I have complained about Popular Woodworking Magazine

[lowell holmes]

in the past. I just received the August issue and I am happy to say there are new writers that are as good as the old departed writers.
Check their articles on a Modern Coffee Table and also Candle Stand. There is also an article on building a Limbert Side Chair.
I probably will not build either one, but I may build the chair.

I like to leave magazines in the living room and read them when nothing else is. It looks like Pop Wood is back. :)

[J. Greg Jones]

I’m confused-didn’t you just post yesterday that you received the latest issue and said “I just got a Popular Woodworking today. It is thin and has no interesting projects for me.”

[lowell holmes]

Well, I left the magazine on the coffee table, picked it up and read it, finding two articles I like. I suppose I did not spend enough time with the magazine to form an opinion. I just miss Megan and Fitzpatrick. the magazine is thin, but I have hope it will come back. I really like having a coffee table magazine to read about some thing I am interested in. I will never post about articles again.

Why don't you come back?:)

[Tony Zaffuto]

Well, for one, I hope the new buyer (AIM), rolls PWW into its other mag and produces a result catering to all in manner that us knuckle-draggers, electron burners, novices & pro's find attractive enough to support. Maybe some sort of quarterly model, with paper and web content.

[Bob Glenn]

It only took me a few minutes to leaf through it. I have no interest in building with concrete and I thought the "candle stand" was a poor example as compared to a previously published shaker candle stand with elegant legs and turned center post. I'm out as soon as the script expires.

[Derek Cohen]

It only took me a few minutes to leaf through it. I have no interest in building with concrete and I thought the "candle stand" was a poor example as compared to a previously published shaker candle stand with elegant legs and turned center post. I'm out as soon as the script expires.

Totally agree, Bob. This edition could have been published by Wood magazine. I very much doubt, at this stage, that I shall renew my subscription.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[lowell holmes]

I also get Fine Woodworking and This Old House.

[Joe Tilson]

To be honest, I haven't found much in FW lately. I quit TOH several years ago. PW just didn't cut it for me this issue either.

[Osvaldo Cristo]

in the past. I just received the August issue and I am happy to say there are new writers that are as good as the old departed writers.
Check their articles on a Modern Coffee Table and also Candle Stand. There is also an article on building a Limbert Side Chair.
I probably will not build either one, but I may build the chair.

I like to leave magazines in the living room and read them when nothing else is. It looks like Pop Wood is back. :)

Great to know, perhaps we are not so close to the Armageddon! :rolleyes:

[lowell holmes]

Maybe the age of enlightenment in woodworking is over.
Then again, maybe I am just getting old.

[Tom Vanzant]

True, Lowell. It's mostly repetition, not innovation.
Quite a few years ago, one of the woodworking mags ran a very nice article on building a bench. It was hard and soft maple, square dogs, and even a wagon vise. A few years later, they ran a similar article, but using plywood, pine and round dogs. A few more years later, the same/similar bench, but now the top was laminated mdf.
This is NOT progress!
I dropped the subscription before they could make it from corrugated cardboard and bamboo strips.

[Edwin Santos]

Well I suppose I'll be the sole voice of dissent, which is to say I think FWW is excellent, and quite regularly I find articles containing innovative techniques I have not seen before. This especially the case in the Master Class section of the magazine.

Did you see the bench they showcased about a year and a half ago, the compact one that was totally knock down, using a ton of mortises with interlocking glue-less joinery? I thought it was very clever.

Also, in the reader contributor "Methods of Work" section you will often find unique solutions to problems. Recently I was impressed with one guy's method of planing 1/16" thick veneers by gluing on a leader strip of wood that fit into a dado in a carrying board.

A couple of issues back in FWW there was an article on how to cut a kumiko joint at the table saw with the aid of an angled sled. I thought that one was innovative too.

Maybe what's happening here is there is a mix of basic technique articles that are camouflaging the more advanced content because they're trying to appeal to a broad array of woodworkers. For every woodworker that complains that FWW is too repetitive and simplistic, there is another who feels it is way too advanced. My $.02

(https://www.finewoodworking.com/2016/09/29/plane-shopsawn-veneers-perfectly-smooth)

[Derek Cohen]

Edwin, I quite like FWW. As far as I recall, no one has criticised it. It is PW that has lost the plot and the target in this thread.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Edwin Santos]

Edwin, I quite like FWW. As far as I recall, no one has criticised it. It is PW that has lost the plot and the target in this thread.

Regards from Perth

Derek

You're quite right Derek, this particular thread is about PW and actually holds out a little schizophrenic hope for it.
In general though, I have noticed a majority of negative opinions here at SMC toward all the woodworking magazines including FWW, but admittedly that may have been in other threads.

[lowell holmes]

I am happy with Fine Woodworking. I am also holding out hope for PW based on the current issue.

It requires excellent writers and columnists for a magazine to be good. Based on what I have read lately in both magazines, I am optimistic about it.

[Ted Reischl]

I don't subscribe to anything anymore. I did for a lot of years and have a full set of WoodSmith and Shopnotes up until SN was rolled into WS. Kept all my Pop Woodworking, quite a few FWW and some others that had articles I was interested in. And yes, most of them rehash the same stuff over and over.

Every now and then I will dig out a stack and re-read them. Amazing how I forgot what was in most of them, just like reading a new issue, LOL.

[lowell holmes]

I do the same thing. I know what you mean.

[Jim Koepke]

My brother sent me a stash of old B&W era FWW magazines. Some are still unread. Good stuff in them that is a joy to peruse.

jtk

[James Waldron]

My PW ran out several months ago and I chose not to renew. Reading the comments here it sounds like you few who hold out hopes for the mag are whistling past the graveyard. Your praise is a bit like 'near beer' and hasn't given me a strong inducement to re-up.

Sad. But new times are upon us.

[mike v flaim]

Not all is lost. If Stanley Black & Decker can resurrect Craftsman, then AIM can resurrect Pop Wood.

[lowell holmes]

I like the design of the table, I just don't like the concrete. Maybe if it was made completely of cypress . . . .

[Megan Fitzpatrick]

Thanks Lowell – very kind.

[Steve Hoare]

Hi there,

Are there any of you who are not receiving issues of Popular Woodworking?

I have not received the previous 3 issues of this mag, that's 6 months, received diddly squat, the old subscription site has gone, I registered with the new site but have forgotten my password, I request a password reset but do not receive anything in my inbox or junk folder, I attempt to find my account on the look up part of the new site (AimMedia) but yet again, no luck, it wants a zipcode, we have postcodes over here in the UK, when will the IT people find the real world, so many issues with digital systems, I despair, I suppose I am old school at 61 years of age, maybe I expect too much in this fast paced, instant gratification world.

Steve Hoare
Over here in Essex UK.

[Jim Koepke]

Hi there,

Are there any of you who are not receiving issues of Popular Woodworking?

[edited]

it wants a zipcode, we have postcodes over here in the UK, when will the IT people find the real world, so many issues with digital systems, I despair, I suppose I am old school at 61 years of age, maybe I expect too much in this fast paced, instant gratification world.

Steve Hoare
Over here in Essex UK.

Hi Steve, did you try entering your postcode? It may take it or it may reject it.

With ownership changes what may once have been falling through the cracks can become falling into an abyss.

jtk

[Steve Hoare]

Hi Jim

Yes, tried my postcode, came back with an error asking for a zipcode, I tend to try all options but it appears the system cannot accept postcodes.

Steve

[James Waldron]

Maybe try and e-mail: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/customerservice/

[carey mitchell]

Totally agree, Bob. This edition could have been published by Wood magazine. I very much doubt, at this stage, that I shall renew my subscription.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Same here. Very little that interests me in the last year. Will not renew. I did buy several old issues (2012) on ebay just to get 1 article by Glen Huey.


BTW, anyone heard anything about Glen lately?

[Jerry Olexa]

I'm a fan of Glenn's also..a talented craftsman...good man....Be curious as to the responses