Which magazine do you subscribe to?

Gabe;

Fine Woodworking

Woodsmith

Shop Notes

Wood

Woodworkers Journal

Woodcraft

-- Rick Gustafson - Lost Creek Ranch - Colorado County, Texas

Fine Woodworking (often referred to as FWW) is, in my opinion the tops for furniture plans and technique. Gets a little over my head sometimes, but that just makes the challange better.

The best magazine for jigs and fixtures, shop built tools etc is Shop Notes.

A good magazine for general coverage is Wood.

There are special publications out there from all these magazines that combine several great projects from several issues that are really good to have as well.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

I like Wood magazine because they have a pretty good variety of projects with detailed plans and will include a section that introduces a new skill or technique that is critical to their central project. What I don’t like about Wood is that similar projects will resurface rather frequently over a long period of time. Not so frequent as to make the subscription a waste, but often enough that it does get noticed.

Woodsmith will have less projects per issue than Wood but the projects do have a bit more complexity and you really can’t beat the detail that is in their step by step graphical breakdown of the construction of the projects. They rely less on photographing a project and focus more on graphical illustration which really makes following the process much easier. One of the best ones to have in my opinion.

Fine Woodworking has some awesome articles but there is less hand holding when it comes to the steps required to make their projects. I think their articles are brilliant but I believe some of their projects might be overwhelming for someone at a beginner to intermediate skill level.

and, just a side note, while you may be a power tool junkie, I guarantee that hand tools will start finding their way into your work. Hold onto those articles regarding chisels and hand planes because they will sneak their way in there, trust me on that :)

David

-- There is little that is simple when it comes to making a simple box.

Woodsmith, Woodworkers Journal and Woodcraft

-- Lew- Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Woodsmith, Shop Notes, Popular Woodworking, Wood.

-- Bondo Gaposis

I am currently only a few issues into a 2 year subscription of Popular Woodworking. I’ve been less than underwhelmed so far, but hey it was like $1 an issue. At the same time as I got my first issue I received a large number of FWW back issues gratis. I always shied away from this magazine since it was so expensive, but after really reading through it I decided (IMO) that it is certainly worth it. Good luck and have fun.

-- It's made of wood. Real sturdy.--Chubbs Peterson

FWW, PopWood, and Wood. FWW and PopWood are the finest (tie) out there. They both approach at about the same level, both have wondeful projects, both have good how-to’s, both have lots of well-written articles besides their projects, but FWW is at the level of National Geographic in the excellence of their photography and illustrations. Hands down the best.

As soon as the Wood subscription is up, it’s gone. It used to be a good magazine, but lately projects have gotten embarrassingly simplistic and repetitive, tool tests are deplorably predictable, and I know they have to make a living, but 2/3 of the magazine is adds, the web site is just about all adds, and they sell everything whereas FWW and PopWood give a great deal for free. Oh, my subscription to Wood is not up until Nov 2013 and every issue (the last 4 of which hit file 13 within an hour of delivery) I get ‘Last Chance’ renewal demands.

Gave up on Woodsmith as the projects got boring. They are, however a sure cure for insomnia on their tv show. It’s a shame because they are nice guys, genuinely talented and offer quite a bit of information. Just the presentation is a little off-putting. Had to cut back somewhere.

Steve

-- Steve in KY. 44 years so far with my lovely bride. Think I'll keep her.

Theres just a few. I get them as Christmas presents from the family Its time to start another book case I did loose a lot of them in a move about 8 years ago but haven’t missed many since.
Fine Woodworking
Woodsmith
Wood
Woodworkers Journal
Woodcraft

Currently only woodcraft and I only just received my first issue which I wasn’t impressed with. To keep the middle project pages free of ads they flood the front with them. Gives a real bad first impression and the projects weren’t anything I’d bother with but for 7.00 a year I’ll hang in there. I should subscribe to Popular, Fine and Wood to save myself some money in the long term. I don’t find them worth buying every month but usually buy 2 of every 3 issues of them that come out.

-- --Rev. Russ in NY-- A posse ad esse

Fine Woodworking (25+ years of magazines)
Woodsmith
Shop Notes

Also buy Woodworker’s Journal, Woodturning, and others at Chapters if there are articles which I am interested in, have purchased a number of duplicates because I don’t seem to remember what I already have…

My son in law will catch on one day that I am not always thinking of him… :)

-- Randy "You are judged as much by the questions you ask as the answers you give..."

Wood
Woodcraft
Woodsmith
Woodworkers Journal
On occasion Fine Woodworking if it has an interesting article.

I think the main thing to look at is how experienced you are and what type of projects you are looking for. Woodsmith has great step-by-step instructions that can be helpful as a new woodworker. Wood and Woodcraft have a good mix between articles, reviews and projects, which I enjoy. I find Fine Woodworking a bit beyond my level but I do enjoy their tool reviews.

None of them are good enough for a subscription. I subscribed to Fine Woodworking for several years but they just constantly regurgitate the same projects, using the same basic joinery, from their books. I rarely buy an issue now. If you just want to read something then they are okay but if you want to learn then I would just get their books. I buy Wood once in awhile. I don’t build the projects but they often have good tips and it’s interesting to see them play around with joinery even if they are sometimes prone to complicating things. Woodsmith is a nice magazine which I’ve only recently really started reading.

British woodworking mags are the best but they are very difficult to find in my area and I only have a few. The ones I have do not focus on projects but on artists and craftsman and woodworking in general. The articles are excellent and the pictures display master craftsmanship.

-- -- Rick M.

popular woodworking
wooworker west
woodcraft (subscription bought for me)
i like to browse the news stands,to see if there’s a good project or article that i would want to keep.

where do you guys and gals like to find your magazines?
my favorite is a barnes & noble. a lot of choices.

FWW and PW

-- I would drink a river of the kool aid before I took the smallest sip of the tea...

My two personal favorites, Woodsmith & Shopnotes. I have subscriptions to most of them, wood, fine woodworking etc, but I prefer the projects in Woodsmith and the jigs in Shopnotes. In Shopnotes they usually have one big project and then several jigs that they used to make that project.

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.