Which US-based woodworking mag do you find most interesting/useful?

[Bill in Buena Park]

Just wondering which Woodworking mags the community finds to be the most interesting and useful.

[gsmittle]

I just let my subscription to WOOD expire as a cost-cutting measure. I liked the included plans and drawings, and the articles were at about my skill and comprehension level, but I have at least a 10-year backlog of mag-inspired projects ahead of me.

I often buy Fine Woodworking and Shop Notes from my local neighborhood woodworking emporium. I'm noticing now after several years, there's a good deal of repetition of articles/techniques/jigs.

I'm sure I'll continue to buy mags from time to time, but I'm not subscribing to anything woodworking-related for the time being.

g.

[jziegler]

I'm still trying to find the ones that I like best. I let subscriptions fo Wood, Popular Woodworking, and Woodcraft expire. The only subscription I currently have is to Woodsmith. I really like the format of Woodsmith. I've only received the first few issues, but so far I like it. The subscriptions that I let expire all had good articles in them, but I wasn't seeing too many things that I would actually build, even if I modified the plans a lot. Many nice projects, but nothing right for me.

Jim

[dbhost]

I have been buying Wood, Fine Woodworking, and Woodsmith wherever I can find them. LOML got me a subscription to FWW and Wood for my B-day... Wood had a really good special, buy one year get two free when you sign up online...

I stopped buying Popular Woodworking because it was mostly ads, with very few actual articles. I do like their special publications / books though...

Never even seen a Woodcraft magazine...

I think I like Wood Magazine the best, they write to the entire spectrum of woodworking skills. They have plans and articles on stuff I KNOW I can do now, and stuff I will grow into soon..

Fine Woodworking is great, but most of the projects are too advanced for where I am right now.... Kind of like watching Norm on NYW, but I keep it coming because from time to time they reach down to my level and give me some ideas on how to take the next steps forward...

[Charles Darwin]

I'm just getting started, so I have been pondering the question of which magazines to subscribe to. After doing some browsing in the library and bookstore and sending away for a few free issues (Shopnotes and Woodsmith will send free issues + free books), I have settled on Woodsmith and WOOD.

I like the layout and the plans of Woodsmith the best. WOOD has some good articles, but I really don't care for their plans. WOOD is offering a sweet deal if you sign up for their newsletter: 28$ gets you 3 years + 2 books. If you pay online you get a 3rd ebook to download.

CD

[poolhound]

I subscribe to both Wood and FWW. I also subscibe to the FWW online that way you can search and download all the articles from their back issues.

I occasional pick up single copies of other mags.

[Mr__Bill]

They are all good publications, my favorite seems to rotate currently it's Woodsmith.

I am surprised that more of you are not reading this mag:

[LinuxRandal]

They are all good publications, my favorite seems to rotate currently it's Woodsmith.

I am surprised that more of you are not reading this mag:

Isn't that Russianwolf's copy?

[gsmittle]

They are all good publications, my favorite seems to rotate currently it's Woodsmith.

I am surprised that more of you are not reading this mag:

Both of my sons can actually read Russian. I get hung up by the backwards "R."

g.

[capnjack2]

mag subscriptions

I have had multiple magazine subscriptions over the years. Love 'em all. Let them all recently lapse due to financial constraints. But I have to echo gsmittle's thoughts about the repetition of the articles. Everyone has the same jig for this or that. After a while you wonder what you are paying for. I do like the look and feel of Shopnotes and Woodsmith and the price can't be beat. Plus there are no ads. Workbench, the third in the trilogy, is more home repair/remodeling in nature than it's siblings. If you are just getting started in woodworking, I think it's a good idea to buy the "best jigs ever" edition or the 101 shop secrets and use it as a reference. Best deal though: just got an ad from This Old House. Since I just turned a certain age I can get a year of TOH for $9.95! Go to thisoldhouse.com/seniorrate. Not exactly woodworking but...

[JoeyGee]

I'm surprised that SN and FWW aren't in the lead. Maybe because they are my favorite, I just think they are the most often referenced. I don't normally subscribe to any, but just got Popluar Woodworking as part of a fund raiser. I used to read it, but I have been disappointed in the recent ones.

I got that free Workbench promo last year or so, and didn't really care for it.

I have a really good local library that has American Woodworker, Wood and a few others, so I don't have to buy any .

[os1kne]

just got Popluar Woodworking as part of a fund raiser. I used to read it, but I have been disappointed in the recent ones.
.

I agree. Through supporting one of my nieces' fund-raisers, I got a subscription to PW a year or so ago. (With fund-raisers for 4 school-aged nieces, I've "accumulated" too many subscriptions over the past couple of years.)

Years ago, I used to really like PW, but when it came time to renew I realized that American Woodworker, Wood and Shopnotes were more relevant to me.

[JeffG78]

I like Shop Notes the best, but don't subscribe because a friend from work loaned me the entire collection back to issue 1. Waiting 2-3 months for a new one seems pointless when I have a huge stack of old ones to go through.

I do subscribe to Wood and think it's OK. I get TOH free from signing up at a Home Improvement Expo, but I wouldn't pay anything for it. It's almost all ads.

[Black wallnut]

Years ago I subscribed to Wood and possibly AW. Even got Shopnotes for a year. It didn't take me long to conclude that if you read any of them for a while then you'll not find much new information in each new issue. Years ago when my oldest brother started fly fishing and flytying I remarked to him that if he just subscribed to any two mags for two years he will likely read most of what he really needs to know.
I do occasionally buy a mag off the rack at the local grocery store; thumb through a bunch more than I buy.

[WLee]

I find that there is little point in subscribing to anything; normally magazines -- no matter how good the content -- just pile up into ever-bigger stacks... and remain unread.

Instead I have found that when I just pick-up a occasional copy on impulse (when I'm out-of-town, and/or bored and want some distracting reading) that I tend to enjoy an issue much more. (And if the purchase is "rare" enough, then even the ads become interesting/useful again).

And of course, the annual "tool" issues are a form of toy-porn that can serve as material for future "workshop-fantasies" (some realized, others forever unrealistic).



But of the various mags that I have laying around, I tend to find that the "WOOD" magazine issues tend to be the most interesting and useful after the fact, they end up on the top of the pile with dog-eared pages and post-it notes.