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Start Woodworking

A Call for Bloggers!

Ed Pirnik, Senior Web Producer

13 users recommend

Reader, Preston Maxwell's lift lid box is the kind of project that lends itself to someone just getting their feet wet.

Preston Maxwell

This end grain cutting board by reader, Ian Fisher, would also make a great project for the budding woodworker.

Ian Fisher

Reader, Preston Maxwell's lift lid box is the kind of project that lends itself to someone just getting their feet wet.

Photo: Preston Maxwell

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By my reckoning, Fine Woodworking magazine has published upwards of 20,000 pages over the course of its 35-year history. The "Little Magazine that Could" began its life as a simple black-and-white quarterly and has evolved over the years, into a full-color magazine, complimented by a website containing thousands-upon-thousands of pages of content.

With that in mind, it is my distinct pleasure to announce the upcoming launch of a brand-new addition to the Fine Woodworking family. StartWoodworking.com is already in the production stage, and we're hoping to roll it out this Fall. A site geared towards inspiring budding woodworkers, StartWoodworking.com will provide a whole host of benefits including project and plan blogs, a forum where you can take your questions straight to the experts, quality video instruction, a gallery showcase, and much more!

While many of us on the staff of Fine Woodworking will be pitching in to create quality content for aspiring wood rats the world-over, we can't do it alone. We need some quality bloggers to showcase their work and show other's how it's done. Keep in mind, Start Woodworking won't highlight the construction of period mahogany highboys or other uber-advanced projects. Rather, we're after simple projects that can be built with a minimum of tools. Projects should teach viewers the basic skills necessary to move on to fine woodworking (no pun intended). High-quality bread and cheese boards, picture frames, benches, and the like, are a perfect fit, and we need folks who can explain the building process simply and effectively.

And remember, StartWoodworking.com isn't about building mammoth-sized, ostentatious projects, it's about getting down to the nuts and bolts of beginner woodworking. So think it over, photograph an idea and fire it on over to us. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Comments (11)

stopbotheringme writes: I'm new to the Southeast Cleveland area and am looking for a source for hardwoods. Is there a place I can post such a question and get suggestions from local woodworkers?
Posted: 5:40 pm on October 1st

rupps writes: cblouin, I believe folks at EVERY level have something to contribute as long as the project is documented & photographed within the guidelines of what FWW expects. If the project submissions are reviewed before publishing, then the editors could correct any part that you may not, as you say "be authoritative" on.

Posted: 2:24 pm on July 21st

415 writes: Is there a closing date for submissions?

I am about to start on a project that will take 2-3 weekends and I wouldn't want to to spend the time doing the photos and writeup if the deadline expires at the end of this month or something...

thanks
Posted: 9:00 pm on July 14th

yohann writes: Hi sorry i forgot to ask below, will contributors be paid members of this website or will you also choose from readers who are members but don't pay for your membership.
Posted: 12:18 pm on July 14th

yohann writes: Dear Editors,
I am an big fan of your website, and have been for almost 2 years now. I would like to thank you for bringing out a web site for new begginners because it is important to distinguish between woodworkers who have been doing this for a living and have some excellent projects to show for it and people like me who barely get three hours a week in my make shift garage shop (mainly due to lack time), a full time job in another industry and lack of time due to other parental reponsibilities.

Coming to the question, I do tend to agree with cblouin; below. I have made some beginner projects that people in my position may have may have built or may find useful, however i have only taken photographs of the finished product. In order to comply with your request I will have to go back and create some pieces in order to photograph the steps. This may be very difficult since I don't have a lot of time, and have other pending projects I would like to tackle. I wanted to know if that is something you are looking for or are photographs of the finished product with detail steps enough?
Is there a time limit for these submisions?
I would be thrilled to be a contributor on this new site.
sincerely,
Yohann Gazdar


Posted: 12:15 pm on July 14th

cblouin writes: Are you looking only for seasoned pros or would you be interested in relatively newcomers to woodworking? The upside is that the readership would relate better to their shop and range of tools, the projects would naturally be appropriate, and there could be a bigger emphasis on lesson learned during a project. The downside is that the author isn't authoritative. Not all beginners would fit the bill for it, but I'd probably submit something if this is an option.
Posted: 11:06 am on July 13th

woodlicker writes: at the ripe old age of 43, im not new to woodworking as ive done construction my whole life. i have built houses, barns, wood fences and just about anything to make a dolar. however now im trying to make that dolar building coffee-end tables, dinning tables, bar stools, pic frames ect... now let me tell you, im not as smart as i thought.... if it was not for FWW and their bloggers as well as other sights where i get aton of info i would not be doing what i do... for me when i joined FWW and went to the gallary i was amazed at the projects the readers were building and was scared to even ask a ? of such fine woodworkers let alone post a picture... now i know somebodys allways willing to spend their to answer dumb ?'s from the new guys.. i think this would still help me at times, where was this sight 2-3 years ago??? can hardly wait to see simple things built by the REAL PROS... WHAT A GREAT IDEAL! FINE WOOD WORKING . COM ROCKS...LARRY
Posted: 7:28 am on July 12th

FineWoodworkingEditors writes: Hi rcooper,

We're keeping this as open as possible: We want to share information with a wide variety of people including:
-Someone starting out with no tools at all
-Someone who might have access to a shop but needs to pointers on using the tools
-Someone like a trim carpenter who's familiar with a variety of tools but needs information on furniture making and wood joints

Do you have information that could help someone who falls into one of these groups?
Posted: 5:00 pm on June 30th

rcooper writes: What do you mean by "a minimum of tools?" Are we talking "circular saw and electric drill" as in Matt and Asa's "getting started" video series? Or maybe "table saw but no jointer or planer"? Or what? The nature of the blog will depend a lot what tools the readers are assumed to have.
Posted: 11:37 am on June 29th

GEide writes: Good point rupps. Yes, we will have some paid bloggers on the new site--exact number, TBD.
Posted: 10:26 am on June 29th

rupps writes: Pardon me, but what's the incentive for the bloggers? You're basically asking us to write mini-articles, with pictures. It takes time to put together a good article such as you are asking for. I don't mean to sound selfish, but isn't that the job of your editors, to write articles? They get paid for their work, you've mentioned nothing about compensation for our efforts. I already help new woodworkers with questions they have, and for free.

There are hundreds of blog sites, some better than others. What's the draw for us more experienced folks to become active on one more site? You're asking for a portion of our time, something that some of us have less and less of.
Posted: 6:54 am on June 29th

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