Woodworking Video Magazine-- First Impression

[Glen]

I went to the Baltimore Woodworking show. I walked in I saw Graham Blackburn signing up people to a new video magazine. It is like Fine Woodworking only the articles are video presentations and the magazine is delivered on a DVD. They have two issues out and I bought both. Here are my impressions.

A couple of the "articles" are clearly extracted from other video series. I have the Nora Hall carving videos and one of the articles was extracted from that series. The same was true with another "article" from Marc Adams. He had a video on building a drawer that came from his cabinet building video. Both issues had interviews with artists and visited their shops and studios. The articles were geared for a wide range of skills so I think there is probably something in there for everyone. He has a book review section where he interviews the author, for example Garret Hack. There is a how-to section. On the first issue, there was a sponsor's link which had some advertisements. I didn't see any on the second. I enjoy the ads in my woodworking magazines and would browse them in the video version as well.

It is 35.95 for four issues. Interestingly, they apparently have all the issues ready and you can read on their website what each issue's articles are going to be this next year. Wouldn't that be nice for all the other magazines to which we are contemplating giving a subscription. For less than ten bucks for each DVD, I thought it was a great buy. It certainly was better than any DVD you would rent or buy. It was entertaining, educational, a little rough on production values, but certainly a service to our woodworking community that I hope suceeds. There are some things that need to seen and not just put into words. It looks like some of the best craftspeople in our field are trying to share their knowledge. I wish the producers of this new effort my best wishes. I am interested to see if anyone else has seen these and am interested to see what their reaction to this magainze on a DVD is.

The website is

Full disclosure: I have no relationship with anyone involved in this effort other than my subscription.

[Ranger Paul]

Hi Glen,

The link you posted I couldn't get to work, this one seems to:

does look interesting. I wasn't aware of this one, but I was aware of a different one that I subscribed to. Now I'm starting to wonder how many are out there.

I subsciribed to a DVD woodworking magazine last year, it is called Woodworking At Home Magazine. It is nice to see things being done for sure, but like any magazine every article/project doesn't always interest me. I'm more into using power tools, I know the purists out there strive to used hand tools in time honored techniques etc, and I do admire their talents greatly. But I get a kick out of electricity :). The Woodworking at Home DVD mag devotes time to both approaches so there is something for everybody.

On the Woodworking at Home DVD mag I would say all in all there is about 2 hours of instruction on each DVD, the subscription price is about 33 bucks a year for this one and you get 6 isses per year plus a bonus issue at Christmas.

Their web site is at:

two DVD magazines sound comparable, the Woodworking at Home gives you

3 more issues, but...it all depends on how much instruction (in hours/minutes) is on each DVD and whether or not the projects/articles presented interest you or not. On the surface the Woodworking At Home seems to give you more.

I may try to get hold of a single issue of the one you mentioned in this post Glen and see how it stacks up. Do they spend time with hand/traditional construction techniques and power tool techniques, or lean more heavily towards one or the other?

Do you know how long their DVDs run, approx how many hours/minutes of instruction one of their DVDs contain?

Later Gator,

RangerPaul

[John Grossbohlin]

distributed out of a place about a mile from my house!

John ...finally back on line after a month of suffering through ISP IP address registration problems that kept me off the news groups...

[Joe Barta]

I have no doubt that if plate joiners and router tables were available in 1800, they would have been fully taken advantage of. "Purist" implies that using power tools and modern techniques is somehow "impure". I don't believe anything of the sort. Maybe "old school" is a better term than "purist".

Joe Barta

[nailshooter41]

a better term than "purist".

[Joe Barta]

That would have been a sight. I would have loved to see a belt driven shop/factory. I read a little about one once. It was amazing if you think about it. Much like electricity... those belts flying overhead and the drop downs to power individual machines. Must have been quite a sight... and quite a racket...

Joe Barta

[Charles Self]

[Charles Self]

For most magazines, you can check out the on-line media kit and find the editorial calendar. This should at least give you an idea of what an editor intends to present as subject matter at different times during the year. They're not locked in, and descriptions are not precise. It is truly unusual for ANY magazine to prepare an issue's worth of material a year in advance of publication. Too much can change in too many areas. Too, four issues on tape or DVD is going to take a lot less prep time than will 10 issues on paper (which is not good or bad, but simply factual, so please do not come back saying I claimed it was worse: you shoot the material according to a story board, make sure it fits, and copy it to the master, compared to shooting to suit, selecting from xx number...well, anyway, it should be simpler, which makes long term buys and descriptions easier).

[JES]

A review can be found here...

[Swingman]

I've not been impressed with their offering, found the DVD format limited in convenience, and declined to renew the last subscription offer. Maybe it's just me, but long live the print format ... DVD magazine formats pale by comparison thus far.

Now, if I could download a FWW magazine issue and read it on my eBook ...

[jtpr]

So now I have to build a cabinet to hold the DVD player in the bathroom....

It's the only place I can read my magazines in peace.

jtpr

[else24]

"That would have been a sight. I would have loved to see a belt driven shop/factory. I read a little about one once. It was amazing if you think about it. Much like electricity... those belts flying overhead and the drop downs to power individual machines. Must have been quite a sight... and quite a racket...

Joe Barta"

In the early seventies, a delivery job sent me into a small parts fabrication shop in Rockford Illinois. Couple of metal lathes, drill presses, wood and metal cutting saws, other machines I couldn't place. All belt driven from a main shaft about nine feet up in the center of the shop.

Not noisy at all. Much quieter than that many motored machines running at the same time. Just the sound of leather belts whirring through the air and the cutters, cutting.

NOT a shop where one would feel comfortable with a pony tail or loose clothing. There were a few dozen belts zipping around and not a guard to be seen. I was a little nervous. :-)

[Joe Barta]

Main "shaft"? This main shaft was a belt, right?

[Glen]

Thanks for the corrected URL. I should have cut and pasted it so I wouldn't screw it up.

Each DVD ran for about an hour. I thought with Graham Blackburn being the editor Woodworkinginaction would have had a hand tool bias, but there is a mixture of articles that use power tools or tell how to use power tools. For example they had an article with Kelley Meher (sp?) on table saw kickback that was amusing as he cut pieces of styrofoam and made it kick back so he could explain the process. On the other hand there was an article on using a shaves to produce the spindles for a chair. I think they have gone out of their way to get articles that would appeal to both neanders and normites and at various levels of experience. If I were to equate it with one of the paper magaizines, it would be with Fine Woodworking. Four times a year seems a bit lean on the number of issues, but ultimately, it is going to be the quality of the articles that will determine if these guys keep my subscription. So far, I am happy.

I will have to check out the other magaz> Hi Glen,

[Oleg Lego]

The Joe Barta entity posted thusly:

Unlikely. I did not see the shop he mentioned, of course, but the two that I have seen were the same setup. A belt from the motor to a "main shaft". The main shaft ran across the ceiling, and on it were several pulleys (slightly crowned to keep the belts straight) that drove belts that dropped to each machine.

[Oleg Lego]

The [e-mail] entity posted thusly:

Quite the thing. An uncle of mine had a full machine shop in a building on his property. He was retired, and spent many hours out there. Almost all his machinery was belt driven. Of the ones that were't, most were shop-built. The noise was nearly nonexistent.

[John Grossbohlin]

I stopped by Toolbox Productions this morning and spoke with Graham Blackburn's partner on the Woodworking in Action project, Jeremy Ellenbogen.

Jeremy gave me a copy of Issue 2 of Woodworking in Action to review. A couple of the segments were filmed using local talent--very good local talent--that I'm familiar with named Steve Heller and Dennis Collins. BTW, Blackburn is a local guy too...

From my conversation with Jeremy, by design Woodworking In Action is not a "project" magazine (i.e., not along the lines of Wood, American Woodworker, etc.,). Rather the idea is to be more like Fine Woodworking and Woodwork. In that context the DVD met my expectations. It's not a slick "project TV show" like NYW or Woodworks and it's not a print magazine on disk (like the Best of Fine Woodworking CD). I found the DVD to be interesting and it certainly gives a lot of information and problem solving ideas. Looking at the equipment in the background warranted a second screening alone... Of note, Jeremy mentioned that their intention is to go to bi-monthly distribution, up from quarterly, in the not too distant future.

For the Woodworks fans, you can anticipate seeing David Marks on future DVDs discussing his gilding techniques. I met Marks in Edison, NJ last month and attended his presentations on gilding and bent laminations. Very pleasant guy... too bad "10 states in 10 weeks" had taken such a toll on his voice...

It was a very interesting discussion and we are likely going to be seeing more of each other. I'm the treasurer for the Northeastern Woodworkers Association's Mid-Hudson Chapter as well as treasurer for the Kaatskill Woodturner's Association SIG. We discussed the possibility of collaboration on presentations and video content... NWA has some VERY talented people, e.g, Keith Tompkins had a two page spread in the middle of the October 2005 Woodwork magazine.

Personally, from what I've seen and heard I think that Woodworking in Action has a place in my woodworking information flow. I dropped magazines like Wood, American Woodworker, Shop Notes and other project oriented fare in favor of Fine Woodworking, Woodwork, Popular Woodworking (I'm particularly fond of the Arts and Mysteries column--which the editor Christopher Schwarz tells me will continue to be a regular feature), and books oriented towards design theory and historical methodologies. On that note, Woodworking in Action may not appeal to all much as Woodwork doesn't appeal to all... but then, I sense that they aren't interested in "all."

As concerns a disclaimer, I fully understand that I have a bias here in that seeing local people, local shops, and a local sites on the DVD makes me feel like there is something useful going on around here in addition to my club! ;~)

we've got Roy Underhill coming for three days of programs in March. Join NOW! ;~)

John

[Ranger Paul]

Hey, go to The Cantebury Workshop online at:

goes to their video archives page, click on the Hanford Mills Museum video link, it has a video that runs 10 - 15 muntes where they take a tour of a water driven saw mill & production wood shop, it was built in the

1840s.

RangerPaul

[Ranger Paul]

Get you one of those mini DVD players and take it in the little room or your shop. I use mine on the plane and when I'm out of town too, their pretty neat.

I guess the future is officially here when woodworkers are reading their magazines on computer screens.

RangerPaul

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:58:29 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "John Grossbohlin" quickly quoth:

May I be the first to say YOU SUCK!, John? Thanks.

All those folks in your locale... ;)

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