In February of 1978 I was in the Co-op Hardware store in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis. Somewhere between the wood stoves and chicken brooders I found a magazine rack packed with Mother Earth News and Whole Earth catalogs. Then a book on the top shelf caught my eye: Fine Woodworking Biennial Design Book. I gently lifted it down from its perch, opened the cover, and the images on the pages jarred my senses like nothing I’d seen before. The latent dream of becoming a creator of wooden things exploded from those pages. Although at that time the book represented a big expenditure, it followed me home and changed my life.

From the introduction page of that book I learned that Fine Woodworkingmagazine existed. The first issue that I bought, Spring 1978, had an article written by A.W. Marlow about ball-and-claw feet that I was intrigued with. The article not only taught me how to do the basics of carving but also showed me how a cabriole leg was sawn. Years later another article, Allan Breed’s treatise on the ball and claw, July/August 2014, brought refinement to a task I’d toyed with since those early days.

During the next couple of years I purchased all the back issues of Fine Woodworking and the Fall 1976 issue brought me not only James Krenov’s article excerpted from his book A Cabinetmaker’s Notebook, which created a yearning to build fine furniture, but also plans by Tage Frid for creating a wonderful joinery bench. My copy of that bench has been securing work for me for over 40 years.

Issue 25, November/December 1980, brought Sam Maloof to a young guy in Minnesota. Sam proved that a self-taught woodworker could be a creator of stunning designs and fine furniture and that persistence paid.

The magazine has been my companion through the past 40 years and although in the early years I knew the articles were beyond my skill level, I used them as a carrot to keep moving forward. Those skills I thought so complex and exotic are commonplace for me now, but each article in Fine Woodworking still keeps my enthusiasm for new woodworking knowledge kindled and fed.

Roland Johnson
Contributing Editor, Fine Woodworking

	Ball and Claw Feet How to carve them Issue 10, Spring 1978; pp. 58-59 by A.W. Marlow See More
	Carve a Perfect Ball and Claw Foot A veteran carver reveals his secret to success Issue 241, July/Aug 2014; pp. 59-63. by Allan Breed See More
	Cabinetmaker’s Notebook Some thoughts on working wood Issue 4, Fall 1976; pp. 16-19 by James Krenov See More
	Work Bench A design for holding the work Issue 4, Fall 1976; pp. 40-45 by Tage Frid See More
	Sam Maloof How a home craftsman became one of the best there is Issue 25, Nov/Dec 1980; pp. 48-55 by Rick Mastelli See More