Popular Woodworking the Magazine [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

Jerry Murray

04-30-2009, 4:00 PM

So yesterday I bought my first ever woodworking magazines. Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking.

Huge differences between the two.

I really like this Popular Woodworking and will probably subscribe to it. FW on the other hand...wow is it expensive and frankly I don't see the value in a $40 per year (7 issues)

What would you consider a 'must-have' magazine/book for a beginner?

Caleb Larru

04-30-2009, 4:14 PM

Stephen Massman

04-30-2009, 4:34 PM

I love woodsmith and shopnotes.

Mauricio Ulloa

04-30-2009, 4:36 PM

I just canceled my subscription to Fine woodworking. It's been hard for me after so many years of getting it and enjoying it at home. My main reason is that I was able to get their CD of 30 + years at a convenient price, and they also sell the CD with all the electronic copies at the end of the year as well.

What I didn't like about Fine is that it is sometimes unpractical for a weekend woodworker like me. I enjoy Wood a lot more, because it not only teaches you skills, but it also has plans that you can use.

You can also try American Woodworker. I find it very practical as well.

Jerome Hanby

04-30-2009, 5:18 PM

I love woodsmith and shopnotes.

Ditto. I also subscribe to Wood. I do subscribe to the FWW website and have their DVD archive...

Jerry Murray

04-30-2009, 5:20 PM

Ditto. I also subscribe to Wood. I do subscribe to the FWW website and have their DVD archive...

I've not seen Wood or Woodsmith or Shop Notes in the store. Whwere would be a good place for me to pick up a copy of each so I can check them, out?

Jerome Hanby

04-30-2009, 5:23 PM

I've not seen Wood or Woodsmith or Shop Notes in the store. Whwere would be a good place for me to pick up a copy of each so I can check them, out?

I've purchased them from my local Lowes, I also think I've seen them in Barns and Noble and Books a Million. They will look a little expensive for their size, but there are ZERO advertisements, pure content...

Chris Friesen

04-30-2009, 5:39 PM

What would you consider a 'must-have' magazine/book for a beginner?

Woodworking magazine. From the editors of Popular Woodworking, but as a side project. No advertisements, American/Shaker style projects. Generally each issue has a particular topic of interest, a "skills" article, a simple project, and a more complicated project, where the projects generally make use of the skill discussed earlier.

You can get issues 1-7 and 8-12 bound as hardcover books. Might be able to request them from your library.

Mark Maleski

04-30-2009, 5:51 PM

I think Popular Woodworking just put out their best issue. I always look forward to finding a new issue in the mail, but this issue topped all previous. I especially liked the design article. And Cherebini's article. And Roy on the cover.

Mark

Art Mulder

04-30-2009, 6:00 PM

What would you consider a 'must-have' magazine/book for a beginner?

Your library card.

Yes, I'm being serious.

I live in a town of just 300,000 and we've got a great public library system. They have tons and tons of woodworking books AND videos/DVDs. They also have subscriptions to various WW'ing magazines -- now there I'll grant you need to pick and choose which branch you visit, since not every branch library has all the mags.

Even better, it's catalog is on the Internet, so if someone mentions a great book on a forum, I can pop over to my library web page, search for it, and if they've got it slap down a "hold" request, and they'll deliver the book to my preferred branch for me to pick up the next time I'm there. If they don't have the book, I can put in a "request to purchase", and sometimes they'll go out and buy it. (That's how I got to read Chris Schwarz's "Workbenches" book, for instance.)

Save your money for tools. :)

...art

ps: but I admit I subscribe to FWW, and also to Canadian Home Workshop.

Chuck Isaacson

04-30-2009, 8:36 PM

What would you consider a 'must-have' magazine/book for a beginner?

I would suggest WOOD magazine. I recently picked up the hobby and have learned tons from reading the back issues. It has tons of projects for the beginner to the more advanced. Lots of good tool reviews as well. I just subscribed today actually. I love it.

Dave Lehnert

05-01-2009, 12:02 AM

A good thing living in Cincinnati is I get to visit the Popular Woodworking shop from time to time. Get to go again for an open house in two weeks.
They are doing good things for woodworking like the Hand tool conference they had last Nov. Top notch.

Rob Price

05-01-2009, 12:11 AM

+1 for Wood Mag. I consider myself "intermediate." certainly not a craftsman like some of the folks around here, but I've made some sawdust here and there. Wood has a good mix of basic projects and basic skills, and some more intermediate stuff. Good scientific style tool reviews and head to head comparisons. I subscribed to Fine WW online, and I'm downloading articles like mad before I cancel it. Probably my next hard copy subscription. It does seem to be a little more on the advanced scale.

Wood also has an online/electronic version now which makes archiving and searching past issues a breeze.

I bought a year (2008) of Pop wood on CD, and for whatever reason it just doesn't jive for me. LOTS of handplanes/old school hand tools, and lots of articles on building/maintaining/reworking fancy workbenches. my workbench is some MDF on a 2x4 frame. When they recommended one "middle of the road" handplane as a "great bargain" at >$1000 they lost me. That's just not my speed. Some people really get into that though. There was good series on using tools correctly and safely.

Shopnotes is great for plans and diagrams. Someone gave me a complete set of Shopnotes from day one, I'll never get through it so I don't subscribe at this point.

Most mags will give you a complementary subscription though. When I was trying to decide I got a free issue to several mags, and picked from there.

I think what you'll find is that it's a very personal choice. Some mags focus more on hand tools, and some feature more on power tools. Some feature traditional (antique) style furniture and some have more modern designs. Some are basic and some are advanced. Some of the best info I have gleaned, though, are from topic specific books (ie. joinery, finishing, routers, TS, etc)- especially when getting started.

Lee Mitchell

05-01-2009, 10:52 AM

I'm a collector (packrat) when it comes to woodworking magazines and books. I buy many of them, when they hit the shelves at Lowes, Home Depot, and Barnes & Nobles.

Favorites
Shop Notes
Woodsmith
Popular Woodworking
Wood
Scrollsaw Woodworking & Crafts

Others, I usually glance through them to see if there's a new jig, project, etc.

Lee in NC

Erech Myers

05-01-2009, 12:43 PM

My favorite subscriptions in order:

1a - Woodsmith (no ads)
1b - Shopnotes (no ads)
3 - Popular Woodworking
4 - Wood

For a beginner, I would say Shopnotes is the best because if you are like me a few years ago, you will spend most of your time trying to put together your shop before you can really do much woodworking.

Woodsmith & Shopnotes are produced by the same company and have very similar format with no ads. You may even want to order back issues of Shopnotes as there are lots of useful projects that are timeless.

Popular Woodworking & Wood are both good magazines and either one will do fine. I probably prefer Popular Woodworking, but very slightly.

Fine Woodworking is a good magazine too, but too expensive. I guess I could order Fine Woodworking in place of both Popular Woodworking & Wood, but I prefer quanity over quality in this case.

Mark Patoka

05-01-2009, 1:15 PM

When I first started getting back into woodworking WOOD had the skill level, variety and types of projects I could handle, use and learn from. I've been a subscriber for over 15+ years and still love it. At that time it appeared to me that Fine WWing was in a class and skill level way above where I was and while I admired the skill and craftsmanship, it was intimidating to a beginner as I could never think of achieving that level.

Woodsmith and Shopnotes are also very good and I'll only buy any of the others if there is a particular project I want to make. From previous posts here, it appears that most mags cycle through various stages from good, so-so, bad, good, etc depending on the focus the publisher takes with it.

+1 for the library. Some of them carry a good variety of mags and books. Sometimes you can get their old ones for free when they are freeing up shelf space. I also had a lumber yard I frequented that sold old issues of Woodsmith and Shopnotes for $1 each, helped me build my collection on the cheap.

Danny Thompson

05-01-2009, 1:28 PM

For whatever reason, i never liked WOOD. For me, it's:

FineWoodworking Online Subscription (provides a robust archive of project plans, techniques, and tool reviews, as well as online video content).
Woodwork (mostly an art mag. a' la David Marks. Sadly I have heard it is no longer being published)
Woodworking (the Cooks Illustrated of woodworking. Black and white photos and sketches. Heavy focus on hand tools and basic hand tool techniques)
Popular Woodworking (Would be higher, but it sometimes leaves important details out of project articles, which is frustrating.)

The latter two of these have more of a casual conversation feel to them. FWW and Woodwork are more polished.

Shopnotes is good for shopmade jigs, carts, and job aids.

Rod Sheridan

05-01-2009, 1:32 PM

Disclaimer........The following is my personal opinion, and should be treated as what it's worth, $0.02 Canadian.:D

I've been a subscriber to FWW for a long time.

FWW in my opinion previously was higher end stuff, now we get articles explaining why we need a jointer AND a planer.

DUH! This is FWW, not Beginning Woodworking.

This has caused me to write the editors a few times explaining that people who have graduated to FWW already know about the basics, lets see more "Fine" rather than "Basic" stuff.

FWW gives people who have some experience, a goal to aim for. You'll learn better techniques, many of them finishing, design or hand tool use type of skills.

For people starting out in woodworking, SMC would seem to me to be ideal.

We have some real experts on the forum, and they are helpful, and haven't forgotten what it's like to have a handsaw, a hand drill and two impossibly dull chisels as their only tools.

Art Mulder mentioned the library, great idea, one I use whenever possible (contrary to the opinions expressed by my wife, I am not on a quest to purchase every publication ever sold by Lee Valley).:rolleyes:

I find that many beginner level magazines have too many simple projects in them, information that is easily found at the library, and that are quickly outgrown.

Your basic skills will develop much faster than the more complicated skills, so you'll grow out of the "project" oriented magazines fairly quickly.

So, use the library, and aspire to higher quality work by reading higher quality publications.

Regards, Rod.

Jerome Hanby

05-01-2009, 3:22 PM

Wood also has an online/electronic version now which makes archiving and searching past issues a breeze.

I can't find any information on this on the web site. I've got the regular subscriptions, is the electronic access included with that?

Jerry Murray

05-01-2009, 3:32 PM

Your basic skills will develop much faster than the more complicated skills, so you'll grow out of the "project" oriented magazines fairly quickly.

So, use the library, and aspire to higher quality work by reading higher quality publications.

Regards, Rod.

Thanks for the heads up. My wife goes to the library frequently...maybe I'll have her pick up some books/mags for me.

Rob Price

05-01-2009, 3:32 PM

it was in the editorial section of the last issue. Go to coverleaf.com, you put in your personal info, and access is included with the print edition. who knows if that will change.

Jerome Hanby

05-01-2009, 3:54 PM

it was in the editorial section of the last issue. Go to coverleaf.com, you put in your personal info, and access is included with the print edition. who knows if that will change.

Looks like it just covers May and June 2009 issues, nothing farther back. Better than nothing though!

Kevin Barnett

05-01-2009, 4:21 PM

Where are you at? If you're close to me, I have a ton you can borrow. Okay, maybe it's not a ton, but maybe 300lbs worth. FWW, AWW, Wood, Shopnotes, Woodsmith, Pop Mechanics, some others. Columbia MO

C Scott McDonald

05-02-2009, 2:17 PM

I enjoy Popular Woodworking also. I enjoy the writing style of it. I find it to be a less dry if that makes any sense.

Rick Gifford

05-02-2009, 4:56 PM

I enjoy all of my magazines. The Fine Woodworking is above my skill level, but I am able to learn from it and that makes it valuable to me. I'd be lost without my mags and Sawmill Creek. Just great resources.

WOOD, WOODSMITH, WOODCRAFT and SHOPNOTES are some of my other subscriptions. I wouldnt drop any of them.

george wilson

05-02-2009, 6:47 PM

I wish everyone in the world would stop calling themselves "smiths". A smith is a person who uses a hammer to smite with. Unless woodworkers are hammering their wood into furniture,they should find a better name.

We have a Bike Smith shop in town. I don't think most people want their bikes hammered on.

A name like Wood Smith makes me suspicious of the magazine in the first place.

Jim Rimmer

05-02-2009, 9:22 PM

Now you made me go hunt up my Merriam Webster. The first definition does indeed say a worker in metal but the second defintion says anyone who makes things such as a tunesmith or gunsmith, neither of which, I hope, hammer on the projects. :D

george wilson

05-03-2009, 12:53 PM

jerry nazard

05-03-2009, 3:45 PM

FWW online gives you quite a bit for the buck. I'll agree that the magazine content is not what it was 25 years ago: however, it is what it is.

Gene Howe

05-03-2009, 4:20 PM

I love woodsmith and shopnotes.

+1 Good info in both.

Wilbur Pan

05-04-2009, 7:27 AM

A gunsmith did indeed hammer out barrels,and forge lock parts just as we still do in Colonial Williamsburg. Just about every iron part is started by smithing them out.Since gunsmithing goes back many centuries,to the original method of making guns,the term is valid.

Tunesmith is another of those modern misnomers that someone thought sounded cool.

The dictionary is not entirely correct in saying a worker in metal. What about foundry work? The primary process is melting and casting metal,not hammering it out. This is truly an error in the dictionary. Whoever wrote the definition was not a knowledgable craftsman.

Maybe, but I'm sure he was an excellent wordsmith. ;)

Tunesmith, by the way, dates back to 1926, which makes the term over 80 years old, so I guess whether you think that is modern depends on your frame of reference.

The term smith dates back to before the 12th century, and derives from Middle English. Foundries didn't come along until later (the word "foundry" came along in 1526), so by the same line of reasoning one could argue that the term smith as applied to foundry work is also a modern misnomer, again depending on your frame of reference.

P.S. "Wordsmith" was coined in 1873.

Wilbur Pan

05-04-2009, 7:44 AM

My $0.02 about magazines: I get Popular Woodworking, Fine Woodworking, and Woodworking Magazine. I like Woodworking Magazine the best, but I wouldn't be without the other two.

As far as FWW "dumbing down" their content, it seems to me that what doesn't get noticed is that the advanced projects in FWW are still a level above anything else out there on the magazine rack. I think that Popular Woodworking and Woodworking magazine covers beginner level subjects and tool subjects better than FWW does.

lowell holmes

05-04-2009, 8:08 AM

I have the same magazine line up you have. I agree with your evaluation.

What is sad, I have a collection if Wooworker's Journal from the 8o"s. They are great, not the stuff they try to push off on you now. What a disappointment.

Norm Koerner

05-04-2009, 8:50 AM

I'm shocked that nobody mentioned WOODSHOP NEWS. It's in a small newspaper format but is stapled and in glossy color format. I't probably the best bang for the buck with a cover price of $3.95, but can be purchased through subscription for about $2. And, it's MONTHLY, unlike some of the others which are quarterly or every-other-month.

I would rate FineWoodworking best, followed by American Woodworker. I like Wood (which is published by Better Homes & Gardens) and Woodshop News next. I put Poplular Woodworking in the same category as home handyman.

george wilson

05-04-2009, 9:40 AM

Gee whiz,Wilbur,I thought folks were CASTING copper,then bronze tools even in ancient Egypt. What did they call it then? Or in other cultures? They must have had terms or it. And,who's applying the word smith to foundry work? Not me.

As far as I am concerned,1926,or 1873 are also modern times. I don't care how you cut it,SMITH means a hammer person,not a caster,or a pencil pusher.

By the way,there are co.'s calling themselves " word foundries." That is stupid,too. If they are in the "word" business,I suggest they learn what words mean.

As far as I am concerned,there is a great loss of culture going on. We live,and have lived for quite some time,in an"anything goes" society. Design,language,and other areas have become bastardized until they mean nothing. In the 19th. C.,this sort of thing began to spread. We see it in their "Gothic",and "Victorian" building styles. Grotesque and jumbled remnants of once pure and well thought out design idioms crept into our society. I just do not buy it. If I did,what would my own work look like?

Scott T Smith

05-04-2009, 10:34 AM

I wish everyone in the world would stop calling themselves "smiths".

George, that might be a little difficult in my instance...

:D

george wilson

05-04-2009, 10:42 AM

O.K.,you have my permission to call yourself Smith.:).

Scott T Smith

05-04-2009, 10:07 PM

O.K.,you have my permission to call yourself Smith.:).

<grin> Thank you sir! At least I know how to work metal (including a genuine but limited amount of pounding on hot metal), so the name is somewhat appropro...

george wilson

05-04-2009, 10:29 PM

Your name seems to have been "grandfathered "in.

mike holden

05-05-2009, 8:58 AM

Okay George,
I'll bite on your wordplay.
You suggest that "smith" comes from "smiting" with a hammer.
Okay, where does "smite" come from? Perhaps it is a contraction of "all his might" - "smite"
"all his might" would indicate a mighty arm - "strong arm" or "armstrong"
Now I might suggest that preparing wood planks with only hand planes would make the woodworkers arm strong.
Therefore, the woodworker would be allowed to consider himself a "smith" as he "smites" the wood with his plane powered by his mighty "strong arm" (grinnn!)

George, words, or more properly sounds, mean what the group of people using them agree them to mean.

Usage changes, time passes. The middle english of Chaucer would be unintelligible to the modern english speaker. Does that make it better? or worse? Better because it is closer to the original meanings? or worse because it no longer makes sense?

Methinks you are King Canute in this, commanding the tide to follow your whim.

Mike

John Carlo

05-05-2009, 12:01 PM

I subscribed to a bunch of ww magazines in the past. They told me how to do hand cut dovetails and how to build the ultimate workbench over and over and over again. And then, don't you dare attempt to build anything without first spending a lifetime building all those neat jigs and fixtures. You have to love all that Baltic Birch! This year, I've vowed to work in the shop like I used to when I started in the hobby. I do still scan the mags in the bookstores and occasionally buy one when they feature something unique or something I would really want to build. There sure was a lot of arts and crafts Stickley and Greene and Greene this year. Before that, it was mission. A man on a mission I was not! Give me a picture and a story stick and I'll figure it out as I go.

george wilson

05-05-2009, 3:32 PM

Mike,I don't suggest,I cite fact. Smith means a hammer person. Ask any black SMITH.We have several in Williamsburg.

I prefer to not bastardize the language. A writer is a writer,not a wordsmith. Word Foundry makes no sense at all.

call me King Canute,or whatever. You are wrong on this one. Suggest you do not smite the wood with your plane. It might bruise the wood,and probably not make it smoother or thinner.