[OP]
Member
So yesterday I bought my first ever woodworking magazines. Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking.
Huge differences between the two.
I really like this Popular Woodworking and will probably subscribe to it. FW on the other hand...wow is it expensive and frankly I don't see the value in a $40 per year (7 issues)
What would you consider a 'must-have' magazine/book for a beginner?
Member
I get Popular, Wood Mag, and Fine Wood. I enjoy all but I find that Popular and Wood are more geared to me now and Fine Wood is more what I want to be skill wise.Originally Posted by Jerry Murray
Member
I love woodsmith and shopnotes.
Member
I just canceled my subscription to Fine woodworking. It's been hard for me after so many years of getting it and enjoying it at home. My main reason is that I was able to get their CD of 30 + years at a convenient price, and they also sell the CD with all the electronic copies at the end of the year as well.
What I didn't like about Fine is that it is sometimes unpractical for a weekend woodworker like me. I enjoy Wood a lot more, because it not only teaches you skills, but it also has plans that you can use.
You can also try American Woodworker. I find it very practical as well.
Member
Ditto. I also subscribe to Wood. I do subscribe to the FWW website and have their DVD archive...
[OP]
Member
I've not seen Wood or Woodsmith or Shop Notes in the store. Whwere would be a good place for me to pick up a copy of each so I can check them, out?
Member
I've purchased them from my local Lowes, I also think I've seen them in Barns and Noble and Books a Million. They will look a little expensive for their size, but there are ZERO advertisements, pure content...
Member
Woodworking magazine. From the editors of Popular Woodworking, but as a side project. No advertisements, American/Shaker style projects. Generally each issue has a particular topic of interest, a "skills" article, a simple project, and a more complicated project, where the projects generally make use of the skill discussed earlier.
You can get issues 1-7 and 8-12 bound as hardcover books. Might be able to request them from your library.
Contributor
I think Popular Woodworking just put out their best issue. I always look forward to finding a new issue in the mail, but this issue topped all previous. I especially liked the design article. And Cherebini's article. And Roy on the cover.
Mark
Last edited by Mark Maleski; 04-30-2009 at 6:29 PM.
Member
Your library card.
Yes, I'm being serious.
I live in a town of just 300,000 and we've got a great public library system. They have tons and tons of woodworking books AND videos/DVDs. They also have subscriptions to various WW'ing magazines -- now there I'll grant you need to pick and choose which branch you visit, since not every branch library has all the mags.
Even better, it's catalog is on the Internet, so if someone mentions a great book on a forum, I can pop over to my library web page, search for it, and if they've got it slap down a "hold" request, and they'll deliver the book to my preferred branch for me to pick up the next time I'm there. If they don't have the book, I can put in a "request to purchase", and sometimes they'll go out and buy it. (That's how I got to read Chris Schwarz's "Workbenches" book, for instance.)
Save your money for tools.
...art
ps: but I admit I subscribe to FWW, and also to Canadian Home Workshop.
"It's Not About You."
Member
I would suggest WOOD magazine. I recently picked up the hobby and have learned tons from reading the back issues. It has tons of projects for the beginner to the more advanced. Lots of good tool reviews as well. I just subscribed today actually. I love it.
Member
A good thing living in Cincinnati is I get to visit the Popular Woodworking shop from time to time. Get to go again for an open house in two weeks.
They are doing good things for woodworking like the Hand tool conference they had last Nov. Top notch.
"Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
- Rick Dale
Member
+1 for Wood Mag. I consider myself "intermediate." certainly not a craftsman like some of the folks around here, but I've made some sawdust here and there. Wood has a good mix of basic projects and basic skills, and some more intermediate stuff. Good scientific style tool reviews and head to head comparisons. I subscribed to Fine WW online, and I'm downloading articles like mad before I cancel it. Probably my next hard copy subscription. It does seem to be a little more on the advanced scale.
Wood also has an online/electronic version now which makes archiving and searching past issues a breeze.
I bought a year (2008) of Pop wood on CD, and for whatever reason it just doesn't jive for me. LOTS of handplanes/old school hand tools, and lots of articles on building/maintaining/reworking fancy workbenches. my workbench is some MDF on a 2x4 frame. When they recommended one "middle of the road" handplane as a "great bargain" at >$1000 they lost me. That's just not my speed. Some people really get into that though. There was good series on using tools correctly and safely.
Shopnotes is great for plans and diagrams. Someone gave me a complete set of Shopnotes from day one, I'll never get through it so I don't subscribe at this point.
Most mags will give you a complementary subscription though. When I was trying to decide I got a free issue to several mags, and picked from there.
I think what you'll find is that it's a very personal choice. Some mags focus more on hand tools, and some feature more on power tools. Some feature traditional (antique) style furniture and some have more modern designs. Some are basic and some are advanced. Some of the best info I have gleaned, though, are from topic specific books (ie. joinery, finishing, routers, TS, etc)- especially when getting started.
Member
I'm a collector (packrat) when it comes to woodworking magazines and books. I buy many of them, when they hit the shelves at Lowes, Home Depot, and Barnes & Nobles.
Favorites
Shop Notes
Woodsmith
Popular Woodworking
Wood
Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts
Others, I usually glance through them to see if there's a new jig, project, etc.
Lee in NC
Member
My favorite subscriptions in order:
1a - Woodsmith (no ads)
1b - Shopnotes (no ads)
3 - Popular Woodworking
4 - Wood
For a beginner, I would say Shopnotes is the best because if you are like me a few years ago, you will spend most of your time trying to put together your shop before you can really do much woodworking.
Woodsmith & Shopnotes are produced by the same company and have very similar format with no ads. You may even want to order back issues of Shopnotes as there are lots of useful projects that are timeless.
Popular Woodworking & Wood are both good magazines and either one will do fine. I probably prefer Popular Woodworking, but very slightly.
Fine Woodworking is a good magazine too, but too expensive. I guess I could order Fine Woodworking in place of both Popular Woodworking & Wood, but I prefer quanity over quality in this case.
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