Magazines Fine Woodworking
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Repeated Content
If you subscribe to more than one Taunton Direct publications you will start to see some of the same content repeated. After getting both Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding I'm not suprised to see similar stories.

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Rating: - Great resource
This magazine has something for woodworkers at every level, from raw beginner to professional. The mix of articles includes side by side product comparisons, how-to pieces at different levels, tool sharpening hints, finishing materials and techniques, and photo galleries of magnificent work.

This month, the tool test covers a range of cabinet saws, roughly in the $1K-3K range. It applies the same criteria to each model, with emphasis on the precision of the machine parts - an absolute necessity for precision in the finished work. The nicely echoes another article on setting up your own machine tools, with directions for checking their accuracy for yourself.

Some articles are aimed specifically at the novice, while others clearly assume advanced skills and a well-equipped shop. Speaking as someone with low-to-mid skills, I find both useful. I'm a bit beyond some of the advice, and not ready to use other parts of it, but I like that. It gives me something to look forward to, when I'm free to get back to woodworking again. It's an enjoyable bit of wishful thinking in the mean time, but a lot more presentable than that other kind of "men's magazine".

//wiredweird

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Rating: - Great for starting out, but now i'm bored
After 6 years I'm finally letting my subscription end. Its a great magazine for starting out, but after a while the articles begin seeming to be very alike. New ideas are now a rarity in Fine Woodworking, and that was the original reason that I subscribed. There are very few technique articles and too many tool reviews. And I've become skeptical of those review articles--primarily because many, but not all, are not rigorous scientific tests and are subject to the author's preferences, yet those articles are not presented that way. Furthermore, I believe that the magazine in general has dropped considerably in quality and definitely in content over the past few years. I'd have given it 5 stars in the begining, but now its just average.

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Rating: - Only subscription that lasted
I jumped into woodworking four years ago and have had 5 woodworking magazine subscriptions over the four years. I started with Fine Woodworking and now it's all that's left. Nothing else compares.

If you think the price is too high (compared to the others) just remember: like woodworking tools, you get what you pay for.