Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Snob magazine
This overpriced magazine is great for the elitist woodworker, but it is hopelessly out-of-touch with most woodworkers, even those with advanced skills. It has few projects, and the few project articles it does have are totally lacking in the details and illustrations needed to actually build the project. Makes me wonder why the magazine includes these articles at all. The articles on techniques get into esoteric details that are completely absurd. Sure, a machinist has to be concerned about a few thousandths when it comes to cutting accuracy, but a woodworker? This book is worn as a badge of snobbery, but it is of little practical value to the average reader.
Rating:  - Fine-est Woodworking
Once upon a time there was a magazine published on glossy paper, oversized, and printed in black and white. It covered high-quality, slightly artsy, woodworking and woodworkers. Sometimes it was a little hard for the average home woodworker to relate to some of the content, but it was a compelling magazine none-the-less. Yes, that magazine was Fine Woodworking, in its early incarnation.Since that time, Fine Woodworking has developed into a mainstay of the woodworking world. Long printed in full color, the magazine continues to offer coverage of some of the more esoteric woodworking designs and woodworkers, but most of the content is geared towards the dedicated woodworking enthusiast. While it seems that most of the content is dedicated to furniture buiilders, there is something for everything in this magazine. If you are looking for home repair and carpentry, you won't find it here, but you will find information on woodworking techniques, tools and finishing. I subscribe to few magazines because I just don't have the time to read them all. For woodworking , this is the one magazine I will not do without.
Rating: - Sooner or Later...
Many have heard the old Copenhagen snuff ad that stated, "Sooner or later it is Copenhagen!". Well, that is exactly how it goes with Fine Woodworking. Some say it isn't filled with enough projects and they are too difficult, some say the articles are way too technical, and even others say that the reviews are too critical. Response: Yes and no. If you don't want your tools to last a lifetime, then the reviews are too critical. If you want a project that you can be proud of your entire life and look at with pride, knowing it will become a family heirloom, then the projects are not to difficult, and after you spend 100 hours building something and another 30 to 50 hours sanding and finishing it, there aren't too few. And if you sincerely believe that ignorance is bliss, and education is the root of evil, then yes the articles are too technicle.For anyone that wants to become the best woodworker they can, then this is the magazine for you. Many start out with other magazines, "BUT SOONER OR LATER IT IS FINE WOODWORKING"!
|
