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I have been writing articles for Woodworker’s Journal, and Woodcraft since 2000. I even have done a couple of articles for Wood. Nearly all of my published articles are available as free PDF downloads on my website, Woodcademy.
There is a page for the articles.
Tell him to check out the whole site, lots of videos and other free stuff there as well, including my Woodcademy TV show.
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Location: Wapakoneta, OH
I'm a long time subscriber to Wood and Woodsmith, and think both of them are excellent as a place to start. But to echo one of the suggestions above, look at copies of several and see if one looks better than others, he/she might try a library first....buying them one at a time is incredibly expensive.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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Have him go to Half Priced Books and browse their old woodworking magazines. Pick out the ones he likes for $.25. Can't beat it.
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I found Shopnotes to be great when I was starting. Most of the projects I made back then were things for the shop which meant I didn't necessarily toss the project if there was an aesthetic issue. Once I had learned how to use the tools properly it made projects for the house a lot less intimidating. Then I started using Woodsmith for ideas.
Currently a smarta$$ but hoping to one day graduate to wisea$$
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Location: N. Cincy inside the loop
Check your local library. Some have physical copies of subsriptions; some have digital subscriptions. Some also have ebooks you can read on your Kindle, Nook, etc.
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Thanks everyone. I went with Woodsmith, which was always very helpful for me.
The real bummer is that I just sent about 4 years of Woodsmith, Fine Woodworking, Wood, and others to the recycling bin.
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Location: Orlando FL
I have 66lbs of Woodsmith you can have.
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Location: Manassas, VA
For what it's worth, when I was a novice (or more of a novice than I am now) I found even Wood to be fairly intimidating. There didn't really seem to be anything that would help actual beginners and you might find one project in a given issue that you could, with some challenge, complete.
Trial and error is probably a good way to get started, and local classes (Woodcraft if available) as some of those actually do help beginners.
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I quit taking Woodsmith. Too many irrelevant articles and the "Tips" section is just a little anal for me.
Rather than a magazine I would suggest subscribing to a couple ww'ing internet sites like Paul Sellers or Charles Neill.
You will get the best of both hand tool and power tool worlds.
