On Tue, 20 Apr 1999 17:09:08 -0500, Rick Garza wrote:
>I found the article more of an intro than a 'comparison'. The only
>thing I came away with was that as a general rule you get what you pay
>for.
Well, that's not strictly true, since the SJB didn't fare too well, but the
Record did pretty well. In general, correct, though. The L-N and Holtey
being compared with Anant or modern English Stanley is kind of like
comparing Bentleys and BMWs with Neons and Metros. In that kind of
comparison, you do get what you pay for.
I think it was a decent comparison, not just an intro. Not in-depth, but at
least as well-done as the comparison on tailed cabinet saws in the same
issue, which was much better than most p*w*rt**l reviews I have seen in the
magazines for years. In both articles, the pluses *and minuses* were
spelled out, with a useful mix of fact and opinion. Very good approach, and
a welcome alternative to polishing the boots of advertisers and reprinting
the manufacturers' specs, as some magazines formerly owned by Rodale have
been known to do.
>I for one, would have liked to see more detail concerning why the
>SJB faired so badly. It sounds like the iron wasnt heat treated
>properly.
That was one failing, clearly. But more importantly, the Norris-type
adjuster was recessed, completely obliterating one of its key features --
lateral adjustment.
>I was also intrigued by the use of A2 tool steel in the
>Holtey and perhaps Ron Hock can pitch in and educate us as to its
>pro's/con's.
I'll second that. Also, Ron, could you comment on his evaluation of the
various replacement irons and the two-piece cap iron? Either unbiased or
biased would be fine.
>Overall, it was a good intro for JoeNormie as to what's available and
>what to expect generally for his money.
I liked the fact that he covered virtually all of the types of new smoothers
currently available, including the Primus woodies and the Rali
bizarro-planes. The tailed demon review likewise covered a broad range and
had a sidebar on alternative big demons.
>I think if we all dropped a
>little email to FWW editorial staff thanking them for the article and
>asking for more comprehensive followups, Garrett maybe could look at
>shoulder planes, etc in more depth.
Now that Garrett Hack and Mike Dunbar are (apparently) regular contributors,
I think this magazine is going to be much more enjoyable. We should all let
Taunton Press know we appreciate the attention to hand tools, traditional
furniture construction, and the techniques associated with them.
>I have always felt like JoeNormie
>doesnt get why we use smoothers 'cause he has never seen a upclose
>comparison article thats convincing with pictures before/after
>finishing handtool vs machine.
Well put. Perhaps it would be good to have an article comparing hand and
machine techniques for one-off or small-lot projects. Some JoeNormies might
be surprised at how little time hand tooling takes, given the diminished
need for jigs and fixtures.
>In the past FWW didnt need to explain anything so basic, but I suspect
>that many new readers have outgrown the Wood/Popular Woodworking
>projects bend and are hungrier for the more 'meatier' aspects of Fine
>Woodworking and projects requiring more skill and craftsmanship.
FWW needed to reinvent itself. It had become a combination of high-end
production-oriented cabinetmaking and art furniture and had lost the art and
romance of woodworking. AW had also lost the art and romance of woodworking
and was targeting itself down a couple notches to the production cabinet
shops and Normite amateurs who graduated from Wood and PopWoodworking. FWW
tried moving the art furniture stuff to Home Furniture, along with a bunch
of good design- and philosophy- oriented stuff, degrading FWW into a
production cabinetmakers' magazine. There are only so many people
interested in how to bag-laminate a $10,000 veneered table or design
fixtures and jigs for a $10,000 set of cabinets, and the skills involved
don't translate well to lower-scale, noncommercial woodworking. AW has the
one-notch-up from Wood/PW for Normites niche nailed down, and Woodwork has
the Krenovite angle pretty well covered. So it needed to come up with a new
focus.
What to do? Target the professionals and sophisticated amateurs who are
interested in the skill, tools, process, design, craftsmanship, and
philosophy of woodworking. To some extent, it needed to return to its
roots.
How to do it? St. James Krenov and Nakashima are no longer available as
contributors. Answer: Make Mike Dunbar the new St. James and Garrett Hack
the new Sagdor Nagdalanzcy (??). Mario Rodriguez fits the model well, too.
Weave in some articles about interesting furniture design that will be of
interest to the abandoned Home Furniture readers, including designers and
architects. Result: A pretty good mixture. The magazine is getting better
with each issue. They also put out good books.
>Anything we can do to encourage FWW/Woodworking/American Woodworker
>towards more of these articles I imagine is taken into consideration
>in editorial decisions on what to run.
I suspect AW is a lost cause. FWW hasn't done a router table cover story
recently, and doesn't do an annual p*w*rt**l catalog^H^H^H^H^H^H^H issue as
AW does. I still subscribe to both, but FWW is much more to my liking.
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Michael D. Sullivan, Bethesda, Md., USA
avogadro@b... (also avogadro@w...)
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