Shop Notes Magazine

[Russ Sears]

I received a solicitation for Shop Notes Magazine. Is it any good? Worth $28 for 12 issues over 2 years?
Any other magazine suggestions?

[Mike Heidrick]

I like to read it and have made a few items for the shop from Shop Notes.

I also get Fine Wood Working and subscribe to FWW online. I look foreward to that each month.

I have been reading Wood Magazine and it may be my next subscripotion.

I find magazine subscriptions make great in-law gifts around the holidays.

[Anthony Whitesell]

It's a little pricey. It is all woodworking articles, projects, jigs, and how-to's. There are no ads which is what drives the price up. The pictures and most of the articles are also very clear. I would say all the jigs and items in the last issue with the exception of the last two pages were very straightforward to follow.

[Scott Long]

I think that the price is great, $28 for @ years. I like the magazine, I take some of there ideas and modify it to work in my shop. It is the secon best woodworking investment that I make every year (first being the creek of course)

[Gary Warren]

I subscribe to every kind of WW magazine there is and Shop Notes is always the one I look forward to getting in the mail. I like its simplicity and yet detailed versions of the projects they describe. You will not regret it unless you are looking for stuff that comes out of Architectural Digest! Good for the basic hobby type woodworker.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I would concur about ShopNotes. It is one of my favorite journals. The projects range from simple to more complex than you probably would ever do (converting a table saw to a drum sander, creating a router-based jointer, etc). Their jigs and suggestions are also very useful, and well illustrated/photographed.

Doc

[Prashun Patel]

My wife just got me a subscription for Xmas. Love it!

I also like Workbench

[Tom Veatch]

Shop Notes and its sibling, Woodsmith, are the two subscriptions that I'd keep if I could only have two.

[Travis Gauger]

Shope Notes.
Woodsmith.
Fine Wood Working.
American Wood Worker.
Wood Magazine.
Workbench.
Family Handyman.

This is what I currently subscribe to. All of them are good in their own way. My personal favorite is woodsmith, no adds like shopnotes, all furniture and higher end projects. I don't build bird houses, so don't show me how to build one.

[Jim Barstow]

On a scale of 1-10:

woodsmith 10
shopnotes 8
fine woodworking 8
wood magazine 6
fine homebuilding 6
popular woodworking, woodworker's journal, etc 4

I've dropped subscriptions for everything below 5

[Greg Peterson]

I use to pick up an issue every now and then and found useful projects and ideas. The publisher, August Home Publishing, runs an Internet forum that is moderated with a very obvious bias. A very narrow, limited opinion is allowed and any rebuttal is frowned up. August Home Publishings continued support of their forum is no less than tacit approval of the behavior of some of their members towards others. I do not purchase any of their products nor do I participate in their good ol' boy club.

Fine Woodworking is the gold standard, IMO. Pricey, but when you're that good you can justify the price.

[Shawn Honeychurch]

Very worth it.

Great articles and how-to's, plus very clear instructions.

[Kyle Kraft]

I have been a subscriber for several years and some issues are mediocre and some have so many Post It flags in it that it looks like fringe on a pillow. I don't forsee cancelling my subscription any time in the near future.

[Mike Monroe]

I subscribed for many years, but after a while I realized I didn't need to anymore. I let my subscription lapse a year or so ago. It seemed to me that over time the articles repeated and some of the jigs/tools were just not anything I would build. Having said that, I have built a number of projects from Shopnotes in the past. If an issue comes out with an interesting project, I'll purchase it. Same for FWW. The only wood mags I currently subscribe to are Woodsmith and Wood. And the only reason I subscribe to Wood is because my nephew was selling subscriptions through his elementary school.

[Ben Cadotte]

I like it enough I bought over 80 issues used from that auction place. The original purchaser took really good care of them. Some of the issues were not even opend out of the plastic yet. Also had 2/3 of them in the binders you can get. Got them for about $2 an issue. Thought it was a very good deal. Especially after I had a chance to look them over. After about 6 months he sent me an email asking if I wanted some more he found in his shop. I said yes and he sent those. Again very good shape. And a great price. So in all I think I have over 120 of them. Give or take. Also have some Woodsmith and a bunch of others that were part of the original purchase.