Wood Working Magazines - Any recommendations?

[Lynden]

Steve -- Thanks for the links.

[Derek Cohen]

We all bought magazines when we were starting out. The trouble is that the magazines recycled the same topics, and eventually the beginners became intermediates, and then more advanced woodworkers, and there was no longer anything of interest to read.

I have subscriptions to FWW and PW. I flick through them in 5 minutes. Builds do not really interest me - they are set up for beginners, step-by-step, cut lists, etc. The magazine I still enjoy reading is Woodwork. I have all the copies on my iPad, which pleases my wife as there is no noise of pages turning as I read in bed. I enjoy the biographies and take a vicarious pleasure in their emerging skills and sense of design. I enjoy reading about designs and how they evolve. I prefer contemporary design to the 18th century. I would happily read about the influence of Eastern furniture or European design than more American Stickley and other Arts and Craft. There is just so much Shaker one can take (and I like Shaker). 

I'd like to see advanced joinery, such as used by the Chinese and Japanese.

Essentially, I believe that there is a place for a magazine that caters for the intermediate to advanced woodworker. No, not Mortice and Tenon - that caters to the vintage era and vintage methods .... all good, but I am past that stage.  I want blended, not just hand tools - I am very proficient with hand tools, but I recognise that restricting oneself here simply hamstrings oneself when it comes to building the designs in our heads.

I want articles written by experienced woodworkers, not those who are weekend warriors. Many of the articles featuring in magazines seem to be by weekend warriors. Indeed, I know many of them, and I am convinced that many offer technical articles without the experience of actually building furniture. I have written for magazines over the years. A few years ago I stopped and decided that I did not want to me part of a magazine that featured me as a writer. I do not know enough. I am a good woodworker. But I am a weekend warrior. 

So, who will write a magazine for me?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Handplanesandmore]

I want articles written by experienced woodworkers, not those who are weekend warriors. Many of the articles featuring in magazines seem to be by weekend warriors.
So, who will write a magazine for me?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Good analysis. But the kind of writer you want is already there among the contributing editors in FW: Michael Fortune, Chris Gochnour, etc. who own their shops and make furniture for a living. FW also features many soild furniture makers. They are no weekend woodworkers.

The problem is that, as a writer yourself you should know well, it is not financially viable for many of the experienced woodworkers to write, not to mention that many of them lack the writing and/or photography skills required. How many Christian Becksvoorts are there who can build a piece on commission (paid once) and then get paid again for his article?

Paul Sellers once (half jokingly?) pondered the thought of publishing a woodworking magazine, but I am sure that's no longer possible with his success with his Masterclasses.

I am observing that more and more editors turn to the WWW for "stars" and/or prolific bloggers as their sources of articles, a trend that I hope is not sticking. Some of them are not even weekend warriors, but writers of woodworking knowledge (little real woodworking experience -- never did a table or chair or a chest of drawers or fit a door) or worse, about fancy tools. They offer "expert" advice on how good those tools are in their hands, after using them on a scrap wood. Some even went to a woodworking class, finished a build for the first time and then wrote about it. It was like I went to a dovetail class as a beginner and then wrote a "How to Cut Dovetails like an Expert" afterwards. How convincing!

Oh. It seems these days anyone can write a book on woodworking, that is, as long as you are better known out there in the Internet and you can find a publisher! I would rather buy the same 10 copies of any Charles Hayward book.

Simon

[Derek Cohen]

Exactly Simon.

FWW does have experienced writers, but they are writing for the beginners. What a waste! Other magazines feature bloggers and those prominent on forums. Some may enjoy their contributions, but they limit the value of the publication for me.

I'm not alone here. Others also feel that they are in no-man's land of magazines. I think that the accountants have decided that we are not where the income lies.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[bhh]

Sorry, I must have mis-remembered history of PopWood, Steve and Chris.   Didn't Steve step back from the magazine a bit and move up the corporate ladder?

Another option is a few good books.

I really like Bob Flexner's Understanding Wood Finishing.

It's been a while since I've read it, but Bob Moran wrote a book https://www.amazon.com/Woodworking-Techn...0875967124

It covers most of the common processes and joints in three ways -- hand, portable power, and stationary power tool technique.   Seems like it's right up the alley for someone starting out or trying to advance.

What are your favorite two or three books?

I became known as "the woodworking guy" at my local library branch because I'd always be checking out books on reserve from other branches.

[Steve N]

Nah Le Schwarz fled to Kentucky to "find hisself" Steve was looking towards retirement, seems he was almost there when he accepted the PWW gig, and I think he was having too much fun for a while. Then the ugly corporate head decided being a very successful rag wasn't what they really wanted, what they wanted evidently was to be rich, go figure. Schwarz is probably making some coin, not so sure his stuff is any better written, and it all bores me to tears. What was up with that ugly campaign furniture, gads the benches weren't enough?

I've probably already said they let the talent go, shame that.

[Hank Knight]

All of this discourse about magazines that offer, or don't offer, a menu for the advanced woodworker is good and interesting, and I agree with much that has been written here. But Bass Player, the OP, is interested in getting back into woodworking after a lengthy layoff. He doesn't sound to be an advanced woodworker; but instead, he sounds to be at the an intermediate skill level, or perhaps an advanced beginner. He would benefit from some of the magazine fare that covers beginning to intermediate technique and updated tool technology. Many of the publications discussed here do that. If I were in his shoes, I would be looking at Fine Woodworking and Poplar Woodworking. Either or both of those should cover what he's looking for. Others of you may have different ideas.
MY $.02.

Hank

[Steve N]

Already suggested he try the local library first to see what they offered, he may never need to subscribe. If he spent $$$ I suggested He give Glen a jingle at 360 woodworking. You'll never have to worry about inky fingers viewing online.

[Bass Player]

All of this discourse about magazines that offer, or don't offer, a menu for the advanced woodworker is good and interesting, and I agree with much that has been written here. But Bass Player, the OP, is interested in getting back into woodworking after a lengthy layoff. He doesn't sound to be an advanced woodworker; but instead,  he sounds to be at the an intermediate skill level, or perhaps an advanced beginner. He would benefit from some of the magazine fare that covers beginning to intermediate technique and updated tool technology. Many of the publications discussed here do that. If I were in his shoes, I would be looking at Fine Woodworking and Poplar Woodworking. Either or both of those should cover what he's looking for. Others of you may have different ideas.
MY $.02.

Hank

This is my take on things as well.  I'm definitely not an advanced woodworker.  Even when I was in my garage shop for an hour or two everyday, for the last two years of that I was mostly doing home improvement-type projects rather than any precision woodworking. So (at least in my judgement), at my best I was never advanced - maybe intermediate, at best.  With my layoff, I'm prob back close to being a beginner again ==> these magazines/ books will definitely be geared to me.

And unlike some of the thread participants here.... When I was doing this routinely I built plenty of projects I got out of magazines & have been perfectly happy with them.  Some examples include...
- Country Cupboard (from WorkBench magazine in 1998, I think; except I built mine out of red oak because that's what my spousal unit preferred)
- Table Saw/ Router Station (From Wood magazine, Oct 2003)
- Portable Workbench (From WorkBench, 1999 I think)
- Scrollsawn Fishy Puzzle (Russell Greenslade design in Wood, Mar 03)
- etc.

I also made some scrollsawn puzzles of my own for my grandson.  (Nothing near as nice as the fishy puzzle; they were pretty rudimentary by comparison.) I made 20-30 simple rolling duck toys to donate to the USMC's Toys-for-Tots program when I was a member of the Howard County Woodworking Guild (HCWG) in Maryland (2003-2006), French cleats for the garage/shop, a drill press table, a drill press sanding center, a sand paper caddy, a few household cabinets/ shelves, the New Yankee workshop's portable chop saw station, few cat trees, repaired/ finished a few pieces of furniture, .

I had in mind to build the classic cherry bed from a 1998 issue of Woodsmith, but never got around to it.  I was never anywhere near the skill level needed to build a rocking chair from scratch.  I was usually happy if I could build/ finish pieces with cabinet-like design & joinery that were structurally sound.  I looked at plans from WW mags - especially the shop furniture ones - as ways to learn.  And though I can't remember specifics, I seem to remember enjoying reading FWW , but thinking that many of the techniques and projects in there were a bit beyond my skill-level.

In perusing responses & suggestions here, I think I've settle on re-subscribing to Wood for the time being while I re-read many of the WW books I just pulled out of storage yesterday.  I also subscribed to 360 Woodworking (the free 1-yr membership) as suggested by some folks here to try that out.  I'm also considering getting the back-issue archives of Wood, WorkBench, & American Woodworker as there are some plans in them I have in a list I made all those years ago as good potential projects.  I liked the magazines & hated to get rid of them, and the soft copies would be much easier to store.  At least, that's what I'm thinking now....

[Bob Lang]

The notion that the audience for woodworking magazines is mostly beginners who will outgrow the magazine in a few years is a self-fulfilling prophecy and a recipe for mediocrity. But it allows for a less expensive staff that doesn't have a deep knowledge of the subject matter. It's hard to find people who can actually make stuff out of wood, and write, and edit, and take photos, and organize all the moving parts into a coherent publication. The choice is to take someone who knows woodworking and train them to write, or take someone who knows how to write and teach them a little about woodworking. If your standards for content don't go beyond the easy to publish, basic things, or "here's what the cool kids are doing" the second choice is easier and less expensive. That is the choice that most magazines have made. If you want to produce a quality product that your audience won't outgrow, the first choice is the way to do it.

It's one part of a business model that almost made sense 20-25 years ago, when it was easy to make money publishing printed books or magazines, but is absurd today. Magazines spend a lot of money to entice new subscribers at a bargain rate. If the tepid content hasn't chased readers off by the time the two years for $20 (or less) subscription expires, the higher priced renewal will. The assumptions that drive these things are that the audience is ignorant and easily fooled. When you combine an outdated business model with a bad attitude about the customer and general corporate bumbling you get the situation we have today.

The trouble with most published content today is that the people in charge of publishing don't know good content from useless fluff. How good can the content be when editors can't tell if authors really know what they're talking about? For content creators there has been a real move toward being a "personality/hero/guru". If that's the focus, and you don't have experience to draw from you can always rehash what someone else did, or repeat what sold before. The easy way might bring a short-lived success, but it isn't sustainable. At the publishing company I worked for, the definition of good content became "whatever we can sell", whether or not it was something made up, repeated, rehashed or appropriated from someone else. I could go on and on but my point is I don't think you'll be able to find good, reliable content in any of the current crop of magazines.

If you're just starting out in woodworking, one of the first skills you'll need to develop is a good BS detector. I think my earlier advice about digital back issues was good. There are also a couple of old textbooks by John Feirer. Here are links to them on Amazon:

Furniture & Cabinetmaking

Cabinetmaking & Millwork

Both of these were published before woodworking magazines became a big deal. What I find especially interesting about these books is that nearly every technique, jig or method published in any magazine article published in the last 30 years can be found there.