In the mail. Wood mag offer and Highland Woodworking

[poolhound]

2 things came in yesterdays mail.

1. An offer from Wood Magazine, obviously trying to get me back as a subscriber. I stopped quite a few years ago as although the tool articles and reviews were interesting much of the project related content I found pretty basic and after a while you see the same things coming around. The offer seems rather good though so I am tempted. Basically it is pay for one year and get 2 years FREE. $24 + $5.99 so $30 total for 3 years. Plus they throw in 2 of their books (shop projects & tablesaw jigs) I think they only have 7 issues per year but it seems worth another try. If any of you have been a recent subscriber can you comment on their recent content?

2. The Highland Woodworking fall catalogue was also there and we may have discussed this before but do you find the very dense essentially monochrome format annoying? I am very happy to sit and browse various woodworking related tool and accessories catalogues while eating or watching TV but with so much high quality color material from most vendors I find it very odd the HWW choose this format as I find it mostly unreadable and it goes in the trash. Is this just me?

[JoeyGee]

No, your reaction to HW is the same as mine. They have great stuff, but I just don't want to look through it. I got mine yesterday, too and threw it away. I don't know if they're going for some "old timey" vibe, but it doesn't work for me.

[Bill in Buena Park]

I get it too, it reminds me of the old "Camp-mor" catalogs. I hope its a "low overhead passed on to the customer through lower prices" vibe, I much prefer to browse on-line than look at that catalog.

[capncarl]

Highland WW is my favorite store. Their catalog fits their store. An early hdw store complete with squeaky wood floors filled with good tools and supplies.

[poolhound]

Highland WW is my favorite store. Their catalog fits their store. An early hdw store complete with squeaky wood floors filled with good tools and supplies.

Dont get me wrong I like the store and the products just not the browseability of the catalog. I guess that's the marketing guy in me.

[capncarl]

I agree, the catalog lacks a lot. They seldom have anything on a real sale. It's like they use the same catalog, just add a few pages of featured items and change the cover around. It makes you wonder about the economics of sending out this kind of advertisements. Comparing it to woodcraft though, they only have sale items, and Rockler has a full, well thought out catalog.

[LCHIEN]

I think the HWW catalog is meant to give the impression of a old world store run by some grizzled woodworkers with old fashioned quality in their tools.More handtools than power tools.
I don't dislike it, Its a refrerhing change from the slicks put out by Rockler and Woodcraft.
You ought to take a look at the Japan woodworkers catalog!

[Brian G]

Basically it is pay for one year and get 2 years FREE. $24 + $5.99 so $30 total for 3 years. Plus they throw in 2 of their books (shop projects & tablesaw jigs) I think they only have 7 issues per year but it seems worth another try. If any of you have been a recent subscriber can you comment on their recent content?

I think the subscription offer is a good value. I've subscribed for 14 years. Like you noted, they get repetitive. There are only so many variations of mantle clocks, book cases, display cabinets, and tool caddies. They probably struggle with finding a balance between projects for weekend wood warriors, people new to the craft, and experienced craftsman. They seem to get stuck in a design trend and focus on projects that meet that style; Greene and Greene is the current project trend. Some of the weekend warrior projects look a little clunky, but they are easily refined.

Overall, though, I continue to subscribe because I like the tool reviews and most of the projects are the "hmmm. . . I'd like to make that someday" type. I appreciate the changes they've made to the design and layout of the magazine. I periodically go through each issue, gut the projects and tips that I want to keep, and file them in binders. Whether by design or accident, project plans are seldom back-to-back, which means I don't have to photocopy some pages.

[JimD]

I decided to take the Wood offer. I subscribed before and dropped it but 3 years for $30 seemed good enough to do again. I like their reviews more than their projects but occasionally they have a project I like enough to make. Grizzly also runs a lot of adds in them. I think I only have one small tool from Grizzly but I think they are typically a good buy. And I might get one of their bandsaws.

[capncarl]

I can not remember which woodworking magazines I subscribe to, I change subscriptions often. The method that I use to determine which magazine I subscribe to is the publishers issue number. If it doesn't have an issue date I don't want it in my house! I can't stand to pick up a magazine, look for the date and see an volume number. Already have too much to think about without having to dig through a pile of magazines with volume numbers on them, looking for one with a Christmas tree or turkey on the cover so I can date the fool thing!

Another complaint about magazine companies is them sending renewal notices a year ahead. My wife and kids used to grab these up and subscribe for me for birthday and Christmas presents. That's great but the magazine co's would apply that subscription payment imedately and have overlapping payment and loose a number of issues.
capncarl

[atgcpaul]

Speaking of Highland Woodworking...any free shipping codes? I want to buy their Woodslicer blade for my bandsaw.

[poolhound]

Speaking of Highland Woodworking...any free shipping codes? I want to buy their Woodslicer blade for my bandsaw.

IIRC I think you can also get woodslicers at woodcraft.