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Now available at ShopWoodworking.com: The February 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, in either print or digital (PDF) format.
Our cover story is a gorgeous tiger maple serpentine chest from Glen D. Huey, contributing editor. Make these curvaceous drawer fronts, and you’ll also have learned the technique to make a block-front chest and an oxbow chest (and with a well-tuned band saw, it’s not as tricky as you might think).
Woodwright Roy Underhill shares the story of the last passer drill – and his reproduction thereof – in his article on period pattern routing (watch him in action here in a free video).
In “Just Plane Round,” Charles Bender teaches us the same exercise in dowel-making one of his first instructors taught him: how to make a perfect dowel using only a handplane.
Mark Arnold, the editor of the Society of American Period Furniture‘s journal American Period Furniture, shows us how to make a “crossetted frame” – a mirror or picture frame that has bold projecting corners inspired by architectural mouldings that also deliver a lovely, eye-catching grain pattern.
In “Mirrors in Multiples,” Robert W. Lang, executive editor, not only teaches us how to make a handy hand-held mirror (a great gift project) but also how to plan for production runs of an item. (The project was one he made for years as he traveled the woodworking/craft fair show circuit.)
Gary Rogowski shares his methods for designing, making and installing custom handles to complement – not compete with – your doors and drawers in “Handle With Care.”
Plus, Arts & Mysteries columnist Adam Cherubini tells us “There’s No Shame in Nails” (the first in his series on 18th-century-style nailed furniture projects); Bob Flexner gives us the low-down on “Green Solvents”; Steve Shanesy, senior editor, builds a handy message center for this issue’s I Can Do That project; Christoper Schwarz, contributing editor, gives us an inside look at Jeff Miller and his Chicago shop in “Designs of Note”; George Walker teaches us that Sketching is “All in Your Mind” in Design Matters; Eric Heydorn tells us how his woodworking has come “Full Circle” in End Grain and in Tool Test we review Festool’s new ZOBO bits, a new precision square from Veritas/Lee Valley, BLOKKZ Universal Clamping Blocks and a new steam generator for bending wood from Earlex. (Plus Tricks of the Trade and Letters, of course!)
Order your copy of the February 2012 issue now, in either print or digital format – and consider subscribing, too, to save almost half off the cover price for seven issues (subscriptions are available for either print or digital delivery).
p.s. Our free online extras for the February 2012 issue are available at popularwoodworking.com/feb12.
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
I hate to complain, as generally PWW magazine is of good quality, but this issue falls way short in many areas. It all starts with the cover. The yellow titles just scream for attention, but with the green border it just yells “CHEESE HEADS!”. In addition my mailing label covers a portion of a title. And the photo, I’m not sure what happened with the cover photo but it is very unbalanced, dark in the top right, light in the lower left. Almost all of these issues were more elegantly solved with the previous cover layouts (back through April 2010)
Inside the new theme is immature IMO. The main problem is that it is applied inconsistently. The new line that is setup across the top of the regular columns is unbroken until the 5th regular column (A&M) where a photo bleeds off of the top of the page. This, by the way, makes the photo look cutoff or incomplete. In the 6th regular column (I can do that) the line is broken with a photo that does not bleed off of the edge. This inconsistency continues throughout the regular columns. The features columns also lack consistently in font size and type for the titles, different treatment of the first page, some with full bleed photo, some with full bleed photo and text body and some with just photos and text body. In general the inconsistency makes for a distracted and poor read, taking away from the articles themselves. Again all of this was dealt with much more eloquently in the previous layout theme, which was much much simpler but eminently more readable.
My final complaint is about the content itself. I fear that the articles are leaving the well established lineage left by the previous editor and heading to the more common power tool favoritism of most other magazines. The hand tool renaissance that Chris pushed for must remain a significant element or this magazine will be no different than any other. Perhaps it is just that I had come to expect an article or two from Chris, in most every issue, which had inherent in it his bias toward hand tools. I look forward to how the new editor deals with this issue.
Megan, is there such a thing as a combination print/digital subscription? I still like having my print copy when it’s new, but like to have a digital copy in the longer run.
I received mine in the mail last week, and the magazine re-printed most of the articles in the same magazine, so there are about four articles that are printed twice in the magazine. just wanted to make sure you guys knew. not sure if its just mine, it could have been a single mistake with the machine.