Crapola mags....

[ondablade]

Bloody hell! Is it just me, or have the UK woodworking mags really dumbed down their content in recent years? I took one for several years in the late 90s and it was quite good, but recently is very patchy.

Several on the market these days seem to be at about the level of making plant boxes and the like - using cheapo tools that simply are not good enough for cabinet work.

I paid out €7 tonight for a polythene sealed 'Complete Guide to Hand and Power Tools' by one of the mags. To find when I opened it that it dealt only with e.g. DIY grade green Bosch and similar level power tools, and in a an article on plane selection had the only UK maker as the sole representative of what you might call professional quality tools.

It was in the bin in less than five minutes. Yet not much more than twice that amount will buy a year's sub to a quality US cabinet making mag.

While i'm at it - you could ask some tough questions too about who and how the shots are called on the kit that gets into articles.

Trash TV is bad enough. I've bought one of the motorcycling mags since i was a kid in the late 60s, but stopped it a couple of years ago as it had become just another hype ridden tabloid. Surely not the woodworking mags now as well????

Am i just having a bad evening?????

ian

 

[wizer]

You are right in most cases. But have you seen British Woodworking? V.good

 

[Ironballs]

Furniture & Cabinetmaking tends to keep the standards pretty high as well, new Ed just started as too....

 

[woodbloke]

Furniture & Cabinetmaking tends to keep the standards pretty high as well, new Ed just started as too....

One of my really big concerns with F&C was the 'dumbing down' issue which had started to creep in after the departure of Michael Huntley. I've spoken at length to the deputy ed, Andrea and the new ed Derek Jones (who is a cabinet maker by profession) about the way he sees the mag progressing. His view is that there will be more stuff (if that's what I heard correctly) on the 'top end' makers and the way they go about the business.
I agree though that there's an awful lot of garbage on the shelves at WHS, most of which is not worth buying and fit only for a cursory glance if you do.
As regards the 'murrican mags they are generally excellent in my view, as well they should be. FWW has a circulation in the 'states that's about ten times + (or so I was told) that of F&C in the UK, which ultimately means they've got far more $$$$$'s to throw at each issue. What I find intensely annoying about the 'murrican mags is their completely cavalier attitude to machine safety, which is the reason I don't subscribe. F&C (and similar mags in this country) though is a bit hidebound by advertising pressure, which is where much of the revenue comes from, so in some cases it has to dance to the manufacturer's wishes...'he who pays the piper etc'
I like BW and subscribe to it, but there are issues with the style of textural presentation that irk me, so I won't be taking out a further sub when this one ends.
My two euros, as ever - Rob

 

[ste_5150]

Speaking of BW, anyone know where they're generally stocked? I was interested in an article someone mentioned about edge planing techniques, but when I went to WH Smiths (the only place that seems to stock woodworking mags around here) it's not in there.

 

[Oryxdesign]

I like British Woodworking too.

 

[woodbloke]

Speaking of BW, anyone know where they're generally stocked? I was interested in an article someone mentioned about edge planing techniques, but when I went to WH Smiths (the only place that seems to stock woodworking mags around here) it's not in there.

Speak to Nick Gibbs directly on this forum...he's a member - Rob

 

[Ironballs]

Smiths and Borders usually have it.

Agree with you Rob about the US mags, they do focus on higher end stuff but they are also packed with pictures of unguarded table saws. Though reading the latest FWW it does appear that new saws in the US now have to come with a riving knife - probably the first thing that will get removed when they're in the shop

 

[lurker]

Bloody hell! Is it just me, or have the UK woodworking mags really dumbed down their content in recent years?
ian

Whilst agreeing with the others my guess is To some extent its (but not just) you.

When I started to get interested in WW every mag was interesting & took me ages to read.

Now they lack depth and I rarely bother.
Most tools advertised in them I would not touch with a barge pole and the tests just want dismissing as Advertisers A licks.
Having said that Andy King seemed to be forthright about the new Stanleys ( I read the article standing in WHS :twisted: )

I subscribe to BW as it has a slight edge & like to support Nick

I also subscribe to USA Pop Wood but last paid when $2 = £1, time will tell if I renew, most likely not

 

[ste_5150]

Speak to Nick Gibbs directly on this forum...he's a member - Rob

Will PM him - thanks.

 

[ondablade]

Thank you guys. You've got some points there Lurker that really vibe with me, in that i've been doing a lot of mag trawling in recent times and find myself becoming much more selective too.

That said it was F&C i had the subs for, and i thought it had got patchy in the past year. I'll buy a few more and see what happens, and will try BW too. Thanks for the steer guys.

Speaking generally machine and equipment reviews seem to me to be problematical. I'm sure it's as you say partly commercial pressures, but i can't help feeling too that writers have a tendency to be lazy (or editors unprepared to pay fo decent journalism) - to be satisfied with rolling out a few stock cliches based on at best a very cursory impression rather than anything like an in depth evaluation.

My personal bugbear in this regard is the tendency to take high and low end machines, and to write in very similar terms about both. 'it performs as you would expect.' So.....????

The US mags can be better, but not always by that much. Hand tool reviews are great fun, many reach wildly different conclusions. (chisels really cause confusion)

There's usually little or no effort made to in a factual way place a machine in the price/capability range - to do enough testing to bring out what the better machines do well, and the others do not. e.g. user experience of the supplier, ease of set up, accuracy, repeatability, capability (thicknesses etc), specific strengths and weaknesses, likelihood of a decent service life, and as important as anything the 'feel good' 'clunk click' factor. Do you spend 15 min trying to get back to a blade height setting because the adjustment is a bit notchy, or do you just wind it to the gauge/mark?

You might imagine by now that there would be standard review templates in use...

It's no trivial issue when you are buying expensive equipment, it's so easy to get suckered into buying the wrong stuff until you have a fair amount of experience. Which is not easy if you don't have local suppliers or other users.

Thank goodness for forums like this one...

 

[dickm]

From regular and irregular buying of woodwork mags over longer than I care to remember, it seems to me that most of them go through various cycles. I've got a complete run of Woodworker from 1939 to the late 1990s, and it has phases when it was editorially excellent (I reckon the 1980s were exceptionally good) and phases when it was c**p. It went into one of these declines in the 90s, although one I bought recently did seem a bit better.
But the other cycle is perhaps inevitable - there's always going to be new readers who haven't seen "how to do a fine dovetail/hammer veneering/biscuit jointing/whatever, so editors can repeat these articles about every 5-10 years. OK, in the process they lose some old hands, but hope to gain a few new ones in exchange. But for the old hands, there comes a point where they don't want to read these basics (and not so basics) again. So catering for both audiences is a difficult balancing act.
Not surprisingly, most of the mags get it wrong some/much of the time for different readers. And the power of the advertisers will never get less, unless we readers are prepared to pay a lot higher cover prices (which, to a pensioner, now seem pretty high anyway - certainly a lot higher relative to the general run of prices than was the case in the 1980s, say)

 

[yetloh]

I agree with pretty much all that has been said.

F&C has gone stale. The tool and machinery reviews are very superficial and the projects largely uninspiring. It would be good to see some proper comparative reviews using standardised test but they don't have the budget for it. Also, useful though projects and tool reviews can be there is more to life and it would be nice to see some more intellectual depth. Let us hope it improves under the new editor.

Nick has recognised the need for depth and has some good writers on board at British Woodworking. That he is on the right track is, I think, confirmed by the positive comments BW gets in the forums. I have only two real criticisms of BW; first, there is far too much sloppy editing and second, the design is looking pretty old fashioned to my eyes.

I never buy the more beginner level magazines because that is not where I am, but I think I would hesitate anyway, mainly because the designs for projects are almost always such clunky rubbish. There is no reason why good design cannot be straightforward to make and therefore suitable for the beginner.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Mags are generally aimed at beginners. In every sphere one will soon reach a level where the mags are no longer of use or interest as your skills and knowledge progress. I would estimate one or two years from beginner to beyond mags for a reasonably skilled hobbiest.

There seems to be a lot of support for British Woodworker on the forum as possibly the best british publication - for myself, I rarely see anything of interest in it and leave it on the shelf with the rest.

Personally I don't buy any of them any more except Popular Woodworking and (more so) Fine Woodworking.

 

[mark w]

I emailed the the GMC group editor Mark Baker when he was standing in after Michael Huntley left. I put some points to him regarding the decline of F&C, which in my view started when Michael Huntley took over. What prompted my letter was the piece Alan Holtam was doing in issue 158, which in my opinion was more of a diy project rather than top end cabinet making. I also asked if there was really a need to review a battery powered drill in every issue and asked why he was not reviewing more tools by the likes of Blue Spruce, Bridge City e.t.c.His response was positive and he seemed to put a lot of faith in the new editor Derek Jones and as it happened he had some Bridge city tools that are about to be reviewed. on the downside though in the latest F&C I read the new editors opening letter and to be quite honest it made little sense to me, I just hope his editorial skills are better.
I subsrcibe to F&C, British Woodworking and Living Woods, at the moment my favorite is Penthouse no I mean British Woodworking
Regards, Mark W

 

[ProShop]

Mark W,

I too took issue with the same article in F&C in another thread on this forum. This article by Alan Hotham had also been in an another British mag a while back proving that recycling between mags does indeed take place. It certainly wasn't suitable for F&C imho.

And I agree with the tools reviews in the same mag.

It came as a shock to me when it was revealed recently that some advertisers paid for their product reviews to be in the mag, which is hardly independent in my view. I wonder how much Record power are paying to have their machines in various articles every month :roll: :roll: .

Rant over :lol:

 

[big soft moose]

I like british woodworking and living woods - but i still miss trad wood which was my favourite by a long way

 

[woodbloke]

I have only two real criticisms of BW; first, there is far too much sloppy editing and second, the design is looking pretty old fashioned to my eyes.


Jim

Agree on both counts - Rob

 

[mark w]

If the decline of F&C continues my subscription will be cancelled, I did not realize articles were recycled and ended up in multiple magazines, this is very poor. In the latest issue I also think Kevin Ley is on a slippery slope,his cabinet is constructed with Dominoes, Biscuits and Pocket screws, not one hand cut joint. What will be the next time saving shortcut for him, cam and dowels and the customer assembles the piece at home!
What F&C needs is someone like Chris Swarz of American Woodworking, a real enthusiast, I`m sure if we were posting comments about his magazine we would get a post from him. Nothing I see has been posted by the F&C editors, they`ve really got a finger on the woodworking pulse---not!

Regards, Mark W

 

[OPJ]

What F&C needs is someone like Chris Swarz of American Woodworking, a real enthusiast, I`m sure if we were posting comments about his magazine we would get a post from him. Nothing I see has been posted by the F&C editors, the`ve really got a finger on the woodworking pulse---not!

That's an interesting comment, Mark. From time to time, we see editors of all the other British magazines posting here on the forum. Admittedly, some more often than others but, I do not believe I have ever seen an F&C editor (past or present) post here or on any other woodworking site. :?