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Thread: I have complained about Popular Woodworking Magazine

  1. #1
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    I have complained about Popular Woodworking Magazine

    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.

  2. #2
    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.”

  3. #3
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    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?
    Last edited by lowell holmes; 06-21-2019 at 4:13 PM.

  4. #4
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    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.
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  5. #5
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    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.
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Glenn View Post
    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

  7. #7
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    I also get Fine Woodworking and This Old House.

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    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.
    You never get the answer if you don't ask the question.

    Joe

  9. #9
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    Great to know...

    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    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!
    All the best.

    Osvaldo.

  10. #10
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    Maybe the age of enlightenment in woodworking is over.
    Then again, maybe I am just getting old.

  11. #11
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    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.

  12. #12
    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

    Last edited by Keith Outten; 09-09-2019 at 6:33 PM.

  13. #13
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    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

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    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.

  15. #15
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    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.

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