pay-to-play sites

Fine Wookworking is an excellent website – my second favorite. For me, it is worth the money. Compared to this site, fine woodworking has an excellent library of videos that are all done by professionals. Some of the videos on this site are good – some are not.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

FINE WOODWORKING frequently offers 15 days free to try it out, I just got an email today from them with that offer. I have stopped money on paper magazines I think this model is the future.

-- Paul, Beaverton OR, www.TravelbyPaul.com

Pass. Too much good content that is ad and community sponsored.

Having said that, I do have Wood Magazine paper subscription that gives me access to the digital content. I use it rarely. I really prefer paper on things like plans and such. I tend to print out a lot of digital plans when I can…

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

For woodworking magazines, I much prefer a ‘hard-copy’ to an online version. With that said, I agree with Rich that the Fine Woodworking website is excellent – and is not an online version of the magazine. It has outstanding videos, an incredible library of articles from past publications, a great search engine that will let you bring up massive amounts of information on just about any woodworking subject – and much more. The web site is a bit pricey – as is the magazine. I subscribe to both – but if my budget restricted me to only one, it would be the website.

-- Dave O.

Another vote for Finewoodworking I think it’s only $15 a year.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

I have FWW in both paper and web based and think they are both great.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

I’m another FWW online subscriber … worth every penny!

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

I just renewed a 2nd online subscription. Love it

Also a FWW online subscriber. Definitely worth the money, especially if you haven’t been a subscriber to their mag in the past or are a relative beginner. A wealth of information (their whole archive basically) at your fingertips, plus lots of non-mag material like video workshops.

-- Optimists are usually disappointed. Pessimists are either right or pleasantly surprised. I tend to be a disappointed pessimist.

I just renewed my subscription to the site.
I’ve gotten a lot of great ideas from their videos,
and saved some articles.
Definitely worth it, if you figure that is roughly
the cost of 2-3 wood working magazines off the rack.

Lisa

-- Imagination rules the world. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~ http://quiltedwood.com

I subscribe to FWW and feel it is well worth the $1.25 a month. (I don’t subscribe to any others so can’t speak for them) Sometimes print can’t explain what a streaming video can demonstrate; like carving. Great for visual learners.

-- DocK, WV

I do like FWW but there are a lot of free wood working sites. Here are some of my favorites for videos.

www.woodworkingchannel.com
thewoodwhisperer.com
www.woodchoppintime.com
antiquesbuiltdaily.com

To me, it is worth it for the searchable database. I get several woodworking magazines in print, and I enjoy browsing them for ideas. But when I need to know how to do something, or I’m looking for ideas on a particular project, I go straight to the Fine WW website and find what I need in nothing flat.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Haven’t looked at it. Let me say that I am cheap. I’m so cheap, they have my picture next to the word in the dictionary. I have found that I can do searches on the ‘Net and find what I need for free! Case in point- router table plans, dining table plans, to mention two.

-- Regret- the feeling you get just after you do something really stupid.

I have the FWW on-line subscription and find the most use is to find a solution or another way of doing something. Take drawer glides, FWW has a few different approaches and may have one you hadn’t seen or thought of before. I agree it is more focused on a new to medium talent person.

I enjoy the competition between the table saw and router groups in coming up with ways to do the same thing, such as M&T or box joints.

Steve.