what magazine do you like?

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,780
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
I'm not posing this as a poll because there may be several woodworking magazines out there I'm not familiar with. I'm getting a lot of subscription notices, probably because of the new year. The magazines I am familiar with are: Woodsmith; Wood; Woodworking and Fine Woodworking. Let me/us know which you get and prefer and why.
 
I guess the one I get the most out of is Fine Woodworking. It just seems to have more of the things I'm interested in than others. Sorry I can't be more definite.

Mike
 
Let me/us know which you get and prefer and why.
Frank,

I get Woodsmith, Wood, and Fine Woodworking - I also get Popular Woodworking, American Woodworker and Shop Notes. I actually enjoy them all - for various reasons. I'll have to think a bit about which one is my favorite.
 
if i had to choose between i would go with fine woodworking i quess but i have second hand access to popular wood working, shop notes ,wood smith wood, american woodworker,woodworker journal.
 
I guess the one I get the most out of is Fine Woodworking. It just seems to have more of the things I'm interested in than others. Sorry I can't be more definite.

Mike

I'm with Mike on FWW. I like to see things that are on the higher end and maybe a stretch of my talents or lack of.

I get Wood but seems to be more jigs and tips, not much in the way of furniture that I like.

Shop notes is good but hit and miss on usefullness.

I get either American Woodworker or Popular Woodworking too but don't really have an opinion as I don't remember much about their focus.

I get Workbench too and while not a great WW magazine, it does help me visualize some casework projects I have coming up some day. I have no imagination so nice to see the pictures.
 
I like Canadian Home Workshop magazine. It is not just about woodworking, which I kind of like. Have no idea what subscriptions to the USA would cost. (Full disclosure: I am a bit biased, since I've written about 6 articles for them over the past 3 years, but I've been subscribing since around 1998)

There is also Canadian Woodworking, which is still a relatively young and small publication.
 
Last edited:
Hands down Popular Woodworking (intentional pun there;-). ChrisS has done a terrific job at turning the magazine around, and has excellent staff to work with as well. Top notch and certainly my favorite magazine. I prefer the slant towards using both hand and power tools, with an emphasis on hand tool techniques. For me these are the most thought out articles in the industry at this time. They also tend to favor some of the styles I admire most, like Greene & Greene, A&C, Shaker, Mission, and other traditional styles. The emphasis on doing work in a traditional manor with hand tools appeals to me.

I still find Fine Woodworking to have interesting articles, but let my subscription expire and didn't renew it...I'm not as keen on the direction, or so many diverse directions the magazine takes, which is also one of it's virtues. FWW is able to provide content for a very diverse set of readers which I think is it's real strength.
 
Tod, never heard of Modern Woodworking. What's their typical issue like?

brian, it`s geared toward the professional, production shop.....very little of interest to a hobbiest woodworker.....the typical advertiser is offering machinery in the 15-250k range......all but griz;) ......tod
 
My favorite is probably Woodturning Design. But I also get Wood, Shop Notes, Woodsmith, Woodworker's Journal and Popular Woodworking. I've been trying to force myself to let one of them expire, but everytime I think I've figured out which one, it will have something in it that I would not have wanted to miss. Sheesh!
 
I get Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking, and have gotten a couple free issues of the new one with no ads (can't recall the name offhand). I now have about 6 months worth stacked up and unread, since I just haven't found (or made) the time to look at any of them. Same with Popular Mechanics and Consumer Reports. Simply no time to read them. Seems like the more I hang around with Stu, the less free time I have. :dunno:
 
I’ve subscribed to most of the rags mentioned at one time or another
These are my current subscriptions & ratings.

Fine Woodworking ****
Popular Science ****
Scientific American ****

Popular Mechanics ***
Woodworker’s Journal ***

American Woodworker **

I’m thinking of dropping AW from the mix.
 
I get several, FWW, Woodsmith, Cabinetmaker, and some more that I can't remember right now. FWW is becoming my favorite yet I still really like some of the plans I see in Woodsmith. I don't do much stuff like they exhibit though, not any more. Too many customers to work for.:thumb:
 
FWW is my turn to magazine for real learning and reviews. Popular Woodworking is second but lately I've notice that they seem to be getting a little lite with the information provided.

I stopped reading Wood Magazine this year. Same old stuff each issue. It was also becoming a Grizzly catalog.
 
Only one: Woodsmith. I like the range of projects, from simple to elaborate. I tend to not follow any design entirely according to plan, choosing instead to adapt things to my tastes. But it's been a good source of ideas. I like how it parses out how-to sections for constructing each of the different components of each project. The mag tends to emphasize joinery techniques, an area of skill I can always improve on.

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Top