[TerryB]

To me the questions comes down to what you want from the magazine. Woodsmith and Shopnotes are very good for tutorials and beginning to intermediate projects. Wood and Popular Woodworking are both good for project plans and techniques - Popular Woodworking at a little more advanced level, I feel. Both of these two are also very good for tool reviews. Fine Woodworking - that's for showing what's possible when your skills reach a really high level. It's beautiful and provides inspiration - but seldom a project that a relative klutz like me can do. It also offers good tool reviews.

American Woodworker is one I just occasionally pick up on the newsstand if it has a particular project I'd like to try.

I should say a word about ads. Woodsmith and Shopnotes don't have any, which some find good. For myself, I quite like the ads in most woodworking magazines. They keep me informed of what's out there and at what price. In general, I don't think the advertising affects the tool reviews in the magazines, but of course I can't prove that.

So in the end, what do you want from the magazine? That should make your decision for you. Fortunately, by purchasing individual issues from the newsstands, you can try them all out cheaply and see which ones suit your needs.

Terry