Woodsmith Magazine

3444 Views 13 Replies 12 Participants Last post by DesertRatTom, Nov 1, 2017

JIMMIEM

Discussion Starter · Oct 30, 2017

I used to subscribe to both Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. I had dropped both subscriptions. My understanding is that ShopNotes is no longer produced and Woodsmith contains some of the info that was previously found in ShopNotes. I get the Woodsmith emails and tips and like them. I'm considering subscribing to Woodsmith mag again. You folks liking it these days? I currently subscribe to Fine Homebuilding, Fine Woodworking, and WOOD Magazines.

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DesertRatTom

· #2 · Oct 30, 2017

The Shopsmith producers and editors seem to be pretty ambitious. Lots of projects, tips, reviews and such. Their center section is really one or two articles in the ShopNotes style. I bought the CD of Shop Notes and the DVDs of their TV show (up to season 10 now.

There was a string awhile ago on the Router show and how they presented very basic material with simplicity as a way of working. Although the ShopNotes crew put out some corny production conversations, they do advocate very straight forward and basic methods to accomplish a lot of woodworking. And when they add a season, you can get the new DVD for $10. I think their magazine subscription is a good value, but their subscription video is not. I think the ShopNotes DVD with every issue in pdf, is about $100, an excellent value and since it's pdf, you can copy it over to a hard drive in case the DVD fails (10 year MTBF for that media).

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JIMMIEM

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 30, 2017

DesertRatTom said:
The Shopsmith producers and editors seem to be pretty ambitious. Lots of projects, tips, reviews and such. Their center section is really one or two articles in the ShopNotes style. I bought the CD of Shop Notes and the DVDs of their TV show (up to season 10 now.

There was a string awhile ago on the Router show and how they presented very basic material with simplicity as a way of working. Although the ShopNotes crew put out some corny production conversations, they do advocate very straight forward and basic methods to accomplish a lot of woodworking. And when they add a season, you can get the new DVD for $10. I think their magazine subscription is a good value, but their subscription video is not. I think the ShopNotes DVD with every issue in pdf, is about $100, an excellent value and since it's pdf, you can copy it over to a hard drive in case the DVD fails (10 year MTBF for that media).

Thank You for your feedback. I'll subscribe to their magazine.

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JOAT

· #4 · Oct 30, 2017

Used to subscribe to half a dozen or more woodworking magazines. That gradually got cut down one by one, until now I only subscribe to one. And that one is WoodenBoat. Some of the finest woodwork on the planet. Plus I like boats. Now, anything else pretty much just comes out of my mind, but I do look on-line for inspiration, but no plans as such. If I see a picture of something I like, then I can pretty much make it, no steenkin' plans needed, if I want one of my own. I do have a small collection of old, 1940-50s and earlier boat and craft building books, that I mostly just like to look thru. Nowadays people too often believe they need a 200 page book to build a small rowboat, back then 2-3 pages in a book were often thought ample for a similar designed boat. Not sure if that means people forgot how to think, or learned to read. How times have changed.

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Gene Howe

· #5 · Oct 30, 2017

I used to get a plethora of woodworking magazines. They'd accumulate until I had time to read them. Some, I missed entirely. Now, Woodsmith is the only print magazine of any type we subscribe to.

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Shop guy

· #6 · Oct 31, 2017

My only magazine is Woodsmith. Really liked Shopnotes best but ts gone now. Last year I subscribed to Woodworkers Journal but don’t care for it and only have one issue left.

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difalkner

· #7 · Oct 31, 2017

Used to subscribe to FWW print (I think I have issues #1 through about #100 or so, might be missing one or two) and Shopnotes (I have a handful but some got lost in a move a while back). I no longer subscribe to any print magazines. I do have the electronic FWW subscription, though - rarely use it. Seems like there are about 8-10 FWW hardback books in the library (closet).

David

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Garyk

· #8 · Oct 31, 2017

Culled mine down to Woodsmith & Wood magazines. Considering going to the "stick" version of Woodsmith to cut down on having to store the mags, but I like having a printed version in front of me. Off & on other mags have interesting articles but not enough for me to subscribe.

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gmercer_48083

· #9 · Oct 31, 2017

Jim, I use to subscribe to many of the dedicated woodworking magazines like Wood, Woodworkers Journal, Popular Woodworking, American Woodworker, Fine Woodworking, Woodsmith Magazine, and have whittled my subscriptions down for various reasons. One of my favorites was Popular Woodworking... up until about 5 years ago when Bob Lang and 2 others left the magazine. It was interesting when they were there, but got boring to me after they left. I still get Fine Woodworking and Woodsmith and Woodworkers Journal and am going to drop Woodworkers Journal as it seems to promote Rockler woodworking products, and has become really boring to me. I may keep Fine Woodworking...but my favorite is Woodsmith Magazine because they seem to come up with fresh ideas and detailed methods, that are geared to the average Joe woodworker. My vote is Woodsmith Magazine!

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spike1

· #10 · Oct 31, 2017

WoodSmith works for me.

Being a relatively inexperienced woodworker with NO formal training, I've been a happy subscriber to WoodSmith and Shop Notes magazine for about 10 years (I miss Shopnotes !). They provide me with invaluable info as to how to use my tools to best advantage. They explain things clearly and their illustrator does a wonderful job of making explicitly clear drawings of the job set-ups.Their video Tips archives I find are also very handy to teach new skills, or find alternative methods to do many procedures. I've made several of their magazine projects, and when I encounter problems I've emailed questions about procedures and they have responded quickly and clearly on how to solve my problem. I could not offer more praise for a terrific resource.

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Bushwhacker

· #11 · Oct 31, 2017

JOAT said:
Used to subscribe to half a dozen or more woodworking magazines. That gradually got cut down one by one, until now I only subscribe to one. And that one is WoodenBoat. Some of the finest woodwork on the planet. Plus I like boats. Now, anything else pretty much just comes out of my mind, but I do look on-line for inspiration, but no plans as such. If I see a picture of something I like, then I can pretty much make it, no steenkin' plans needed, if I want one of my own. I do have a small collection of old, 1940-50s and earlier boat and craft building books, that I mostly just like to look thru. Nowadays people too often believe they need a 200 page book to build a small rowboat, back then 2-3 pages in a book were often thought ample for a similar designed boat. Not sure if that means people forgot how to think, or learned to read. How times have changed.

I am like Theo. If I see something I can usually build it. Most of my projects are from photos that I took or from sketches I make of something that I want to build.
I stay busy just trying to keep up with the projects Sandra gives me to do.
I used to get several magazines but like most guys, never got around to reading them, plus I found that they were chock full of advertisements and very little to do with actual wood projects.
I did a year ago fall victim to the glossy pictures and hype about Popular Wood working Magazine and did subscribe to it. But it turns out to be all advertisements, so I will not be renewing.
David

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IRestore

· #12 · Oct 31, 2017

I get both the magazine & videos and enjoy them both. I really liked Shop Notes & was sorry to see it discontinued.

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Danman1957

· #13 · Oct 31, 2017

Well I am happy to see I'm not the only one who no longer subscribes to any magazine. I have a collection of Woodsmith, Shopnotes, Wood, Fine WoodWorking, Canadian Woodshop and a few more. I also have a fine collection of specialty magazines put out bu most of these, such as tips for major tools, or projects like outdoor furniture and jigs plans. I no longer buy these because the wealth of information in these is enough to keep me going for a very long time. I haven't counted them but I'm sure it's between 200 and 300 magazines. I think that is enough. I prefer the magazines because I can take them in the shop if I need to look at something while doing a project or look at a plan etc... I don't bring my laptop in the shop because of the dusty environment.
I must admit that Woodsmith is one of my favorites, and am happy to see they have incorporated the Shopnotes together. In the past, I found both magazines covered the same article on many occasions.
Another factor I don't buy them anymore is the price, In Canadian $ most of them sell for $9.99 to $12.95. That is just too much for me.

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DesertRatTom

· #14 · Nov 1, 2017

One thing to keep in mind is that there are only so many topics or projects to write about in any specialty publication. So about every 4 years or so, they have to redo the same subject, using a new tool or jig or gadget to justify the re-do. Their tool reviews are often very interesting, but considering things like the long-lived Bosch 1617, the 735 planer, and so many other "standard" tools, it's often an article about very small differences or improvements.

For example, the articles comparing track saws. I have a middle ranked machine which is a little heavier than the top model (guess which RainMan 2.0), The cuts on my saw are equal to those on my table saw, so differences in cutting are pretty difficult to measure (if you use the saw as recommended. What justifies the article in the end is a side comment that the top of the line model "feels" better in the hand. But you can't fill pages of copy with just that.

In all though, the WoodSmith publication does a nice job, and they do provide pretty good project plans for published projects, and there is still a bit of the old Shop Notes in the centerfold.

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