Almost 3 years ago I wrote a blog post wondering if woodworkers generally were a conservative bunch.
I started that post because Popular Woodworking Magazine had made some changes to their homepage which I didn't really like. And I ended up thinking that I would just have to wait and see if it was indeed a change for the worse.
A couple of days ago, I visited the homepage again, for the first time in maybe a year or so. I have to admit that I was utterly disappointed. The once vibrant community that followed most blog posts there seemed to be dead and gone.
Earlier there would be maybe a banner ad for Bessey clamps or Forrest blades etc. But always something woodworking related.
Now when you go to the blog section, half the page is filled with clickbait links advertising for stuff like "ecological Viagra" and "You won't believe this video - watch it before it is banned"
I let my subscription lapse some years ago, because the quality of the magazine took a hefty dip. And I have to say that looking at the homepage wouldn't make me think about subscribing again.
I hope that the magazine has been able to attract some new readers, because I would guess that they have managed to push some old readers away in the process.
Hard to know if woodworkers are or aren't conservative. Some could have more of an artistic slant and I tend to think of artists as more liberal BUT I do know conservative artists as well.
ReplyDeleteAs for Popular Woodworking, I haven't been thrilled with the changes either. I had stopped my subscription as well. About nine months ago, I got something in the mail that had a real inexpensive subscription price so I re-subscribed. I'm guessing they are trying to increase their subscription based so they can charge accordingly for ads as well.
When I say conservative I mean it in a non political way. More like traditionalist, old school, old fashioned, etc.
DeleteSomeone not too happy with things a'changing :-)
I actually noticed some of the decline in the last issues of the magazine that I got. It was again the choice of ads that were a bit disturbing.
When I looked at the issues from 2009-2013, all the ads were somehow woodworking related. Suddenly there were ads for shower cabinets, franklin mint model cars, medicine etc. And it seemed as though these got carried over to the home page as well.
In addition to that, none of the projects seemed to appeal to me anymore. When I look in the older magazines, I would generally like to build maybe 80% of the projects in each issue. (Not that I did build them all though, but I liked them).
In the latest issues I would rarely find a single project that sparked my interest, and I don't think it is just because I got a few years older. To me it seemed that the quality and level of projects dropped significantly. Which might attract a new base of subscribers, but I doubt it.
Brgds
Jonas
Hi Jonas. I haven't been on the PW web page in years and I don't plan on visiting any time soon. As you know, I have stayed away from most forums and blogs for a long time, and it seems that many of them are either very diminished or no longer exist.
ReplyDeleteI would probably consider myself a conservative in many ways, but not ultra conservative. Strangely enough, the only professional blog I visit on occasion is Lost Art Press. Last year the government gave out Stimulus money, which I personally believe was a mistake, but that is just a personal opinion. So my wife and I decided to use it to support local and American businesses. So one of the things I purchased was a slide analog computer from LAP for chair making. I have perhaps a dozen of those calculators for everything from choosing motor overload sizes to voltage drop to determining where stars are in the sky, so I have a sort of sentimental place in my heart for them. This year the government gave out another stimulus, which once again I didn't agree with, so I used some of the money to purchase the woodworker's pocket book from LAP. I chose them because I know they do their best to use local and/or American manufacturers.
It's just a shame to not only see magazines fading out so quickly, but even many of the internet and YouTube channels are disappearing.
Your friend,
Bill
Hi Bill
DeleteGood to hear from you :-)
I like the idea of supporting local business, as that makes sense to me.
I never got much into watching Youtube videos of woodworking, but I miss reading a good magazine.
Maybe the woodworking population is just too small to hold up more good magazines? Some people have mentioned that projects became a bit repetitive and I can agree to that. But if we look at car magazines or motorcycle magazine, I have seen my fair share of Triton rebuilds (Triumph engine in a Norton frame) And I would guess that hunting magazines or gun magazines might have featured some articles that had been covered before, like "how to prepare your shotgun for the upcoming season" or "Deer hunting in Minnesota".
But still those magazines seem to carry on.
I personally think that to me the problem with the magazine was that when they let go of Glen Huey, Robert Lang and Chuck Bender, the quality of the articles and projects just changed too radically.
I am not saying that the people they employed after that weren't good woodworkers, they just wrote differently and that didn't really work for me.
And when the non woodworking ads began appearing in the magazine, It was a deal breaker to me.
Brgds
Jonas
I quite honestly haven't read a woodworking magazine in several years. Last Christmas my daughter gave me a "Woodsmith" compilation magazine which contained approximately 15 or so projects, but it was more of a project plans book than a magazine, as there were no articles or opinions in it.
DeleteI still watch some Paul Sellers videos on occasion, but it's pretty rare that I do it. I've looked around and I am just not finding anything that I truly enjoy.
I still maintain that the magazines shot themselves in the foot with the hand tool/power tool battle. I still can't figure out why the need to run down either method, either way you end up alienating part of your audience. There is more than enough room in a magazine to feature both methods singularly and combined, without turning it into a philosophical debate on which is better, and what is "destroying the craft", and who is more skilled...it was stupid, and nobody won, as is often the case in a debate. Rather, it seems like both sides lost.
Bill
Hi Bill
DeleteI think you have a very valid point in the hand tool vs power tool debate. And it is a bit weird, because I have never heard of anyone who disliked another person because of he/she used a different kind of tools than they did.
I have actually never been able to pinpoint exactly what power tool is the instrument of evil?
I long suspected that the router was the tipping point, because if you used a cordless drill to drill a few holes, then you seemed pretty safe. An random orbit sander seemed OK too.
Not many people would object if people used a circular saw to rip some boards.
But if you used a router and a jig to make some dovetails.. Well eternal damnation was almost guaranteed!
Brgds
Jonas
You're right, and now there are hardly any magazines left to argue one way or the other.
DeleteI dropped several subscriptions over the past few years. PW was almost one of them, but I was learning one or two things in most issues so kept renewing. Nearly everything related to power tools is skipped over, as well as half or more of the projects, so an issue lasts me less than 30 minutes. I hit their website once in a while to read older articles but ignore all the rest.
ReplyDeleteMy only long-term sub is Fine Woodworking. In the last 2-3 years I added Furniture & Cabinetmaking (UK) and Australian Wood Review, both in electronic form. F&C seemed to go downhill (from my conservative/ old fashioned view) when Derek Jones left, but still hanging with them for now.
Hi Jeff
DeleteThanks for commenting.
I think that the last issues I got also took about 30 minutes, which is a stark contrast to the earlier issues that I would read cover to cover and then still come back and re-read them.
I have never really thought about getting an electronic subscription, but I see how that could be an option.
I once bought an issue of Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking a the same time, and after reading those I decided to go with Popular Woodworking.
I have considered giving FW a chance, but so far I haven't done it.
Like you say with the downhill slide starting with one guy leaving, I think the same happened to me when Glen Huey, Robert Lang and Chuck Bender left.
Chris Schwarz did an amazing job for the magazine, and I think that Megan did OK too, but I guess that she wasn't given free reins - and then it sort of dwindled (in my opinion)
I also felt that the newest issues were sort of thin. I would rather have 6 issues per year that were well made instead of 10 or 12 that are just slapped together.
That was actually one of the really good things about the old "Woodworking Magazine" with 2 issues per year. The same with "Mortise and Tenon".
Brgds
Jonas
There was a time, late 90s ehen i used to buy each months, Popular woodworking, Wood magazine, Fine Woodworking, Woodsmith and Shop Notes. I have long discontinued them all. Pop was my last one to left a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteToo many repetitions, lost interest, did not like the direction they were moving to etc.
Bob, who buy every issue of Mortise and Tenon at Lee Valley :-)
Hi Bob
DeleteThanks for commenting.
I didn't like the way PWM were moving in when I stopped renewing my subscription. The magazine had become too thin and especially the choice of ads irritated me.
To me it is a tell tale sign that something is wrong, if the ads suddenly are completely different to what you would expect to see in relation to the content of the magazine.
So that was how I felt it when there were weird ads for medicine and shower cabinets etc. instead of ads from tool vendors and machines.
I have only heard good things about Mortise and Tenon, but I haven't got a place to buy it in Denmark.
A friend of mine subscribes to it, but due to stupid import regulations, he has to pay import duty, VAT and a handling fee for every issue resulting in an additional 35$ for every issue.
Brgds
Jonas
Very Very Informative Blog..!!! Keep Writing and Sharing The Amazing Content
ReplyDeleteBest Woodworking Plans USA 2021