Thoughts on Woodsmith Magazine?

[julian abram]

There so much good woodworking info on the internet that I've never really subscribed to any of these magazines but was kind of thinking about trying Woodsmith. Sometimes I end up following my wife into a Barnes & Noble and browse the ww magazines a little but seems like most of the pages are advertising. Some magazine projects are too elementary and others have museum quality projects, I don't feel like ever see a magazine worth subscribing to. Thoughts on Woodsmith or others?

[George Bokros]

I subscribe to Woodsmith, Wood Magazine, Woodcraft Magazine. I am on the fence on Woodworkers Journal. have a subscription renewal but have not responded. For $10 for a year (6 issues) it is not expensive.

I like Woodsmith but if they begin to add the stuff from Shop Notes I will have to reconsider when renewal time comes. I had a subscription to a car magazine and they discontinued it and gave me a subscription to another mag and luckily I only had one or two issues left and the replacement mag was of no interest to me so renewal did not happen.

[Brian Henderson]

I used to subscribe to a ton of woodworking magazines, today I subscribe to none of them. With the Internet, it's not necessary and the magazines, in general, have changed to the point that they are irrelevant. I've subscribed to most of them over the years, Fine Woodworking, Popular Woodworking, Shop Notes, Wood, Woodworker's Journal, you name it, but today I wouldn't bother. Whereas a lot of them used to include full size plans, today most try to sell them on the side. I have 20+ years of magazines stored away if I ever want to do anything out of them again but for the most part, I haven't looked at any of them in a long time.

[glenn bradley]

I enjoy Woodsmith and enjoyed ShopNotes. The former being more woodworking project oriented and the later being more shop tools and jigs oriented. Like George, I like Wood, Woodsmith, Woodcraft and others. Wood and Woodsmith/SnopNotes plans are very detailed and clear. Woodcraft plans are pretty good with mags like Woodworker's Journal, American Woodworker and Pop-woodworking having plans that are fairly general and give you the main idea but, lack a lot for a beginner when it comes to details and methods for certain procedures.

No magazine will be a perfect fit for anyone so, having a few can be a benefit. I am currently taking Fine Woodworking online (although some recent changes there have made some content an additional cost IIRC) and subscribe to the Woodsmith and ShopNotes online libraries. This not only gets me the content but, does so in a format that allows me to easily search for a given subject of interest and bookmark things I want to go back to frequently for awhile. The Wood Magazine online and DVD offering is not as well done and searching there is pretty clumsy. Fine Woodworking online navigation is not bad once you get used to their quirks.

[lowell holmes]

I used to subscribe to both. I let my subscriptions lapse when Woodworking was going strong.

I'm thinking about subscribing again. I'm sure you will enjoy the magazine if you take it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I subscribe to Woodsmith and Finewoodworking magazines. I learn something in every issue. My personal preference is for the printed copy though I have the DVD version of FWW for reference to issues prior to me becoming a subscriber.

[Jim Rimmer]

If you have never subscribed, sign up for a couple of years. After that they start to repeat. I drew the line when I got 2 different magazines in the same month with the same project on the cover; just a different guy standing next to it.

[Brian Henderson]

I used to subscribe to both. I let my subscriptions lapse when Woodworking was going strong.

I'm thinking about subscribing again. I'm sure you will enjoy the magazine if you take it.

I used to love Popular Woodworking but when they combined it with Woodworking, they took the worst parts of both and I dropped my subscription. All of the things that I used to love about PW went away and I was left with what I considered a very inferior magazine. Can't win them all, I guess.

[Art Mann]

I was thinking about subscribing to Woodsmith. I keep getting email offers to subscribe really cheap. I subscribed to Wood for years but I am done with it. The projects are just too simple or too ugly or too useless for my tastes. The equipment reviews are not brutally honest enough on bad products. I used to enjoy Shop Notes years ago and I am tempted to buy the DVD with every issue for $99.

[Rod Sheridan]

I subscribe to Fine Woodworking..............Rod.

[John TenEyck]

I also subscribe to FWW and WS. I've never wavered in my like for FWW. WoodSmith was great as I was learning because if you can read and follow directions they talk you thru pretty much every step in how to build something. But as I got better I found WoodSmith less necessary to further my learning, and the projects often were repeats of earlier ones. How many workbench projects do they really need to show? It seems like if it's February it must be another workbench. FWW has dipped/slipped a couple of times too, but in general always offers something new for me to learn or at least aspire to. If you are lower on the learning curve or looking for projects with very well written directions WS won't disappoint you. If you are higher on the learning curve and looking for inspiration, FWW gets my vote. I was an early subscriber to both magazines, have every copy I got, and refer to them often.

John

[Roy Harding]

Over the years (40 years, now that I think about it), I've subscribed to a LOT of magazines. The two which I continue to subscribe to are Shopnotes and Woodsmith. I like their formats, and find something useful in every edition. That said - as someone else said, there have been a LOT of repeat projects over the years.

I also subscribe to the online service of Fine Woodworking - although I don't receive print copies of the magazine.

I've also, over the years, bought different CDs of projects from various magazines, and online access to forums, etcetera.

I'll say this - when you're first starting out, having MANY, MANY different approaches to the same problem/project is extremely useful. As you grow into your own, and acquire your own way of doing things, different opinions matter less. When I first started out, I used the magazine cutlists and instructions religiously - and made many excellent projects. I now use magazines and websites as starting points for my own projects, and don't pay much attention to the included cutlists and instructions. What I'm interested in is the overall concept, and how the joinery works with whatever the project is. I change dimensions, species, details, and finishing techniques to suit myself. But I never would have been able to do this without the knowledge I gained from MANY magazines over the years.

Bottom line - to each his own. What I find valuable will not suit you - and vice versa.

[Keith Hankins]

I love woodsmith. Not too many good ones out there anymore. I really like the back issue dvd. Every year i get the updated one with the latest year and they don't try to screw you. I think for subscribers after the first purchase it's like 5 bucks to get the update. Use to love FWW but it went to crap. PWW passed them IMO as the top rag out there.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Used to get them all (PW, AWW, FWW, Woodworker Journel, Workbench, Woodsmith. ShopNotes, Wood.) First, Workbench morphed into another magazine, which was of no interest to me. AWW (Rodale) was sold and quickly went into the toilet. Woodworker's Journel I received a couple times as a gift. PWW started down the slippery slope, just as my renewal was due- no thanks. FWW got to where it repeats it's self every couple years, plus content went down drastically, so it went away. So this left me with three (Wood , Woodsmith, and ShopNotes.) Wood is so cheap to renew, on a deal ($4.00 to $7.00 a year.) Plus I won a Top Tip from them. Both Woodsmith, and ShopNotes, I have every issue. I remember when Woodsmith spun off ShopNotes. Now they are doing like Cosby said, "I brought into this world, and I can take you out." Sorry to see ShopNotes discontinue, but I understand the business reasoning.

[Jim Barstow]

I subscribe to woodsmith and have every issue on my shelf. They are starting to repeat themselves and I've considered dropping my subscription but there is still enough good information that I'll probably continue. It's been quite a while since they've actually had a project that I've actually built. (I've never actually built any of their projects "as is" and have usually made modifications.) What I like about their approach is that the end result would truly be a piece if fine furniture. A lot of the other magazines use materials or construction techniques that I don't think belong in a truly "fine" piece of furniture.

[Ben Rivel]

Sorry to bump an old thread guys, but I didnt want to create a new one on the same topic. A year later anyone have anymore to add? And change in the magazine market that makes one better now? It does seem to me they all just repeat projects after a couple years and they all want to sell you projects on the side and the ones they do cover arent covered very thoroughly. Having a bit of trouble justifying giving one or two a try.

[Howard Acheson]

Woodsmith has no advertising. I have been a subscriber to Woodsmith for 25 or more years. They had a companion magazine called Shop Notes which focused on using shop tools and making things for use in the shop. But they discontinued this publication earlier this year. They now cover the subject matter in Woodsmith.

Woodsmith is an excellent magazine. Their furniture projects are excellent and usable by woodworkers novices to experts. As I said above, Woodsmith now includes shop techniques and projects for shop items.

All in all, I consider it the best woodworking magazine. When I was teaching woodworking, I highly recommend it to all my students.

BTW, Woodsmith is the sponsor of the WoodNet forum which I also highly recommend. (www.forums.woodnet.net). It's a very active forum with knowledgeable participants.

[Steve Jenkins]

When Woodsmith first came out Shop Notes was one page in Woodsmith then became a couple pages then it was a separate pub. Interesting

[Larry Anderson]

I too have subscribed for many years and have nearly every issue. My house is filled with Wordsmith projects. I like it for the clear instructions.

[George Bokros]

IMHO adding the types of articles that appeared in Shopnotes is detrimental to Woodsmith. It is taking pages away that would be better devoted to projects not jigs and homemade beltsanders. I used to subscribe to shop notes and did not renew because it was not the type of magazine I was interested in for my woodworking hobby. I will have to see how it progresses before I make any commitment to a renew and I have a ways to go on my current subscription. Woodsmiths project plans were always good, well detailed and easy to follow.

[Larry Frank]

I get Woodsmith but beginning to wonder as there are too many projects like build a belt sander. These take up many pages and not interesting to me. They seem to have started to have too many of these.

[Rick Potter]

The way I see it, if I get one solid, 'Wow, never thought of that!' tip or project out of a year of subscription, it was worth it. Honestly, sure, I have seen most of the content in one form or another, but I always enjoy my subscription to Woodsmith. Wood, not so much. Fine woodworking, I have the DVD, but the subscription always seems pricey to me.

[Frederick Skelly]

I like Woodsmith. I don't subscribe, but I pick it up from time to time.

Magazines vs the Internet? I think the answer depends on how much you like to read, and how you personally learn. I simply cannot sit through a video - been trying to make myself finish Steve Latta's string inlay vid for months. I'd rather have him write a book or magazine article, so I can have it open in front of me in the shop - test a little, then read a little, then test some more. (I don't have/want TV in the shop. No offense intended, just not my gig.) If I get stuck, I come here and ask a question or THEN go to u-tube. But text (hardcopy or electronic ) is always my first choice, personally.

YMMV
Fred

[Frederick Skelly]

The way I see it, if I get one solid, 'Wow, never thought of that!' tip or project out of a year of subscription, it was worth it.

Me too Rick.

[Myk Rian]

I don't get any mags now. Quit them all.
If I need a mag for some reason, I know where to get it online.