Good magazines?

[leapinlew]

So I am wanting to get some good magazines for woodworking and projects. I really like Family Handyman and was curious what other books would be of interest to a novice wood worker hobbyist.

[ChadTower]

Not quite answering the question but here's a second recommendation for Family Handyman.

[fixedpigs]

i like _woodsmith_ for projects...

[sstorkel]

I've read them all and subscribed to most at one time or another. Here's my take:

Fine Woodworking: projects in this one are usually at the difficult end of the spectrum, though they do generally use the best available techniques for everything. Tools reviews tend to be short and are a bit hit-or-miss. They're bad about telling you which tool they'd buy, but not giving many details on why they'd buy it. They must have received complaints, because recent reviews have been a bit better. Articles where they can test something without having to bad-mouth an advertiser (e.g. strength of different joint types) tend to be very well-written. The section where they show projects that other people have completed is very inspiring. Special issues are generally very good; recent themes have included finishing, basic power-tool usage, and furniture design/construction. I mostly use this magazine for inspiration, not actual project plans. Special issues are good for learning techniques, since they'll combine everything from 2-5 years worth of magazines into a single location.

Fine Homebuilding: also a bit over the top, but their tool reviews tend to be a bit more practical. They also review tools that would be too practical for FWW (e.g. reciprocating saws, angle grinders, and rotary tools). I pick this one up if the contents look interesting. Again, the special issues tend to be very good.

Popular Woodworking: One of my favorite magazines! A good blend of useful projects, useful reviews, and useful articles. I like all of the guys that write for this magazine, especially Christopher Schwarz. For me, Pop Wood is the best all-around magazine. Special issues do tend to repeat content from the magazine, but they're not as bad about this as Wood magazine. They tend not to have as many tool reviews as some magazines, but when they do have a review it's usually very good. They do have short mini-reviews in each issue.

Woodworking: this is a sister publication to Popular Woodworking. Only published four times a year, if they're still around at all. No ads. They tended to go in-depth on one or two topics per issue. So, they might talk about mortise and tenon joints, show variations of the joints, ways to cut them with hand tools, a router, or a tablesaw and then feature a project that used them extensively. I like this magazine, but it's difficult to find it on newstands, which is why I don't buy it more often. They seem to be focusing on digital distribution, which makes me wonder if the print version is going to disappear...

Wood: I think that Wood magazine is very similar to Pop Wood. I've noticed that Wood tends to repeat projects over and over. There's usually a slight variation in the plans... and then they publish the same stuff in 2 or 3 special issues. I think they have the best-written plans, but many are for things I don't care about. Special issues are good, but like I said they tend to repeat projects quite a bit; if you've been buying the monthly magazines the special issues are probably a waste of money. If you haven't been buying the special issues, you may find the special issues very useful because they combine lots of plans for similar projects (e.g. jigs, workshop cabinets and benches, furniture) into a single issue.

Woodcraft: I've only purchased this magazine a few times and I haven't been very impressed. Content seems to be all over the place. None of the projects I've seen have been interesting to me. Plans aren't bad, but the ones I've seen haven't been as detailed as those in Wood or Popular Woodworking.

American Woodworker: used to be a great magazine, but seems to have gone downhill in recent years. In fact, they might have gone out of business by now. Recent issues seemed to be much smaller than I remember with little useful content.

ShopNotes, Woodsmith, Workbench: these are all published by August Publishing, IIRC. Plans are good and reasonably detailed. I made their drill press table. From the plans it looked like a good design, but in practice it doesn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. Some of the other plans I've seen looked like they might have been completed entirely on paper; nobody built them and used that experience to refine the design. Workbench is my favorite of these three, because it tends to mix woodworking and home improvement.

I also tend to grab Family Handyman on a frequent basis, though I'm not sure why... probably mostly for the home improvement stuff, which they seem to cover better than anyone else.

[leapinlew]

I've read them all and subscribed to most at one time or another. Here's my take:

Fine Woodworking: projects in this one are usually at the difficult end of the spectrum, though they do generally use the best available techniques for everything. Tools reviews tend to be short and are a bit hit-or-miss. They're bad about telling you which tool they'd buy, but not giving many details on why they'd buy it. They must have received complaints, because recent reviews have been a bit better. Articles where they can test something without having to bad-mouth an advertiser (e.g. strength of different joint types) tend to be very well-written. The section where they show projects that other people have completed is very inspiring. Special issues are generally very good; recent themes have included finishing, basic power-tool usage, and furniture design/construction. I mostly use this magazine for inspiration, not actual project plans. Special issues are good for learning techniques, since they'll combine everything from 2-5 years worth of magazines into a single location.

Fine Homebuilding: also a bit over the top, but their tool reviews tend to be a bit more practical. They also review tools that would be too practical for FWW (e.g. reciprocating saws, angle grinders, and rotary tools). I pick this one up if the contents look interesting. Again, the special issues tend to be very good.

Popular Woodworking: One of my favorite magazines! A good blend of useful projects, useful reviews, and useful articles. I like all of the guys that write for this magazine, especially Christopher Schwarz. For me, Pop Wood is the best all-around magazine. Special issues do tend to repeat content from the magazine, but they're not as bad about this as Wood magazine. They tend not to have as many tool reviews as some magazines, but when they do have a review it's usually very good. They do have short mini-reviews in each issue.

Woodworking: this is a sister publication to Popular Woodworking. Only published four times a year, if they're still around at all. No ads. They tended to go in-depth on one or two topics per issue. So, they might talk about mortise and tenon joints, show variations of the joints, ways to cut them with hand tools, a router, or a tablesaw and then feature a project that used them extensively. I like this magazine, but it's difficult to find it on newstands, which is why I don't buy it more often. They seem to be focusing on digital distribution, which makes me wonder if the print version is going to disappear...

Wood: I think that Wood magazine is very similar to Pop Wood. I've noticed that Wood tends to repeat projects over and over. There's usually a slight variation in the plans... and then they publish the same stuff in 2 or 3 special issues. I think they have the best-written plans, but many are for things I don't care about. Special issues are good, but like I said they tend to repeat projects quite a bit; if you've been buying the monthly magazines the special issues are probably a waste of money. If you haven't been buying the special issues, you may find the special issues very useful because they combine lots of plans for similar projects (e.g. jigs, workshop cabinets and benches, furniture) into a single issue.

Woodcraft: I've only purchased this magazine a few times and I haven't been very impressed. Content seems to be all over the place. None of the projects I've seen have been interesting to me. Plans aren't bad, but the ones I've seen haven't been as detailed as those in Wood or Popular Woodworking.

American Woodworker: used to be a great magazine, but seems to have gone downhill in recent years. In fact, they might have gone out of business by now. Recent issues seemed to be much smaller than I remember with little useful content.

ShopNotes, Woodsmith, Workbench: these are all published by August Publishing, IIRC. Plans are good and reasonably detailed. I made their drill press table. From the plans it looked like a good design, but in practice it doesn't work quite as well as I'd hoped. Some of the other plans I've seen looked like they might have been completed entirely on paper; nobody built them and used that experience to refine the design. Workbench is my favorite of these three, because it tends to mix woodworking and home improvement.

I also tend to grab Family Handyman on a frequent basis, though I'm not sure why... probably mostly for the home improvement stuff, which they seem to cover better than anyone else.

awesome. Thanks!

[fixedpigs]

American Woodworker: used to be a great magazine, but seems to have gone downhill in recent years. In fact, they might have gone out of business by now. Recent issues seemed to be much smaller than I remember with little useful content.

i got a four year subscription to this off ebay for eleven dollars...it's not too impressive at all...worth flipping through a few times...but i haven't found anything truly useful yet in the three issues that i've gotten so far...

[Kaytrim]

It's not a magazine but a good source.  http://www.woodnet.net/forums/

[sstorkel]

It's not a magazine but a good source.  http://www.woodnet.net/forums/

I, personally, prefer Wood Central. The software they use is a bit... quaint... but there are lots of very knowledgeable people there (Chris Schwarz, Michael Dresdner, Rob Lee the president of Lee Valley tools, John Lucas of Wood Shop Demos, Ellis Wallentine, etc). In addition to woodworking, there's also a wealth of home improvement and carpentry discussion, too.