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Thread: No New Woodworking Tips?

  1. #1

    No New Woodworking Tips?

    I still subscribe to two WW magazines - Wood Peckers catalogue, AKA WoodSmith, and Wood. Readers tips are ALWAYS my go to first thing. For the last couple years, it seems that of all the tips I have seen them before. No new ones, just old ones recycled. Anybody else feel the same? FYI, over the years, I have had tips published in most of the WW magazines, including a TopTip in Wood. What PO's me is send in a tip, have it rejected, and then couple years later see tip as submitted by someone else.

  2. #2
    I see things that I haven't seen before, but maybe 1 in 40 end up being incorporated .

    Have you seen this one?

    Vitamin bottle with hole punched in top, with water. Glue brush (artists brush, not some crap!) goes in after use, later swished and shaken out, ready for next use. Water lasts months.



    IMG_3627.jpeg

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    I have had contributions in the last two editions of FWW magazine.

    One was a tip to convert high-sided bench chisels quickly and easily into chisels fit for dovetailing. Here is my full article:

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...ilChisels.html

    There is another tip I came up with recently, but may not be of interest here: a guide for morticing with chisels:

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...cingGuide.html

    There are many more on my website.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  4. #4
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    I got a six page article in WoodSmith for my drill press cabinet with horseshoe shaped drawers way back. Never said anything about it to anyone before it was published, but there was another article in a different mag the same month. I suspect they think I gave it to both, but I didn't. Both mags are in the same city. Hmmm.

    Another one I had never seen was the tip I put on this forum about using dog collars to hold extension cords. It showed up on WoodSmith tips the next month, submitted by one of the editors there. I suspect he might be a secret admirer of the creek.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  5. #5
    I have a workshop tip in the current issue of Fine Woodworking: The Breadboard Headboard, page 14 of the Dec. issue (Derek's tip is on page 13):

    https://www.finewoodworking.com/2022...oard-headboard

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    I had a tip published once. I did see an almost identical version published in another magazine a couple of years later. I took it as there being only so many new things that can be done, and so many are kind of obvious that multiple people think of the same thing. I can see how it would be difficult for any magazine to have a screening system that covered all past magazines.
    < insert spurious quote here >

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Stan, I have had tips taken verbatim from my website and published on FWW. I drew this to the attention of the editors, but they said it was beyond them to follow these up.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Too lazy to work but not nervous to steal.

  9. #9
    Recently, Fine Homebuilding was printing vintage hints/tricks as a way of celebrating their anniversary. Handy way to make up for lack of new ones, and boy, there were some goodies in that mix.

    jeff

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    About once a decade there's something new and useful. People have been working wood for a very long time. Too may "tips" seem to be along the lines of "recycle your old aspirin bottles to store paper clips in". (Yes, I saw it in a print (non-woodworking) magazine)

  11. #11
    After you reach a certain age, level of skill, wisdom, or some combination of these, everything seems redundant.
    Most of the "tips & tricks" on YouTube can all be found in back issues of the usual woodworking magazines.
    The latest "tip" I read was in WWJ, for using a putty knife as a sanding backer for reaching into V-grooves, WOW. For that mind-blowing wisdom, they received a Milwaukee 18v finish nailer.

    Half of the "tips" are just normal methods of work that someone didn't know, must have been absent that day or something. They think they've stumbled on some new procedure or technique, not realizing it's commonplace to everyone else, who simply don't make a big deal about it. This is far too common these days, no respect for history.

    The other half of the tips involve using household items in a new and, many times, dubious way. Most of the time this solves a problem temporarily at best.

  12. #12


    Funny how someone else’s clever idea seems so obvious after its been presented, but not before.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    For the last couple years, it seems that of all the tips I have seen them before. No new ones, just old ones recycled. Anybody else feel the same?
    Trade rags move in a cycle. There is always someone who is at the point in their journey that they are looking at the tip you feel has been recycled and they are saying "Wow! What a great idea!". Same holds true for general articles and their content in magazines about the trade / craft. There is always something new but if it has been 3 years since the mag ran an article on drill press tables you can expect to see one. This is not a negative. It actually gives you an idea of where you are on your own development arc. If you already know all there is to know about a tablesaw sled, bless you and move on . Don't let the overall subject, title or topic of an article make you skip it. I have learned so much from the second or third article on dados when I pick up something in the background that I either missed or was not included before.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Roltgen View Post
    Recently, Fine Homebuilding was printing vintage hints/tricks as a way of celebrating their anniversary. Handy way to make up for lack of new ones, and boy, there were some goodies in that mix.
    jeff
    Some years ago, a relative of mine (very much a one percenter) told me about what a pain it was getting some 40 foot bent laminated Timbers made for his home in Hilton Head. A year or two later, there was a tip in Fine Homebuilding about making some 40 foot bent laminated Timbers for a very demanding (read insufferable) client in Hilton Head. It had to be my relative.

    FWIW, the guy made his bandsaw into a hovercraft and guided the saw through the beam.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
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    I have not subscribed to a wood working magazine in years. I felt the content was just mostly available all over the internet. I was just wondering if the content, tips and learning is improving in the magazines to stay a step ahead of what you can pick up on youtube, message boards or other social media. Seems like it is not worth subscribing again.
    Distraction could lead to dismemberment!

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