Particularly the workbenches. I built one of the PopWood $200 and a weekend benches some years ago, and want to build a really cool one some day soon.
I could live without FWW mostly. It's not what it once was. Need to make that decision soon, I guess.
Patriarch
Fri, Aug 24, 2007, 8:51pm (EDT+4) snipped-for-privacy@ameritech.net (Jimmy) wants to be led: I was getting some woodworking mags today and wondered what the best and most informatives one were. I want to subscribe to some What do you susscribe to?
What I subscribe to: WoodenBoat (my favorite woodworking magazine), saven various car magazines, five various 4X4 magazines (mainly for my son's benefit), one gun mazine, one gun paper, and National Geographic (for about 35 year now). I did subscribe to several wood magazines, including FineWoodWorking, that I let the subscriptions lapse; now I browse them on the news racks, and occassionally buy one or the other.
I didn't ask anyone, I looked at magazines, read them, made up my own mind what I wanted to subscribe to, and dud. If I were to run across a magazine I'd never seen before I might ask someone else's opionion on it, but I'd NEVER ask anyone if i should surscribe to it.
JOAT I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do them.
- Picasso
but I'd NEVER ask anyone if i should surscribe to it.
Some how I didn't figure you would. :-)
Sun, Aug 26, 2007, 3:37pm (EDT+4) snipped-for-privacy@verizon.net (Lowell=A0Holmes) doth sayeth: Some how I didn't figure you would. :-)
The last time I took advice from someone, it was my mother. And it was bad advise.
JOAT I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do them.
- Picasso
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