Thread: What's your favourite Woodworking Mag?

WE should all be supporting the localy produced Australian Magazines first !!!
Even if the OS Mags seem to be better.

Which they should be if you look at the population of America and England and the massive volume of mags that they sell each month and also the amount of advertisers

At least we have the choice of very different magazines, running on a very limited bugdet and with only a low volume of magazines printed each month.

I also think that we Aussie Woodworkers do a very good job at producing some fine magazines, with articles that are up to date, not to technical for the average Joe Blow and with reviews and testing of products that are equal if not better than some of the other OS Mags.

After all look at the Aussies that built the Triton, Giffkins Jig, Ubeat Polishes, Etc. need we say more?

My vote goes to AW, AWR & Woodsmith Equally.

Regards,

Australian Woodsmith, even though the hints and tips with the offer of a free subscription are a bit sus.
I have seen the same hints and tips in the USA variety up to a year earlier yet we are conned into believing that a 'local' has taken the pot of gold.
That aside, some of the projects are good and easy to follow.
Product reviews are somewhat non committal but I live with that.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Looks like AWR and FWW are on the must have list. No surprises there. I've bought both off the stand in the past.

I apologise to the turners for not including Woodturning. The poll only allows you 10 options and I overlooked this one as I'm not in to woodturning in a big way (yet). That's why I put the "other" option there and you have highlighted my ignorance, so thanks.

I also overlooked scroll sawing, carving, intarsia, pyrography etc., so apologies to anyone else whose favourite magazine wasn't there.

Good points about the advertising. To be honest, I tend not to look at the ads much anyway, being one of the TV generation my brain switches them off.

Also good point Joe on the reviews. In the past, I've seen magazines with a review of a product and, on the next page, a full page ad for the same product. I think I'd look elsewhere for impartial reviews.

Thanks again everyone. No-one was offended by the lurking remark, I hope? It did elicit some responses

I voted for AWR. I like the colour pics ... I find that if I like something I want to make I can suss out whats involved simply because the photography is usually of high quality. eg: in the last issue there was a picture of a carving called "tree" made from a jarrah burl - I love it - I will make one for myself one day

the things I like most about AWR are :

good spread of oz wide ads (inc schooling etc...)
pic quality
article quality
no pictures of bikini's draped over a felder!
quarterly publication thus I can afford to buy rather than borrow
less repetative nature of article subject
at the last sydney wood show I went to the stand to buy back copies and the lady let me buy 8 mags for $40 then threw in another 3 for free....

the things I dislike are :
when comparing tools or machinary they mostly DO NOT state implicitly "this is the best tool" they simply state that this one is ok for this and this one is ok for that. I want definative opinions dammit!!! especially for high end machinary - I wouldnt mind them introducing a weighting system of measures that allocated points on toolware features.
The web page is basically an ad with letters to the editor thrown in.

anyway thats my bit - i'll throw another log on - surely the fire is getting lower by now....

Scrollsaw Workshop is my main wood magazine, but also get the Australian Woodworker at times

Have you ever noticed when you're sitting around a fire that there is always someone who the smoke follows? We had this guy when I used to go walking who always attracted the smoke. We made him sit on the other side of the fire to keep the smoke away from us. If he came around and sat on the other side, the smoke would invariably follow him around. Quite eerie, actually.

On the subject of reviews and ratings, I suppose they could be a bit less non-commital in their findings. However, the problem is how to develop a rating system that is equitable.

There was an article in the SMH a couple of months ago in which the journo decided he was going to answer the ultimate question: which is better, Mac or PC? In the end, his finding was that the Macintosh was better, even though he only scored the Mac higher than the PC in 2 out of 6 categories.

The one that clinched it for him was 'Style & Design', where he gave the PC 4/10 and the Mac 9/10. This obliterated the differences in the other 5 categories and made the Mac the outright winner. But if you were buying a home computer, would you put the look of the thing ahead of the availability of software?

So how would you come up with a scale that reflected what was really important in a product? The best they could probably do would be to have a number of categories, such as "value for money", "accuracy", "ease of setup" etc. and give a score on each. Then you would have to decide how important each of those categories was to you and whether you could accept 2/10 for "ease of setup" if "value for money" was 8/10.

I think I'd better have another beer...

I voted for FWW but I also subscribe to AWR and AWW so they should get a vote from me as well. The other 2 mags that I subscribe to are WOOD and Shopnotes. Yes I know that is 5 mags but I get a little out of each that the others do not have. It sets me back around $250 a year for them all but for the knowledge etc that I gain I consider it a small price.

If I only learn one thing from each then it is a huge bonus for me

I agree however with what several other have pointed out, in a couple of the Aussie produced mags they are direct reprints of the US ones with dimensions and materials changed for Australia, this however IMHO is not a bad thing as it means I do not have to do that work myself and gives me more time to create sawdust.

I voted (and subscribe to) Australian Wood Review as it is well produced with high quality photos and it is aimed towards the middle to upper end of the market. I find the ads to be one of the best parts ..... finding new products that are available in Australia and at Australian prices. I also like to look at the small ads in the back of the smaller suppliers and check out websites if they have them ...... there really should be an increase of the smaller suppliers putting their products on line to at least view if not buy.

I also subscribe to Australian Woodworker. The quality isn't as high and many of the projects are lacking design quality but what the hell ..... it reminds me very much of this board . My view of this mag seems to be more aimed at the retired weekend woodie .... but that being said I don't complain when it comes in.

I bought Australian Toymaker who is by the Australian Woodworker people ..... its an annual publication but I felt that it was of a low standard. Many of the toys made were poorly finished in both quality of construction and presentation, the designs were from the ark and I wasn't at all enspired. The train toybox was amoung the best. Something about seeing a toy car that resembles the Flintstones mobile with out of round 19mm pine wheels doesn't float my boat. Sorry.

I also subscribe to the following but that is for different reasons ....

Architecture Australia
Houses
Australian Jaguar
Renew.

So there you have it a snap shot of Stinkies bedtime reading

My vote is with Australian Wood Review. I find this to be a professional looking publication with some good project ideas and interesting articles. As some others have said the tool “reviews” are a bit weak though. These often seem to be a list of what is available and what the features and prices are. Never seems to be any real comparison or criticism. I like the American tool reviews where they provide opinions, even if they can be subjective.

I’m not a big fan of Australian Woodworker. The Neil Scobie furniture plans are good but in general the content is not what I’m interested in. For me there is too much emphasis on carving and turning. The magazine also seems to supplement the content with a lot of articles from home enthusiasts which give it a bit a low budget feel. The home enthusiasts are obviously talented and enjoy their work but some of the projects are pretty obscure and I can’t see they would have wide appeal (eg building a rose engine, hobo pliers, carving miniature bellows?). Anyway, I’m sure some people love it but it’s not my cup of tea.

Cheers
George

I've voted for Fine Woodworking, although Australian Wood Review comes a close second.

Another not mentioned is Furniture and Cabinetmaking out of the UK - it's authors and editors are cabinetmakers and it's similar quality of articles on a slightly cheaper paper. www.gmcmags.com (no affiliation)

I teach woodwork for a living and find that these three cover most furniture requirements (but not carving or turning, as previously said).

Cheers,

eddie

to me fine woodworking is a fine magazine indeed, but some of their articles etc are very elitist and to far from the normal amateur. furniture and cabinetmaking is by faaaaaaar the best magazine around. comes in at around 12.20 from the uk and has brilliant, practical and inspiring articles. david charlesworth is a regular contributer, which i really enjoy. they also use euro/australian machines (actual crosscut tables, no phucking sleds without guards!).

peace

I subsribed to AWR at the last Working With Wood show but also buy Aussie Woodworker at the newsagents as each issue arrives. Both are good but cater to slightly different markets. I feel AWR gives info about the high end which most of us aspire to but Woodworker is aimed at where we are really at. I am very much a novice so can learn from pretty much anywhere at tjis stage. Would love to see a Triton specific mag come out if any publishers are reading this forum!!!!!!!!!!

I don't subscribe to any magazines as my postie (I'm sure)
takes delight in creasing them in half and ramming them
into my letter box tearing the pages. :mad:
I have the newsagent hold my copies of AWW & AWS

I suppose I'll have to cave in and buy an Ozzy Post "Approved" letterbox.

Yup, Woodturning magazine. As a beginner I see things in it I haven't seen before, even after reading my late teacher's half a dozen woodturning books.