I became the proud owner of a nice stack of old FWW mags last month. I think I have a complete set now, starting in the late 70’s. After thumbing through them, one thing has become obvious. FWW has dumbed down its content a bunch.
Any one of those old mags, up until the mid to late 90’s has some new thing I’ve never heard off. Jon Arno was allowed more room, William Tandy Young roamed old mills describing eliptical lathes, Tage Frid taught, and the pages were just fuller of really interesting articles.
What a difference from now when we are taught how to cut a dovetail for the millionth time, or any number of other basic stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I think the current FWW is good, especially master class, but I get less and less useful information out of it. Wierd when magazines older then my wife have more pertinant info then ones written yesterday. I want the old “graduate course” caliber info that FWW used to carry.
Not intending to offend Taunton, where else can a guy find woodworking information that is not on a rudimentary level?
Replies
http://woodwork-mag.com/
http://www.cambiumbooks.com
I subscribed to FWW from day one and now find Woodwork to be the better magazine for my interests. After a certain point no magazine will deal with the higher skill levels. There's still lots of interesting topics to be covered. How many dovetail articles can one read. The stroke sander should be rediscovered and a good comparison article on drum sanders, widebelts and stoke sanders is severely needed. Pin routing was only covered with a small article years ago. With the interest in hand planes, how to make patterns for casting would be a good topic. Making simple hardware from brass would be a possibility. I've been working brass with basic woodworking tools for years so there's a double duty for the equipment. I learned about slot mortisers from FWW 25 years ago and they still never covered the topic in depth.
Go to the books for higher level skills info.
Edited 9/25/2007 8:36 am ET by RickL
Hi Rick,
I used to subscribe to and like Woodwork quite a bit. I let my subscription go because it seemed the magazine has dwindled to less and less pages as time went by. Also, there seemed to be more "wacky/art" woodworking (totem poles?) as opposed to furniture in the last few issues I received, hence my decision.
But earlier on, I would agree it was a great mag.
Lee
Rick
I have been a little frustrated at times myself. FWW stuggles to find new ground and keep the "old guard" happy.
Many of the new woodworkers that I meet seem to be driven by doing a project or they won't buy a magazine or attend a seminar. Learning the skill takes a second position to "finishing the project" while a person tries to learn a skill.
At one of the carving seminars I attended years ago, all of the students where given a "Quaker gun" to carve. This was one that would never be a rifle or shoot. Just a training tool. The focus was skill development not "take home a rifle"
Lots of guys liked it and lots of guys had much to say that wasn't positive. FWW is in a position like this. They have to make choices like this. Its tough.
Several things have made FWW really great in the recent years:
This forum is unmatched for the amount of information that one can gain if they are willing to search. Sure there's tons of stuff that seems far fetched for a woodworking forum but its all in good spirits and you can ignore it if it doesn't interest you.
The access to the experts willing to take time out to answer questions for people ready to finish a project is unprecedented. You can really get some great information and get it fast.
Feedback from people all over the world. That's really cool for me. I like hearing from somebody living in distant places like New Zealand and other points.
If you want something very detailed and complex, it might not be in FWW but by being here you can find the most amazing plans from the likes of Eugene Landon, Garrett Hack, carving with Mack Headley, fixing machines with John White and countless others that are loaded with information. That's pretty nice.
Like you, I have every copy of FWW. I didn't catch up I started out with the 2nd edition and just stayed with it. Over the years it has been a great source of information and a place to meet and find out about woodworking.
I am rambling a bit but I will leave you with a thought and an example. For years, I read the FWW as soon as it arrived. In one of the editions, I saw Garrett Hack's shop that he built into the side of a hill. From reading the article I learned he took an old building down and reassembled it on his land. Years later I called him on the phone on my way to Canada and asked him if I could come by and meet him(hoping to see that shop and his work). Got the green light. It was just what I hoped for.
Rick I know one thing: write to FWW and express your thoughts and make sure you send a detailed recommendation that they can grab and work. They do much better with recommendations and a rough plan.
Take care
dan
"This forum is unmatched for the amount of information that one can gain if they are willing to search. Sure there's tons of stuff that seems far fetched for a woodworking forum but its all in good spirits and you can ignore it if it doesn't interest you. "
Have to disagree on that one. I probably read a dozen of the hobby forums like FWW and pick up a tidbit here and there. This forum isn't any better than the rest in my opinion. Even the two pro forums out there have realtively few startling revelations. Having worked professionally in the field one tends to learn something over the years. I actually get more out of books than classes or videos. The pace of classes and videos is too slow.
Stopped getting FWW years ago but still peruse it at the library but have not seen any must have articles for some time. Do get Woodshop News and for free as a professional and other mags such as Custom Woodworking, Wood and Woodproducts, Modern Woodworking, also all free.
I enjoyed the comment on the Quaker gun. I totally understand the concept. As far as learing material I find sources such as Dwell, Metropolis, Interior Design far more interesting and informative. I know how to make things but my focus is on design and the the more contemporary the better. The profiles featured in FWW are no match for the ones featured in Woodwork. I respect Maloof but he's on the bottom of my inspirational list. Norm doesn't even make my list. Tom Loesser. John Mcnab, Wendy Maruyama, Judy Mckie, John Cederquist and many of the member of the Furniture Society are doing such more interesting work.
Point well made. I get the Woodshop News too after going to a convention and signing up. Glad I did. There's usually something in it for me.
In many ways I guess I feel like you but I have hedge on dropping my subscription. Years ago, I went to the first Colonial Williamsburg/FWW conference and I had a chance to meet Tim Shriner and a couple of the guys on the staff. It was good for me to hear how much they want to hear from the field.(I have written on occasion and many times they have politely taken a different path) No problema.
On one occasion I wrote to a guy who did a featured article on shell carving. He was on the front cover of the magazine so you know there was going to be some interaction with the readers. Right? Well this guy wrote this condescending response that just threw me for a loop. After returning to a relatively normal pulse rate, I wrote to FWW and attached the letter.
In less than a week I got a letter(that I saved) and a beautiful book on the subject from FWW(free). In addition to an apology for the unprofessional response they offered to put me in touch with several other FWW subscribers to help with my quest.
Truthfully, things don't happen like that for me on a regular schedule and I do appreciate it. For me, I think FWW is trying pretty hard to produce a good product. I fully appreciate the fact that you find others more useful and informative - the competition will make all of the magazines better. Keep it coming. I think you ought to express some of your ideas to the staff at FWW, I think they would be receptive and who knows??
Rick you sound like you have a bunch of experience and you're still passionate about your creativity and work. Hope you stay on line and share some expertise.
later
dan
"other sites might be better"
RickL
Did some looking around since you replied to me about FWW and other sites being as good or better. Well... I'm glad you said it.
I looked around at some other magazine forums(for the last 4 days) and there's lots of really good stuff out there that I just can not keep up with.
The upside: its fun and informative.
Hey I looked at your saw that your are in Mass. Have you ever been thru Beverly? Phil Lowe has his shop there and he's a very interesting guy. Maybe a visit would be fun??
Are you a Beaner Fan? Things are looking good.
Dan
Can't say other sites are necessarily better but I find other forums have interesting formats in how they are set up and navigating. Woodwentral has one of the better link resources. Most folks can't even find the links at FWW. Sawmillcreek is interesting. Woodnetter's are a totally different type of hobbyist. I find the Austrailian, British and I talian forums to be most interesting from a cultural perspective. Folks in this country don't realize how much they have as far as a cheap and plentiful tool supply. Some tools are cheaper than when I started woodworking 30 years ago. For instance planers. Back then a Blesaw was $500 less motor. Now most anyone can afford one.
Do you have any idea how many furniture making forums are out there? Literally dozens not counting turning, carving, carpentry. Most are hobby oriented. There's only a couple of professional forums compared to the hobby ones. I've often said there no new questions, only new people asking the same old questions. If you don't see your question on this forum I guarantee you will find it one of the others. There's also a slew of incomplete and even bad info out there. Electrical and phase conversion is a perfect example.
I respect Phil Lowes work but it doesn't really excite me. Studio furniture is what interests me and motiviates me in woodworking. I appreciate and understand the traditional stuff and it fun to draw from the past but it's the outrageous that makes it interesting for me.
Two blocks from me is http://www.silaskopf.com and the next town over is Kristina Madsen's studio. She's pretty much unknown by most but has the same stature as Maloof in the furniture world.
I assume the beaners are the Red Sox. Watching paint dry is more exciting for me.
Edited 10/1/2007 9:20 am ET by RickL
I'll keep looking around. If you find some interesting sites in Europe, send along an address/website. I am interested in seeing what the german woodworkers are doing these days. Most of my stuff is along 18th century lines but I do like to do some contemporary stuff as well.
I met Silas at the FWW/CW conference a few years back. Nice guy and very knowledgeable.
later
Dan
Rick, I just read your response to Dan, where you said that you admired Judy Mckie amongt others. I had just posted that I hate "studio" furniture, with Mckie in mind. Those bird chairs..... anyway, that is one of the things about the old mags that I like so much. I didn't even know who Mckie was until I read it in an old FWW. Wendel Castle as well. Not what I like, but my horizons were expanded and I'm more knowagable for it.
To look at FWW now, you would think that there are about 10 guys in the country doing noteworthy work.
Steve
"To look at FWW now, you would think that there are about 10 guys in the country doing noteworthy work."
Most folks don't even know about the women woodworkers. McKie just recieved a lifetime achievement award from the Furniture Society. A group of studio furniture people of course but there are groups dedicated to traditional furniture making out there as well. Maloof is a talented craftsman while Mckie is an artist. Her work is in a more sculptural vein and she has been involved in bronze casting in the last few years along with woodworking.
Castle is credited with breaking down the wall between craft and art. Other's have helped, but Castle's work has been publisehed in Art magazines which was unheard of in the past
Then there's Kristina Madsen who's on the same level as Wharton Esherick, Castle, Maloof, etc. She makes about 7 pieces a years and it's what she feels like making. She's beyond the point of accepting commisions for work. She lives in the next town over from me.
To each his own. Not everyone likes Studio Furniture but it's my reason for woodworking.
Rick, I let this thread slip my mind, I got distracted by slot mortisers. Thanks for the links to Cambium Books and Woodwork. I will subscribe, and investigate.
You know, it's not that my level of skill is high, it's not, but I think you need to push yourself to learn. To me, that is a huge part of the fun of this hobby, learning how to do obscure things with wood. It's fun to be able to look at practically anything built of wood and be able to figure out how to build it.
You bring up good points about the tools you mentioned. I've been looking at the Sep/Oct 1986 issue for the better part of two weeks now, and I am absoulutly blown away by it's contents. Making a Chippendale chair, by hand, building a sliding bevel gauge, with brass or stainless steel, mortising machines, end mills for mortising, and a really great write up on Thomas Moser. Wow. There are a couple duds, like wood screws vs drywall screws, no wait, that's a good question. I can get through a new FWW in a day, and for this one to go two weeks either means I need more spare time, or there is more interesting information. Probably a little of both.
Steve
Not disagreeing but the way I look at it is - as our skills as woodworkers increase so does our reliance on training material - such as magazines. I've found that I learn more by doing or taking a class for one-on-one instruction.
From a personal perspective - when I look back at old mags I discount them due to the "style" of furniture being built more than anything. It's tough for me to read through (with interest) to find the nuggets that you have found.
Sorry it took so long to respond. Check out my just posted response to Rick, I really don't think skill level difference has much to do with my perspective of where FWW is today.
I'll buy that some of the stuff is really dated, I hate studio furniture, but to get two weeks of good reading out of one magazine speaks for itself. Much of woodworking was invented hundreds of years ago, so a magazine that was written two decades ago probably is not automatically obsolete.
If you can, find Sep/Oct 1986, and see what you think. I'd be curious to know if it is just me or if you see the difference too.
Steve
Those of us who have subscribed from the beginning got a postal in the mail from Paul Roman telling us about a new kind of woodworking magazine. There were already plenty of project oriented publications on the market in the 70's including wonderful reprints of the Deltagram - a great project oriented magazine.
What Paul Roman offered was - and these were his words - the woodworking version of Scientific American. And he produced that in 1976 - one example in issue 5 (if my memory is correct) where everything you ever wanted to know about threading wood appears in the main article and sidebars.
Alas we are now in the third generation of Romans who have to worry about growing the business - their grandfather's original concept long ago forgotten. In the consulting business we had a saying - rags to rags in 3 generations. Wonder if the Romans ever heard it?
http://www.furnituresociety.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=5
This is a piece she finished about 2 years ago. The squiggles are raised and not incised into the wood. That makes a big difference in the time required. I'm afraid the picture doesn't do the piece justice.
She gave a lecture at the Smith College Museum at that time and showed some of her new and old work. She got a fellowship some years back and studied with a master Fiji carver. Her carving has a lace like quality.
I have them all from issue #1. FWW started down hill with the change to the smaller format. You are right, I almost read all of a new issue, but I go back to the old ones over and over. Ahh, those were the good old days….
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