Which magizine would you suggest?

[Tamarack]

Workbench also is pretty fair for those of us standing lower on the skills ladder. I love Wood and Shopnotes too.

Paul in Idaho

[LarryG]

quote:Originally posted by djmcheme

What do people think about Fine Woodworking? I think it is a nice magazine but a little pricey at the stand.

It's pricey by subscription, too. I'm currently 2/3 of the way through a free year, courtesy of the Lowe's/Irwin clamp promotion, and just got a renewal notice: $35/year, with small discounts for a second or third year.

I'll probably cough up the cash, though. A lot of people, myself included, are a little intimidated by some of the projects in FWW; they're nice to aspire to, but beyond my current skills. But I still think I get more useful fundamental woodworking knowledge out of a single issue of FWW than from two or three issues of any other title. I also subscribe to WOOD, and I do like it, but to me it has a "Project Of The Month" and "Tip Of The Month" and "Tool Review Of The Month" flavor. That's okay; that has its place. But I feel like it is FWW that is giving me a deeper understanding of woodworking, the kind of lessons that will last a lifetime.

[jnesmith]

My top 3 are FWW, Popular Woodworking, and Wood, in that order. Yes, most of the projects in FWW are beyond my abilities, but one can still learn quite a lot from reading through them. I think it is without question the best WW mag out there. Everything about it is top notch.

I just received my first issue of Woodcraft, and am not impressed. I have read at least a dozen issues of most other WW mags, and haven't been compelled to subscribe to any of them. Oh wait. I did try Shop Notes for a year. Not bad, but I was finished with each issue in about 15 minutes.

[jAngiel]

One of the other threads was talking about magazines too. I think they were talking about Playboy, but I think that is a different type of woodworking.

[gmack5]

There are Five Magazines to which I subscribe:

"ShopNotes" contains quite a few Jigs, Fixtures and general Shop knowledge.

"WorkBench" fills in the gaps in the ShopNotes features and has some additional Home Improvement articles.

"WoodSmith" Is a good all-round Woodworking magazine.

"Wood" Magazine is another good all-round magazine, with both Shop Jigs and workshop furniture articles.

"Popular Woodworking" kind of fills in the gaps for the other four.

They all contain a feature that I enjoy very much and that is the Reader contributed "Tips and Techniques" articles. I gain a lot of knowledge and information from all five magazines. [^]

[Randy]

MY favorites are FWW and popular woodworking. I receive Shopnotes as well and have purchased a few copies of Wood from the stand. Have you checked out finewoodworkingnetwork.com - anything you ever wanted to know. I subscribed the day it was uploaded (Monday of this week) and have spent hours reading articles and looking at other peoples work. I am particularly fond of the articles by Christian Becksvoort.

Randy

[Rob R]

not quite what you asked, but
there are a lot of mags i read every month,
FWW
Fhome building
American Woodworker
Popular Woodworking
Workbench
Wood
Family Handyman (this mag is kind of a joke, but they have cool tips and general handy man type stuff, i'm sure most of us hire out our woodworking time to other projects around the house to justify more tool purchases)

But, i don't subscribe to any except PW. I check them out at the library. It would make sense to try and do the same. Most issues are serchable on line and if you have a project that you really want to do, you can grab an issue at the store, but for tips and general knowledge of woodworking, you can't beat your tax dollars in action.

they also have books. i've read well over a hundred books on woodworking and many libraries also have inter library book loan. this is great! you can get online and have all the woodworking books sent to your library. not even free shippping on amazon can beat that deal.

I have recieved all my woodworking information from the library, norm and scott, and this woodworking forum. i've since built a flag box for a widow, a bed headboard, a pair of nightstands, a window seat/bookcase for the master bedroom, a crib, a changing table, a side table, 4 wall shelves, an aquarium stand, 3 toy boxes, a book case and a nantucket style chest of drawers. also added new vinyl windows, completely sanded and refinished a house of wood floors, new laminate in the kitchen.

coming up on the 3 year anniv of my saw. I got it for christmas...that started the tool buying and building. so i'm definately a newbe.

this may be worth a try.

[bigfoot15]

If you're like me you'll end up with a stack couple of feet high before you even start a project....I'm addicted to the mags and can't remember which ones i have when in the store.

[wassaw998]

Lowes has a fairly good Wood Working Mag rack. I'd recommend a visit and spend some time looking through a few. What I find is after a while a given mag seems to get a bit stale on me. Currently I am getting WOOD and FWW - both are good mags, and I am also getting "Family Handyman" - a total complete waste of your hard earned money.

[WayneJ]

Wood, Woodworkers Journal & Shop notes get my vote.
Wayne

[JimD]

I have subscribed to Fine HomeBuilding and WoodSmith but my only current subscription is to FWW. I will probably subscribe to Wood because I end up picking up enough issues from the news-stand that I would probably save money with a subscription. I rarely build things from the plans in FWW although I have done so. Most of the furniture I've made from plans has been from Woodsmith - either back issues in my collection or downloaded plans from their website. The plans in Wood seem a bit more complete in explanation and perhaps a bit simplier to execute but I like the looks of the Woodsmith stuff better. Some of the Woodsmith plans are also very simple - others assume you can thickness plane and make a little bit more complicated joints. I also enjoy the occasional American Woodworker magazine. I built a router lift from their plans in their router issue a couple years ago (comes out around March) which I like very much.

If you cannot already tell, I am suggesting you start with Wood, then possibly add FWW for general woodworking knowledge more so than plans, and also look through the others on the newstand.

Jim

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Don't forget your local or county library for a source of books (and possiably magazines). I piked up a couple router books last week and have learned a lot from them.

[scorrpio]

My picks are Wood, Workbench, and Fine Woodworking. FWW sub is $84 for 3 years, really worth the investment. In particular, check the stands - there's an FWW special issue 'Basic Skills' out - a treasure trove of info for a beginner.

By the way, tables and workbench are not exactly cheap to build. A good DIY workbench with front and tail vise will set you back $300...