taunton dvd or bench plane

[John Grossi]

Fellow woodworkers, My question is would my $150.00 be better spent getting the new Taunton archive dvd or a nice bench plane. I am pretty new at woodworking, coming from a machinest background. I realize education and good tools are both needed. I have missed out on many years of FWW magazines and have been reading about the new dvd. I understand this is not their first attempt at achiving past issues. Is it true their first was a disaster? Is this new one any better? FWW February09 issue has a quick take on a 5 minute dovetail from the FWW #196 issue. Is this article on that dvd and how long to retrieve? If I put a search word in such as "breadboard", how many articles come up? I would appreciate any feedback and recommendations. John

[Ken Higginbotham]

Not sure about your original question but here is a place to rent videos if you like that kind of stuff:

http://smartflix.com

ken

[Glenn Clabo]

Hope you signed up for the FreeStuff drawing...
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=101673

As you can see on the DVD page http://store.taunton.com/onlinestore/item/fine-wood-archive-dvd-011302.html (http://store.taunton.com/onlinestore/item/fine-wood-archive-dvd-011302.html) ALL of the issues and articles are there. I'm not at my computer to make sure though. I find DVD use to be just fine. Yes you search.

Now...the other part of your question...I like information so I can use tools. But I already have the tools...so...

[Chuck Tringo]

I personnaly would spend it on the bench plane...there's a ton of free info on the web, here as well as other places to get you started.

[Michael Donahue]

I'd get the plane and sign up for access to FWW's website. It has all of the articles as well as other interesting info and it's only $6/month or so. :cool:

[Loren Blount]

John,
I would buy the tools and subscribe to the website $19.99 a year I believe. You can read the past articles in pdf form and it also has a search feature to find articles. I believe its the best money I spend each year on my woodworking ( except for here at SMC of course).

Loren

[David Keller NC]

John - Save your money for tools. While the older FWWs were really fabulous magazines, much of the work in those pages was intended to be at the top of the craft, and without an introduction to woodworking and a basic toolkit, it will be extremely difficult to build any of them. There are certainly technique articles in FWW worth having, but it's far better to spend a few $$ on a couple of basic books on the woodworking subject you have an interest in (such as boxmaking, carving, furniture building, etc...) and spend the rest on tools.

If you've only $150 to spend, I'd suggest a small smooth plane at first. It will allow you to teach yourself sharpening, correct handplaning techniques, and will still be valuable to you later on as you progress to more difficult items. It also allows you to avoid the use of a random orbit sander. While ROS are useful tools, they can be a real disaster without proper dust collection and a proper shop. You can easily fill your entire house HVAC system with ultrafine dust that will take years to settle out.

[Mike Gager]

buy the tools and learn how to use torrent files. you can find all kinds of stuff out there ;)

[James Hart]

John,

I spend a lllllllooooot of time in airports, planes and hotels. Can only do so much work.

I have the older attempt at an archive, the new one and I subscribe to their website.

The older archive wasn't bad at all. Decent search, good assortment of articles. The articles are stored as individual PDF's, which I think helps index and retrieve them when searching.

The newer one is unique in that it is the actual magazine reproduced page by page, ads and all. The ads are actually pretty interesting, to see some of the hair-brained ideas that have come and gone, to get a feel for when some things were invented and to see price points along the way.

If it's possible to print out or save individual articles as a PDF from the new archive, I haven't found it. Individual articles do not seem to be stored as individual PDF's, but as pages in the full issue of the magazine. The search function is pretty crappy. Not intuitive at all, you either nail what you're looking for word for word or you won't find it. I tried searching for info on extension fences for miter saws and the search results had everything but. Then later I found some relevant articles that the search missed.

The web site subscription gives you access to a fraction (probably between a third and half, but that's just a generous guess) of the content from the 33 years of the magazine. Just for kicks, I took 15 articles from the new archive and tried to find them on the web site. I found 3. The plus of the web site is that the search seems to be better and you have access to 10 years worth of video. You can also easily save or print pdf's of the articles.

I'd suggest starting with the web site. If you find a subscription offer for less than $34.95 a year please let me know.

Thanks,

Jim

[Brian W Evans]

+1 for the FWW web site.

I believe most, or possibly all, of their old articles are there plus many videos and a nice gallery feature. This is my second year as a subscriber and I find it extremely useful. The site lets you download the articles in PDF format and/or print them.

For the price of the DVD, you can subscribe to the site for 12 years.

The thing I really like about the site is that I can download photos from the gallery and elsewhere. I keep hundreds of images of furniture, boxes, etc. that I like on my computer. When I'm in need of inspiration I just sit at my computer and look through them.

[Joel Goodman]

Before you buy a plane do some searching on the Neanderthal section of Sawmill. Lots of good info to help you chose your first plane. BTW I'd get the plane!

[Larry Fox]

I would sign up for the online version and skip the bench plane. Instead, I would take the $130.01 ($150 - $19.99) and put it in a drawer. I would then use it to buy a tool that you need for your next project. For me, buying tools based on current need and a reasonable probability of future need and then buying the very best you can afford has worked out well.

[Peter Quinn]

I'd get the plane, subscribe to the site, skip the DVD or maybe get it down the road when you have nothing else to spend your money on. In fact that is what I did. The two planes I use the most, a stanley 9 1/2 adjustable mouth block plane and a bailey #4 bench plane, i bought from a local flee market after months of searching for a good older model in my price range (ie cheap). Both work beautifully after minimal tune up and set up, combined cost of $25! Most of the more common bench and block planes turn up frequently at tag sales and flee markets so I don't typically buy these new.

When I get woodcraft gift cards from dear family members, I buy planes that I am not likely to encounter at a flee market, like a shoulder plane, a lie nielson low angle jack plane or most recently a lie nielson rabbit block plane. I can spend $150 at woodcraft quicker than you can say broke.

So if I had $150 to spend on wood working, I'd go for tools over software most times. In fact I learned to tune and sharpen my flee market planes largely from reading FWW web archives! But if I didn't have the planes, no amount of reading the articles would make a difference.

[John Sanford]

The two planes I use the most, a stanley 9 1/2 adjustable mouth block plane and a bailey #4 bench plane, i bought from a local flee market after months of searching for a good older model in my price range (ie cheap). Both work beautifully after minimal tune up and set up, combined cost of $25!

Months of searching the flea markets?!?! :eek: Unless flea marketing is a hobby of yours, it seems to me that said time (even two hours a weekend) could have been better invested in the shop. Of course, if hittin' the flea markets is a hobby of SWMBO, 'tis a whole nudder matter! Time at BoDiddley's Bazaar is a mighty fine investment then!

[scott spencer]

Buy the tool. All the info you'll need is available elsewhere for free.

[John Grossi]

Thanks for all the info. Current cash will be spent on a tool. The more I thought about it, the time spent on this dvd is time away from the shop. I was hoping this product would be like an encyclopedia for woodworking, type in a searchword and quickly get all articles pertaining to it. Sounds like it is not that. I will also check out their website. Meanwhile, Sawmill sure gives me a lot of info. John

[Mike Heidrick]

I was hoping this product would be like an encyclopedia for woodworking, type in a searchword and quickly get all articles pertaining to it. Sounds like it is not that.


It does exactly that.