April 1, 2010
The Sale of Fine Woodworking Magazine

Frankly, I was as astonished as you when I heard the news. How had it come to this? And yet, there can be no surprises in this day and age of big companies swallowing smaller ones. Inevitable like time and rust I suppose. Didn’t Rubbermaid buy out Record and start making vises? What did they know about vises?  And Black and Decker bought DeWalt or was it versa vice and then bought out Porter Cable which had bought out Rockwell Tools which had assumed Delta. It just goes on and on. It seems like too much sometimes but bean counters don’t care when it comes to beans. They all count the same. Still and all how could this have happened? The sale of the magazine. It just doesn’t seem possible. Google buying Fine Woodworking.

Now I was a newcomer to Fine Woodworking. I started subscribing at Issue #2. A bit late by some snobbish standards but I have never let it stop me from feeling like one of the family most days. Even if I have to sit at the kiddie table at some events. It has felt good to be a part of it on both sides all these years. I’ve laughed with it; I’ve cried with it. I’ve played at a company softball game one sunny afternoon and twacked a home run. Nice moments.

I have watched it progress from a small black and white magazine filled with words and a postage sized photo every page or two to a glossy photo harbinger of Skills! and Technique! Craft! All writ large and bold. So it’s no wonder that another corporation decided to eat her up. Who wouldn’t want this grande dame in their portfolio? Of course she had had a tuck or two, a little Botox here and there to freeze the smile in place. But wasn’t she still desirable? I have always thought so.

Diversification
Still and all you have to wonder if Google really thinks it can make a go of it. Now I imagine that assimilating an antiquated technology like a print magazine is risky for the superstar of the digital era. Perhaps it is diversifying just because it can, just because it has the money. But consider the upside. A magazine repositioned, redesigned, digitally remastered,  if you will, might have a shot at pushing every other woodworking magazine out of the way just as Google did to search engines. Anyone remember JumpStation?

Google might have something in buying up Fine Woodworking but I do have to say that rebranding and renaming the magazine as Pretty Good Woodworking Magazine leaves a kind of metallic taste in my mouth. Something not quite right about that. It’s like biting into a bar of chocolate and hitting a small piece of aluminum foil with my fillings. The wrong kind of tangy.

New Articles
Sure there will be more articles suited to mediocrity and god knows we’ve needed more of those. I’ve been asked, as a joinery kind of know-it-all to come up with a piece on dovetails called Dovetails on the Jointer: The Right Way. It won’t be easy to write that one I can tell you. But I’m better off I think than Rollie Johnson writing that Table Saw article called Table Saw Slip and Slide. Fun yes, but sure to promote controversy among the cognoscenti and weak kneed. How about Tear Out: The Tool Mark of the Pros or 50 Uses for the Ball Peen Hammer. These are articles that have yet to see light of day but they truly deserve their moment in the sun.

Frankly I think there should be some tweaking to Google’s approach. I mean everyone loves hand tools these days, but really, a review of the new Lie-Nielsen hand plane power conversion kit?  Sure some of us are getting older but come on. Do we really need another battery powered hand plane, even if it is 18 volts?

Of course the golden plumb bob sold by some hand tool outfit I won’t name, I can’t even bring myself to review. As if gold would make that tool any heavier, straighter, or more accurate. Sure charge 6 figures for it, see who’s gonna buy it.

Router Table Cut-Out
The article I have been asked to do that I’m really excited about is a new router table design. Because it’s something we have needed for some time. It’s an overlooked safety improvement that is so simple and it was in front of our noses the whole time. With the advent of a new look for the magazine, why not a fresh take on a table design that really makes sense? The Router Table Belly Cut-Out is an article that I think will really get and keep people’s attention. Here’s something that’s practical and safety minded. Get that gut out of the way with the belly cut-out and you’ll be a routing fool, cutting happily and more safely. No more laying your gut on the table as you make a cut. Who wouldn’t want to read about and see that design? So I’m excited about some of these changes as I hope you’ll be.

After all is said and done, I think Pretty Good Woodworking is a concept that I can see taking flight. I think Google has it right after all. Let’s bring down our standards in journalism just like we did in the schools so everyone can feel like they’re a winner. That would be pretty good I think. Or I could just be fooling today. Happy April 1.

Gary Rogowski teaches at The Northwest Woodworking Studio in Portland, Oregon and is a Contributing Editor for Fine Woodworking Magazine. Read his blog at http://www.NorthwestWoodworking.com