What magazines?

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:51:24 GMT, "Jimmy" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>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
>

If I could only subscribe to two, they would be "Shop Notes" and
"Woodsmith" from http://www.augusthome.com/. There is a similar
magazine by the same publisher, "Workbench" that is oriented toward
home improvement projects.

Standard disclaimer applies, no affiliation, etc.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

"Jimmy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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
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

Fri, Aug 24, 2007, 8:51pm (EDT+4) [email protected] (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 <snip> 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

"Jimmy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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.

"Jimmy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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
>

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

"Jimmy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>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
>

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.

"J T" <[email protected]> wrote
> What I subscribe to:
> WoodenBoat (my favorite woodworking magazine) . . .

WoodenBoat . . . 'Porn for boatbuilders . . .'

B A R R Y <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

<snippage of good stuff>
> 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.
>

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

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

"Jimmy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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
>
>

On Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:12:11 GMT, Brian Henderson
<[email protected]> wrote:


>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.

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! <G>

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.

---------------------------------------------
** http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
---------------------------------------------

"J T" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Fri, Aug 24, 2007, 8:51pm (EDT+4) [email protected] (Jimmy)
> wants to be led:
>snip
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
>
Some how I didn't figure you would. :-)

On Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:51:24 GMT, "Jimmy" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>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?

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.

"Jimmy" wrote in message
>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?

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.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 8/08/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)