I’ve been following the discussions regarding FWW magazine and the backwards slide several of us have noticed. I’m wondering what are your favorite/favored woodworking magazines to read and why.
Back in the early 90’s when I first began to buy WW magazines, I favored American Woodworker, published then by Rodale Press, and FWW. Now, I usually only buy Popular WW and occasionally Woodwork. I also subscribe to FWW and have for around 8 years. IMHO, American Woodworker by Rodale was a magazine to rival if not surpass FWW. After Rodale sold it, I don’t care for it anymore. I enjoy Woodwork for the profiles of WW’s and for the gallery of work by many different styles of WWing. I enjoy the instruction and articles in PWW. It’s a different take than FWW. I’d be interested in hearing what you enjoy reading and why.
A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to All
Tom
Replies
I find it interesting that FWW allows a format in which one is allowed to dis them openly. Now, do the others allow the same?
I don't know. Just asking.
bum
...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...
Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home.
...aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
I also do not know wether or not other WW magazines would allow such a criticism, however I have been subscribing from issue #1 and believe that in the past 30 years I have learned a lot from FWW. The people at FWW should be grateful to those of us who offer cricism, they do not need to spend money with market research . They fing out on a continuous basis what woodworkers like and dislike, Woodworking is such multiform activity and with hundred of thousand of people practicing it professionally or as a setious hobby or as an occasional leisure activity no magazine can do justice to all, so we are blessed with the freedom to choose. In my case I subscribe to 4-5 WW magazines, I believe that the majority of them have greatly improved in the past few years because of the competion by FWW. So keep the criticsm going and make as constructive as we can
Happy new Year
John Cabot
Bum,"I find it interesting that FWW allows a format in which one is allowed to dis them openly. Now, do the others allow the same?"Yes.But in my opinion, there's a level of "dis" here, I don't see elsewhere. I don't know if its a scale thing, or a legitimate gripe, or an unrealistic level of expectation. I think the readers have a right to complain. But I think they also need to realize that if a magazine isn't printing what they want, there may be a reason for that.President Jimmy Carter (a fellow woodworker, btw) once said: "God answers all prayers. The trouble is, most of the time the answer is no."I think the editors of FWW hear the criticisms here. But what do people want them to say? "You're wrong and stupid. That idea will never work. We'd go out of business if we did that. So they hear the criticisms, do what they can and what they think is best.There's such a huge diversity of media nowadays. Everybody can get what they want, but they can't all get it from the same place. I think the editors of FWW created KNOTS for just this reason.I think FWW had a pretty good year. I thought there were many interesting articles- the glue article, the clamp article, and I loved the furniture for kids article and Asa's blurb and (I think) photo of his daughter. I look at it like Saturday Night Live. I liked the original cast best- Mike Dunbar, Tage Frid, and the like. But the new cast is alright too. Not every bit is hilarious, but they never were and there are memorable bits each year.Adam
Well said, Adam. I'll assume you enjoy and read Popular Woodworking :) what others do you read? What kind of article catches your eye? Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
I try to read everything. I am a demographic of one. So I don't expect a magazine full of "making 18th c furniture by hand" articles. So I'm especially thrilled when I do encounter them. Sometimes I like the writing as much as anything. Chris Schwarz is a real writer. I think everything he writes is interesting. That guy could write about south american flies and it would be interesting. I love Dunbar and Rogokowski.I love Garret Hack, and the pictures of his shop. That guy is like the Martha Stewart of woodworking. Everything he does, all his tools, his shop, just looks great. Even his saw dust appears in neat piles often with post-it notes stuck to each- maple, curly cherry, tulip :)Though he never writes magazine articles, my favorite woodworking author has got to be Roy Underhill. Did you watch his latest episode about the jedi woodworker? He was taking a couple swings at guys with that one. He's provocative and informative. I like woodworking and I like reading about it. I talk to a lot of woodworkers and I feel I need to stay informed just so I know what they're talking about. I may never use Festool products, but I've read about what they are, what they do etc.Adam
You're right, Adam. FWW is a good publication. Like everything else, it changes, and change inevitably alienates some. Funny thing too, change isn't always for the better. Don't see much "New" Coke on the grocery store shelves anymore, for example. Or how about them new fangled metal planes? ;-)
I also agree that a lot of it is what we all personally want to see. In PWW, for example, I can pretty much guarantee that Schwarz, Cherubini, and Lang articles will tickle my fancy, and that Huey articles will not - Dominos in particle board anyone?:
http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Festool++Final+Entry+For+The+Editors+Event.aspx
Happy New Year!
Edited 1/2/2008 7:09 pm ET by Samson
ctsjr
Clearly, magazines change. But, so do people. If FWW had never changed, people's opinion about it would as they grew more knowledgeable about woodworking.
Today, I like FWW, Popular Woodworking, and Woodworking magazine. I get a few others because they all have something periodically I like. It's cheaper to subscribe than to buy the 3 or so each year I might like.
Alan - planesaw
FWW clearly has the advantage of Taunton's formidable clout with advertisers--which, itself, is not based solely on FWW, of course, but also FHB and the other magazines--and this allows them, I imagine, to fund the full-page and larger graphics that are often amazing and occasionally stunning. But if you ask about "content" (define it how you will), I'd say FWW isn't particularly better than some of its rivals. They all have stronger and weaker issues. I still subscribe to PopWW and AmWW and WW and a few others, and by now I go through the new ones pretty fast. But I also still subscribe to WoodSmith, which I continue to think is vastly--enormously--underrated. If only _they_ had money to do full color.
A magazine is only as good as its editors. Clearly they fear antagonizing advertisers. This comes into play most visibly in their comparative product reviews. Here, often nobody speaks much truth. Let's take an example: vacs. Every vac on the market, I would contend, is poor. Some are better than others, some a lot better, but a lot of them are just plain awful. They waste space above them that could be used for tool storage, they're too clunky, loud, and heavy, they're often weak on cord control, and then there's the filtration............And a fair number of them cost ~$500. Who's seen a review that is tough-minded and objective? The reviewers in JLC are the most useful of all, I'd contend, because their tool dollars mean more to them as working contractors.
But the major issue is the quality of the designs in the magazine. . . . Here, few people are going to provide plans, or specs, without compensation, and the best ones wouldn't even do that: it's their livelihood they'd be giving away. The challenge is to find and deliver projects that most of us would think interesting to do, not candleholders or cutting boards. The pictures, exp. in WW, are inspiring, and I too often go there first, spending time thining about how certain things must have been done...........
Couple other questions: Has anybody else noticed that all the mags tend to run a given type of story--let's say, 16" bandsaw review--at about the same time? Do all the writers talk to each other, and when one's got a commission from his editor, the others go pitch it to theirs?
And yes, in case you're wondering, I spent ten years as an editor, once. Last year I turned down an offer to do it again. I had a great deal of autonomy in my old job that I'm certain I'd not have now.
Terry,
Great observations. By the way, is JLC the Journal of Light Construction?
Thanks,
Alan - planesaw
Yes., Journal of Light Construction. They're very heavy on the business end of being a contractor and Code and tools and things like that, but they also appreciate smart thinking and good design. I learned a lot about stair design from them. Their CD-ROM is still light-years ahead of Taunton's in simplicity and usefulness of interface design.
Terry,<Couple other questions: Has anybody else noticed that all the mags tend to run a given type of story--let's say, 16" bandsaw review--at about the same time? Do all the writers talk to each other, and when one's got a commission from his editor, the others go pitch it to theirs?>Do you mean like the photo mags when film was king? If its January they all ran a story on Kodachrome.Or the networks?
We get NBC,CBS and ABC back to back here and all 3 run almost (give or take a few pre-produced canned stories) exactly the same stories with the same site coverage every night. The reporters in bars two nights before..on Air Force One together between stops or just what leads the wires in the order written.As Hal Holbrook's character Deep Throat said in "All the President's Men" "The truth is, these are not very bright guys..."After being in the communications and advertising end of things for a long time, I would suspect there is more than one PR flack and brand manager getting out there with some scotch and lunches and....In the golf business it took place at the big Orlando and Vegas shows.Computers....Atlanta/ComdexI get much more current and contemporary info from "CabinetMaker" magazine (an industry trade vertical)and so it goesJohn
That's the context. Made worse by the facts that there are only so many tool categories anyway, and that some manufacturers haven't innovated anything important in decades. One of them currently can't get its drill presses and dovetail jigs into the market after heavy advertising, last year. Oops.
My rag on CabinetMaker--which does those absolutely wonderful Pricing Surveys once a year, BTW--is that every single article is the same: "Small Shop finally bought CNC and is making money by the WHeelbarrow Now!!!" Really. In the hardwood mags, they run a Floor Of the Year award at least--pure design, pure talent, pure execution.
What would happen if the sale prices of the pieces in FWW (and the Price Per Square Foot for the remodeling jobs in FHB) were shown? Some of thse numbers would make people's mouths drop open at lunch and food fall out. Pricing matters too.
Amen.
It is wood working not splitting atoms....enjoy.
Pena
Try Woodshop News, a trade pub. Lots of good stuff in there. Also, join American Society of Period Furniture Makers. (google both) They have put out a yearly mag with back issues availbale. Well worth the 35 buck fee...Jimmy
And while we're on the subject, I think ya'll put way to much emphasis on how good or bad FWW really is. THere are plenty of good pubs (lets not forget books) out there to read, FWW being just one. So what if it ain't what it once was. I've been in this racket for years and still pick up a useful tip or two whenever I happen to pick up a copy. Go spend your hard earned cash on some decent wood and start cutting...thats the best way to learn....Peace and love...Jimmy
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