Wood work magazines and resources

Alan m

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
3,318
hi all

i was wondering what magazines and rescource could the members here not do with out.
i have decided that i am going to subscribe to my favorite ones and forget the rest in a bid to stop reducing the festool tool fund
 
With almost everything online now I have canceled about every subscription except Wood Magazine and Digital Machinist.  I get the Fine woodworking and Home building and some others online(shop notes, etc) as well as Wood.

For me Wood Magazine is the best in the hard copy magazine format.
 
I stopped reading Fine Woodworking, every other article is about how to cut bloody dovetails and american arts and crafts furniture. all that stuff is great but there's more you can do with wood. My fav's right now are Furniture and Cabinet making, and Popular Woodworking.
 
I receive WOOD, FINE WOODWORKING, SHOP NOTES AND WOODCRAFT magazines.  All of them were gift subcriptions.....so I can't live without any of them! [big grin]  Would I pay for FINE WOODWORKING, maybe not, I think it is a little over priced.  SHOP NOTES is a neat magazine, I could see paying for that. WOOD magazine is nice as well, I would pay for that. WOODCRAFT magazine is a nice little surprise, kinda like WOOD magazine.  But with a free price tag...I love them all!!
Eric
 
Alan,

The one magazine I almost cannot do without is Woodwork - A Magazine for All Woodworkers.  It's only published once a year now :'(

Note that that is the only smiley I have ever used.  I don't use 'em much, but when I do, it's justified.

And apparently I love woodworking forums too, but I could do without them (maybe) because it seems I spend WAY too much time typing when I should be making stuff.
 
My favorites are Fine Homebuilding, Fine Woodworking, the Journal of Light Construction, Shop Notes, and Woodsmith. 

[smile]
 
GhostFist said:
My fav's right now are Furniture and Cabinet making, and Popular Woodworking.

Yep those two get my vote too.
I really like Popular Woodworking' s new design and editorial.
Everything else is an online subscription, not that that will help your "F" fund much.
Tim
 
Amazon wants $110/year for "Furniture and Cabinet Making" magazine  [eek]
 
Furniture & cabinetmaking is by far the best.  I quite often get fine woodworking but as Ghostfish says, its full of  arts & crafts stuff & i cant be bothered with that anymore.
 
GPowers said:
Amazon wants $110/year for "Furniture and Cabinet Making" magazine  [eek]
It's slightly cheaper - $10 US if you subscribe direct through the web site. www.woodworkersinstitute.com
It depends on what you are looking for.
While I am not prepared to say it's the best, (it could be) it does contain features on "bespoke" furniture makers in the UK that are never or rarely mentioned in US publications. Features articles for example on Bauhaus design as it relates to furniture and furniture production also are ahead of the usual topics that run in Popular woodworking and Fine Furniture.
They do run the typical here's how you straighten a board, and tool reviews etc. which has been covered ad infinitum in other publications.
Tim
 
I take Furniture and Cabinet Making but also take Fine Woodworking for the similar reason to Tim and get ideas from your professional cabinet makers. A big fan of your federal style of furniture!!

I also take Fine Homebuilding as it has some very good articles on trim carpentry and built ins that dont get covered over here.
 
Alan m said:
hi all

i was wondering what magazines and rescource could the members here not do with out.
i have decided that i am going to subscribe to my favorite ones and forget the rest in a bid to stop reducing the festool tool fund

Alan,

Both Wood mag and FWW (fine woodworking) will now sell you a DVD with all past issues on it. And I mean ALL.
$150 for each set I think, and they are searchable. This is what I've done, in addition to scanning the parts of all
other magazines I had been collecting over the last 20 years. It cleared out about 20 boxes of mags which I had got
tired of moving from house to house (and eventually halfway across the states).
 
I think I get about a dozen different magazines... I can't even keep up...  But I figure, if I get just one good idea, tip, or technique, it's worth it.

My favorite???  I'd have to go with Fine Woodworking, with Popular Woodworking not far behind.  I love the Arts & Crafts stuff, but FWW is starting to show some cool contemporary/studio stuff.  And I would imagine with Michael Fortune now being one of their contributing editors, they're going to be showing more an more contemporary techniques!
 
Stepping away from magazines for a bit and going into books, The "Audels Carpenter and Builders Guide" series has been mentioned to me by more than a few carpenter friends of mine and was something I picked up a few years back. Originally published in 1923, some of the materials and specs are obviously out of date but there is a pile of useful information in this four book series.
Book 1 relates to Tools, the Steel Square, saw Filing, Joinery and furniture.
Book 2 Builders Mathematics, Drawing plans, Specifications and estimating
Book 3 House and roof framing, Laying out foundations
Book 4 Doors, Windows, Stair Building, Millwork, Painting

Lee Valley Reprints this series and sells the complete set for a song http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=54923&cat=1,46096,46100&ap=1

Highly recommended reading for anyone with the slightest interest in woodworking/building great illustrations, everything is explained in plain english and this series takes top shelf in my book collection.

The books open with this phrase.......

"When we build, let us think that we build forever.
Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone.
Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for;
and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come
when those stones will be held as sacred because our hands have
touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the
labor and wrought substance of them, "See! This our father did
for us."
 
I have always just purchased the occasional copy of various woodworking magazines. But, looking back on the projects that I have made during the last few years, more of them originated with Wood magazine than all other magazines combined. So, I recently took out a subscription and, was contemplating purchasing some of the older issues.

A couple of months ago I mentioned this to Mack Cameron, and he said that he had issues #1 through #190 but has not looked at them for some. Mack kindly offered his collection free to me because he expected that I would treat the magazines properly and make good use of them. When I went to Mack's to pick up the magazines earlier this week, he also gave me a shelf that holds 150 of the magazines. A couple of weeks ago, I found a spot for the shelf in my woodworking shed.

[attachimg=#1]

The lastest issue of Wood is #202 and I am missing a few between #191 and #202, but I have ordered those. I will aslo build a shelf just like the one Mack gave me to hold issues #151 through #300.

Who knows, maybe when my collection reaches 300, it will be time to pass it plus the two shelves on to someone else.

 
GhostFist said:
Stepping away from magazines for a bit and going into books, The "Audels Carpenter and Builders Guide" series has been mentioned to me by more than a few carpenter friends of mine and was something I picked up a few years back.

Nice! Thanks.
I have started to read "Joiner And Cabinet Maker" by Anon with Chris Schwarz, and Joel Moskowitz published by Tools for working wood.
Every time I watch Frank Klaus DVD's I learn something.
Tim
 
I have started slowly going through my Wood magazine collection and creating an index (on my computer) of items that interest me.  I know that I could get complete digital searchable index, but the one that I am creating is specific to my needs and interests.

I browse through three or four magaizines for about an hour a day just after lunch and fine it to be a very enjoyable activity.
 
Frank, I did that a few years ago too! Got tired of spending too much going "Now, where did I see that project?...."
 
Another vote for Furniture and Cabinet making, in a different league to the other offerings over here.

Cheers,
Rick
 
Back
Top