Unhappy with latest Wood Review

If there's one thing I look forward to, it's getting the latest woodwork magazine. I was a little disappointed with the last one though.

The article on 21st century gothic showed us 7 pages of probably Australia's best craftsmen doing joinery and carving for St Mary's Cathederal. Sorry- with all the bad press of late surrounding WYD, I'm not even motivated to try and read it. And a portrait carving of Cardinal Pell?

Budget panel saws reviewed with every second Australian cabinetmaker selling up - you can get a real saw for $6K.

Cordless drills reviewed and Makita misses out again. (Not that I love Makita) but Bosch had 3 of the 10 drills reviewed.

Place a full or half page ad and presto! your product gets reviewed. Kapex and Flai

Derek Cohen saved the mag for me. Router planes! Great read.

Well, it 'Have Your Say' and I've said it.

Carry Pine

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Originally Posted by Carry Pine

.......Cordless drills reviewed and Makita misses out again. (Not that I love Makita) but Bosch had 3 of the 10 drills reviewed.......

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nor Dewalt.

This why I keep buying from the newsagents. I think half the time, after the quick flick through, I don't bother buying.

Bosch rates above Makita and Dewalt :o.... glad I missed that one. (I do have all these brands and know where my preference lies.)

I'm with Blackout, I always do the flickthrough and if it's not up to scratch I keep my money. I had up to 30 tradesmen on the road, used to by around 6 battery drills at a time almost always makita and over a approx 10 year period really only had one lemon. Naturaly it was the one I had. I think I didn't abuse it enough. I am using a Hitachi 18v hammer drill at the moment and realy love it.

I am sorry to disagree, but I found the article on the carvings for St Mary's very interesting - it isn't often that we hear about a big project like that and find out what is really involved in it.

That sort of article varies the diet a bit!

I still preferred Derek and Stuart's contributions, though

Mmm..Wasn't that great was it...

With the 'advertorials' I became aware of the practice when our local newspaper offered us coverage of our school activities if we took out full and half page coloured ads. Of course it's the private schools who can afford that sort of thing and the paper reads like those schools are the only ones doing anything.

CP

With the "Advertorials" I think it might be the other way around. AWR does a review of it and the reviewee puts their ad in so that people who see the review and want to know more then see the ad. Of course, I may be wrong

i was verry diapointed almost nothing interesting in there this time.:doh:

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Originally Posted by Carry Pine

The article on 21st century gothic showed us 7 pages of probably Australia's best craftsmen doing joinery and carving for St Mary's Cathederal. Sorry- with all the bad press of late surrounding WYD, I'm not even motivated to try and read it. And a portrait carving of Cardinal Pell?

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This raises an interesting point. Would you do a job for a customer or an organisation where you don't agree with some or all of their principles?

Perhaps if the price was right you would take on any job.

Maybe this is a government job, a government who didn't get your vote because you are opposed to their policies. Perhaps it is a government who is engaged in a war to which you are strongly opposed.

Carry Pine obviously has some deep feelings about some aspects of the Catholic Church in which case he chose not to read the article. I admire your principles Carry Pine and if my feelings on this issue were just as strong, I would have taken the same steps.

Some people might say we are foolish and denying our loved ones an income because of a silly principle. Some may justify doing the work on the basis that if they didn't do it someone else would do it anyway.

Im with Blackout and Claw Hama too. Have to have a flick through before I purchase. :rolleyes:

And yes, only got it this time because of Derek's article. Like the handtool articles mainly and look forward to the handtool competition when they show off some of our Australian talent that is nor necessarily comercial just one offs in some cases.

So yes, a bit light on this issue. Next one may be better.

Need I say that many of the WIPs, reviews and tutorials here are far better than many magazine articles, no restrictions on lenght and number of photos or deadlines here. We patiently wait, and wait, for years for some WIPs to conclude, (not mentioning any names mind) because they are simply so good. :cool:

Onya fellas. :2tsup::2tsup:

Cheers
Pops

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Originally Posted by funkychicken

With the "Advertorials" I think it might be the other way around. AWR does a review of it and the reviewee puts their ad in so that people who see the review and want to know more then see the ad. Of course, I may be wrong

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With the fear of offending another Forum member, I'm thinking of a famous quote from 'The Castle'.

Graham

I have to say in the last 12-18 months I thought the best edition was the prior one, number 59.

I've been really appreciating some sections:

• Wood topics - doing jarrah justice, taming red gum etc.
• Relevant tool reviews - though I recently bought a makita ROS which wasn't reviewd in thier ROS section
• Technique - mortise and tenons in a little more detail than most

Good stuff.

#60 arrived yesty (strangely so did FWW) and I haven't had much of a chance to look at it.

• I prefer to buy makita so was disapointed that wasn't reviewd. (I was dissapointed that Harold & Saxon wasn't in FWW chisel review but overseas and all.)
• For a hobbiest panal saws aren't high or even on the wish list

Thier tool reviews could be more relevant and cover a broader amount of tools, and they really need to include makita and dewalt tools.

I dont post much anymore but I want to contribute to this thread...

I beg to differ,... Apologies to Derek but I found his article the least interesting of all the content. I could almost say it was the worst for layout and flow of the written text. It was interesting tho, dont get me wrong... even though Im buggered if I can understand why people choose to do things so slowly and deliberatley confine themselves to manual methods... horses for courses I suppose.

I reckon they try to keep it interesting and eclectic rather than bash out yet another article on how to turn a bowl like the more frequently published mags... One of the ways I feel they do this is by limiting the issue to quarterly... AWR does also give a way a fair bit of stuff and supports the ww community.. dont forget it is running a business....

On the other hand I enjoyed the article about the lady who went to sweden and was able to have an opportunity to use metres upon metres of oak... Having recently worked with some I am completely envious - fabbo timber to play with! Maybe some more substance on how she created what she did ( a bench I think) would have been good...

Having said this I am also surprised that the Mak was not included - perhaps becuase the mak doesnt have a "new release" unit with LiOn available. perhaps they declined to send a unit to the reviewer... having said that I wish I could afford one of the panasonic units... looks great. I also like the intechangability of some of the batteries...

I wonder if the article could have been improved by saying "yes this particluar LiOn Batt drill is backwards compatible with your old nicad unit..." may be a better way to improve future articles.\

its still the best ww mag in Oz by far IMNSHO.

I just read through that issue in bed, just received it for Father's day:) I thought it was up there with all the others...some of you guys are hard to please!!:p
It has a bit of everything: power tools for most budgets, some dedicated Darkside stuff, reasonable reviews, a smattering of arty stuff mixed in with industry level guff (although a bit light on with the latter) and topped off with a couple of wood related travel articles, which adds a bit of spice.

• A couple of minor complaints: like Zed, I thought the layout of Derek's article was poor, too muddled up; the battery drill review carried too many of the same brands, as pointed out no Makita and no Dewalt (bias here, I have Dewalt at home and Makitas at work); the other reviews, as opposed to comparisons, I wish people would have the gumption to offer a score:rolleyes:; and that article by the woodworker/travel photograper, I thought was an exercise in irresponsibility and under-preparedness. Fair enough risk taking for yourself, but he was virtually encouraging it by writing the article!

• Pluses, I thought was the feature on the cathedral contract (despite my opinion of the church!), mainly because Laurens had shown me preliminary drawings at the last Summer School, and talked about the huge undertaking; the Swedish exchange project, and Mock Mickey's work, which I find quite extrordinary!

Cheers, and Happy Father's Day!!

Makita didn't get reviewed because every man and his dog has one and knows how they work:q I don't have any Makita gear (mine's Bosch and Metabo) and even I know their gear is top notch.

I always get the AWR not so much because of the technical details, but there's always something inspirational in there. For example in the latest issue, the dove tailed serving tray has given me exactly the inspiration I needed to make something for my mother. Different design but same concept. I've been buying AWR for ~2yrs and every issue has at least one such nugget in there. It's definitiely worth the $9.50 every 3 months.

For technical know-how, ideas and information, I turn to Australian Woodsmith, which I also buy every issue of.

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Originally Posted by Harry R

Makita didn't get reviewed because every man and his dog has one and knows how they work:q I don't have any Makita gear (mine's Bosch and Metabo) and even I know their gear is top notch.

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That's all well and good, except that everyone also knows Festool, Metabo and Hitachi are good too, better than Makita which IMHO need to pick up their game a bit. Dewalt is reasonable (not great), but it would be nice to know how they compare. Add to the argument that some brands slip in quality...take AEG, which used to be especially good!

Cheers,

all well and good, however unless AWR BUY the units to test them then they are wholey reliant on the supplier to send a sample for testing...

Who am I to say that some companies may NOT want thier tools compared...

however I too would like to see some solid recommendations at times; for isntance Phil Ashley (??) the machinary editor should occasionally provide a definitive recommendation or even provide a star rating like the batt drill guy....

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Originally Posted by Zed

all well and good, however unless AWR BUY the units to test them then they are wholey reliant on the supplier to send a sample for testing...

Who am I to say that some companies may NOT want thier tools compared...

however I too would like to see some solid recommendations at times; for isntance Phil Ashley (??) the machinary editor should occasionally provide a definitive recommendation or even provide a star rating like the batt drill guy....

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I agree Zed,

Some machinery comparisons are next to useless, there is hardly any testing and they merely let you know what brands exist, something I can search for myself.

Zelk

not quite true Zelk - he does put them thru their paces and he is very knowledgeable... I just want his definitive opinion...

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Originally Posted by Zed

not quite true Zelk - he does put them thru their paces and he is very knowledgeable... I just want his definitive opinion...

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Sure Zed, he may put them to through their paces. My point is that, I feel disappointed that the information offered lacks depth, for what ever reason. This is based on comparing his reviews to that of others on the same equipment, that I was interested in buying. I feel that he treads very carefully when reviewing. I guess his reviews are sufficent for nothing more than light reading.

This is of course is nothing more than my very own, highly valued, opinion.

Cheers,
Zelk

I re-read the mag again last night, and I should clarify things.

I actaully enjoyed the Church article, it followed on from the Grand Designs show with hand carved stairs. I thought Dereks article was excellent. I was just peeved with the lack of a Dewalt 18v in the cordless article.

I read Derek's article today and I thought it was great.