Workbench Magazine - not for me anymore (W/O)

Workbench almost always used to feature some guy working hard at a tool of some sort. You could imagine the sawdust flying around, the whir of a motor, and the way debris was sticking to his flannel shirt. The last issue I received had a glossy color photo of a fireplace in the midst of a living room - all dolled up for a photo shoot. Where's the sawdust? The whir of the table saw? How about some flannel?!?

This magazine seems to have morphed a bit into something for which I am no longer its target audience.

General Contents~

- Featured Plan...this one is usually presented on the glossy, colorful cover and includes a good amount of narration along with step-by-step coverage (for the most part) on constructing the item.

- other plans...included throughout the magazine are smaller items with how-to information. These are usually very up-to-date, trendy (in a good sort of way) items but covered less in terms of article than the featured plan.

- tool/product tests...tool tests often involve new models either recently released by manufacturers or soon to be released. They are not put through their paces in a traditional jobsite setting but utilized mostly in a fashion one would expect home owners to engage in. Products tested usually involve a home product still related somehow to either remodeling or upgrading a plumbing system or something similar.

- Q&A...these are questions received, presumably, by readers and answered within the magazine. It may involve an answer that discusses, very simply, how to complete a task or may be a more general home question.

Other information within these pages may include information on surveys that were taken, blurbs on something that may affect homeowners, plenty of advertising, and contact information including links to the Workbench website which carries a substantial amount of their magazine online.

Me - a professional woodworker
My wife would probably enjoy a renewal of this magazine - though it's not necessarily one of her favorites she does enjoy the contents enough to page through when it arrives. I, however, do not plan on renewing.

I've watched Workbench go from more of a "tool guy" type magazine, to something more consumer driven. It has been prettied up over the years until I sometimes mistaken the cover for an issue of Better Homes & Gardens. The plans included can be very nice and I may end up picking up a copy from a newsstand if something catches my eye but it just doesn't cover my needs as I'd like.

I want:

- more tool features that include tests and reviews of current tools, not just teaser reviews of soon-to-be released models

- more photos from inside woodshops than within colorful, glossy suburban homes

- a specific focus - this one seems to waffle between woodworker, homeowner, hobbyist, product consumer - never knowing quite where it wants to fit in

For now I can tell I'm not going to get what I want so I'll maintain other subscriptions instead. It's not a bad magazine, but it's a bit too general for my liking.

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Notes:
workbench.com contains a lot of the information you'll find in the magazine itself. You may want to test drive it online before committing to a subscription.

To get a feel for my reading habits, I generally don't miss an issue of Fine Homebuilding, Fine Woodworking, Woodshop News. And although my wife enjoys it more I also subscribe to This Old House magazine.

This Epinion is part of a Home & Gardens Magazine Write-Off