Vshoe

I read FWW because I want the "Fine" to be part of what I bring to woodworking, and with the input from the "Fine" woodworkers you feature I hope my work will someday reach a level of what I would call great furniture. It would be much harder and less satisfying without your magazine as a resource.
I also remember the seemingly never ending banter about the Bennett nail for a pull. Mostly what I thought was that I do the best work my skill level allows and that nailing crude affects on one of my pieces so I could call it art would be a waste. I do want to make a statement with my work but the statement is that unity of form, function, and skilled execution can be beautiful. I also appreciate the asthetic of George Nakashima that every piece of wood doesn't need to be uniform and pristine to be beautiful. I have seen plenty to admire in the pages of FWW both in craftsmanship and in design and if I can learn techniques that help me reach that level of execution in my work I will be glad for the help. I also love Woodwork magazine for the same reason. But, when I see Tom Loeser in his chair with the upsidedown chair above his head I think its neither beautiful, nor useful, nor particularily artistic, just stupid. I don't lack the skills to see its "art" because FWW is a limiting and stuffy publication, I just see it as a poor attempt to create art by someone who doesn't know the real thing. So hopefully FWW and Woodwork will continue to do what they do and I will glean what I can from them both that might make me a better woodworker. One magazine is not the end all and be all of woodworking but its up to us to move beyond what we see in its' pages. As I read once in FWW "It is a poor student that doesn't improve on the work of his master".