Magazine suggestion

[Bentley]

Woodsmith, Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking for reasons others have said.

[Dan Moening]

I have received any number of items sent to me by generous forum members here.

Here's my way of paying that forward ...

I have a stack of Shopnotes magazines I'd be glad to send you. They used to run concurrently with Woodsmith magazine and have since been combined.
They were a great help when I was first starting out and I'm sure they will be for you as well.

A Medium Flat Rate Box from USPS will hold them all ... I'll even throw in a few copies of Fine Woodworking, American Woodworker and Popular Woodworking to fill the box.

PM your details and I'll try to get the box shipped later this week.

[dg152]

Woodsmith and Wood Magazine have been my go-to's for years. There's no way I could build every single project but it's always interesting to see how projects are made and how they go together.

You may also want to consider Woodworkers Guild of America - www.wwgoa.com. They are a subscription service but offer many videos and information for free. There's nothing like seeing a certain technique or seeing a project made from the start.

My advice is to start with the 2 magazines and spend some time looking at woodworking projects on youtube and other web sites. And don't forget to spend time in the shop building stuff!

[BrokenOlMarine]

If you want some projects to start out with, I would start with a few basic boxes.  You can practise a number of skills when building boxes, and increase your difficulty levels as your skills increase. With your basic box you work on joints, getting things square, and fitting a lid and bottom. As you move up, you may add finger joints or dovetails, keyed corners, inlaid accents on the sides, or inlaid/framed paneled tops with hinges.

In addition you can add trim, interior trays, and vary your finishes.  As a bonus, each completed project is a gift, of use, or a keepsake.

[BobW]

Another source to consider to look for magazines to sample and peruse is your local thrift store.  Doesn't matter if they aren't the latest issue, because they don't change much over time, and you wouldn't have to pay the ridiculous cover prices.  That's where all of my mags go after I've looked at them (I used to save woodworking magazines forever...but no more).

As for input on your tool purchases, all you have to do is enter a post here and you will get more opinions than you thought possible, but there are certain givens:

The only table saw you should even consider if you value your safety is a SawStop

The only hand power tools worth having are Festool

For hand tools, you need to go with Lie Nielsen or Veritas

Of course, old used tools from the good ol' days are good, too, in lieu of any of the above! 

[Hobbywood]

Magazines are good for stimulating my interest in aspects of the craft that I might not be aware of.  Sometimes I learn a new trick or technique from a magazine article, but mostly I read them because I enjoy seeing how other people approach the craft.

This is kinda what I was looking for. Another source of ideas. Because, sometimes you just don't know what you don't know, you know?

[Hobbywood]

I have received any number of items sent to me by generous forum members here.

Here's my way of paying that forward ...

I have a stack of Shopnotes magazines I'd be glad to send you. They used to run concurrently with Woodsmith magazine and have since been combined.
They were a great help when I was first starting out and I'm sure they will be for you as well.

A Medium Flat Rate Box from USPS will hold them all ... I'll even throw in a few copies of Fine Woodworking, American Woodworker and Popular Woodworking to fill the box.

PM your details and I'll try to get the box shipped later this week.

I appreciate the offer, Dan. I'll think about it.

[Hobbywood]

As for input on your tool purchases, all you have to do is enter a post here and you will get more opinions than you thought possible, but there are certain givens:

The only table saw you should even consider if you value your safety is a SawStop

The only hand power tools worth having are Festool

For hand tools, you need to go with Lie Nielsen or Veritas

Of course, old used tools from the good ol' days are good, too, in lieu of any of the above! 

Having been on a few guitar forums, I know all about the range of opinions one can get when asking what people think about this or that. It ranges from useful and practical to cork sniffers and everything in between.

I certainly value my safety but if that were my only criteria, it would be a long time before I could buy a table saw. So, unless a cheaper model is going to randomly explode on me, my diligence and common sense will have to be the safety features that I count on most.

[FS7]

Having been on a few guitar forums, I know all about the range of opinions one can get when asking what people think about this or that. It ranges from useful and practical to cork sniffers and everything in between.

I certainly value my safety but if that were my only criteria, it would be a long time before I could buy a table saw. So, unless a cheaper model is going to randomly explode on me, my diligence and common sense will have to be the safety features that I count on most.

I am active on another forum - the general discussion forum on AR15.com - which is generally a warzone. However, there is a huge community, and it's a great place to find a lot of intelligent and reasoned opinions. (Also a lot of very dumb ones, but hey, it's to be expected.) Somebody asked about table saws there recently and were told anything less than Powermatic was trash. I guess the point is it almost doesn't matter where you are, you should be expected to be told that only the most advanced and/or very high end tool is worth owning and the rest are garbage.

I'm a power tool worker mostly, and I have only one "good" tool (a Festool Domino). It's absurdly expensive but worth every penny. The rest of my tools are mid-range, mostly, but they more than serve my purpose. The tools that serve your purpose, that you respect, and that you know how to use safely are the best tools for you. SawStop is great technology, but there's also the risk that it encourages (or doesn't penalize) improper or careless use of a tool. You won't hurt yourself on the saw - or it would be very difficult to - but if that attitude translates to other tools, you're in trouble. A lot of the tools we use are extremely dangerous. Heck, put a 3" or larger raised panel bit in a router and spin that thing around. It's a bit frightening.

[fredhargis]

Buying a handful of the many covers available at a book store is going to get fairly expensive, fast. I think FWW is somewhere near $9/copy. Dan's  offer is a generous one and will save you some time and money. I do think you need a minimum number of posts to PM on this forum, though.