‘Woodworking Magazine’ Issues 1-16 Now Available Again

We’ve been sold out for a while of our compilation CD of issues 1-16 of Woodworking Magazine, and folks have been asking for it. So I’m delighted to report that we now have it back in stock, with limited availability.

For those of you unfamiliar with Woodworking Magazine, it’s a 32-page 2-color-interior (black and sepia-toned) labor of love written entirely by the Popular Woodworking editors, that was published from 2004-2009. It had no ads, no extra staff and a lot of great woodworking information. (After ceasing publication, we folded some of the WM approach into PWM…and regained some much needed hours of rest).

But I do wish we could have continued this niche publication (though not at the expense of our sanity); it was great fun on which to work, particularly for a writer, because we had room for words, words, words, and the freedom to indulge in editorial approaches that don’t work in a magazine intended for a wider and more varied readership.

Each issue was put together essentially like a mini book. We’d introduce a must-have tool, test various makes of it and teach you how to use it. Then, we’d offer up a simple project using that tool and the techniques just explained, then a larger, more advanced project that built on the skills just practiced. And each issue’s finishing article related back to one of the projects as well (plus there was a glossary to explain perhaps-unfamiliar terms used in the “book,” and a back cover “poster” with lovely illustrations and information on must-know woodshop subjects including wood types, sandpaper, try squares and router collets). The projects were all classics – Arts & Crafts, Shaker and other time-tested styles.

I love that approach – but it’s darn near impossible to sustain in a magazine such as Popular Woodworking, which is 60-70 percent freelance written. Plus – and perhaps most important – it’s somewhat limiting in terms of what can be covered in every issue; it’s simply not a viable approach for a magazine that reaches more than 100,000 readers, all of whom have varied and wide-reaching woodworking interests. (That said, we are going to start folding in to PWM a few more of the WM ideas, starting in the June issue.)

So there – a long-winded way of simply letting you know that the Woodworking Magazine 1-16 CD is back in stock, and if you don’t have it, well, I think you should (if the approach above appeals).

— Megan Fitzpatrick

p.s. Below, you’ll find screen grab of each TOC – click on the image to make it large enough to read (and, if you’re interested in only a single download of an issue, click on the title and it will take you to that issue in the store)

March 2004
Cover story is a classic Shaker hanging cabinet

September 2004
Cover story is a classic Shaker side table w/drawer

March 2005
Cover story is a small Stickley bookcase

September 2005
Cover story is Christopher Schwarz’s first Roubo bench

March 2006
Cover story is an Enfield Shaker Cabinet

September 2006
Cover story is a Shaker trestle table

March 2007
Cover story is an Arts & Crafts mirror with inlay

September 2007
Cover story is the Holtzapffel workbench

Spring 2008
Cover story is two Stickley tabouret tables

Summer 2008
Cover story is a maple blanket chest with finger joints

Autumn 2008
Cover story is an American hanging cupboard based on a Wallace Nutting piece

Winter 2008
Cover story is a Stickley tile-topped plant stand

Spring 2009
Cover story is an 18th-century Connecticut Dry Sink

Summer 2009
Cover story is a Stickley sideboard (among my favorite pieces we’ve built in my eight years on staff)

Autumn 2009
Cover story is Christopher Schwarz’s “1839 School Box”

Winter 2009
Cover story is a three-legged Chinese stool