Greetings all,

Sorry I have not been around much for a while, as you can imagine, producing Woodworking at Home Magazine takes a bit of time!

I recently caught a thread here at SMC about magazine blues and how many of them are re-runs. That is part of what caused me to start the magazine. It seemed as though all of the publishers were stuck on "Mission and Shaker" pieces over and over again (since about 1990 or so). Don't get me wrong, mission is a favorite of mine but more with a Prarie Style flavor. The tool reviews I also found rather redundant, after all, how can you really develope an honest opinion about a tool or product with only a few hours (or minutes at best) of actual useage time.

For us, we have been trying our best to present both innovative and stylish projects in each issue. Often times we do projects that are of very low appeal to the masses (Art Deco for example). But as woodworkers, I feel it is important to explore the variety woodworking styles as this hobby presents to us as woodworkers. During our last (almost) 2 years, I feel we have been presenting projects that are out of the "ordinary" combined with those that are mainstream and we will continue down that path.

Another point about tool reviews. Bob Marino arranged for us to get a Festool saw. I didn't want to jump right out with a quick superficial opinion so I have been using the saw for the last few months and finally developed what I feel is an honest opinion with depth. In issue #14 I will be presenting a brief demonstration of the saw and my opinions of it.

Someone in the the original thread mentioned something about "Editors must be scratching their heads to come up with new stories". As a producer (Editors are for those print magaiznes, producers are for video productions) I constantly strive to do something innovative in each issue of the magazine. It may not be the most popular subject (relief carving for example), but I feel it is my responsibility to present stories and techniques that are out of the mainstream. The result of that has been a number of emails and phone calls from our viewers that have expressed their joy in learning new skills and techniques. Relief carving is one of those techniques that many people feel is simply beyond their abilities. However, as many have told me, "I have finally tried my hand at relief carving and I love it!". I believe it comes down to having an effective way to learn and explore something and giving yourself a chance to try it.

Recently, another publishing company approached me to discuss some cooperative ventures. They had been receiving our magazine since the first issue and had developed an appreciation for our method of publishing. During one of the conference calls I had asked their editor what he would do differently with our magazine. As if reading from a script, he stated he would run: a couple of shaker projects, a few mission pieces, and a couple of reproductions to round things out. I am of the mindset that variety is the spice of life and I certainly hope that our magazine never gets to the point of a scripted editorial calender.

Sorry for the long post, and I hope you don't mind me sharing my perspective on woodworking magazines. While I don't get time to post very often here, I sure try my best to read through the posts. As I said before, there is a great group of people in this forum.

Take care

Chris DeHut