The Experts at the Core of Fine Woodworking

As we move into Fine Woodworking magazine’s next half century, it is fitting to recognize a group of people whose contributions have been crucial to the depth and variety of information in our pages, to the longevity of the publication, to its stellar standing in the field of woodworking, and to the decades of inspiration and encouragement it has provided: our contributing editors.

A magazine’s contributing editors are not relied on for editing. They’re chosen for the quality and frequency of the articles they write and for representing the highest aspirations of a publication. Their names are proudly listed on the masthead. Having celebrated remarkable mentors in FWW #318 and boundary breakers in FWW #321, we’re focusing in this issue on Fine Woodworking’s contributing editors through five decades.

While we on the staff have devoted ourselves to magazine making, we understand that our task is not the same as making a life and a living around woodworking and teaching. For that we turn to our contributing editors, who—even in the age of the internet and social media—remain the holders of the information that has made Fine Woodworking the place to go for answers.

Evolution of the contributing editor

Even before launching Fine Woodworking magazine, Paul Roman—though he was neither a woodworking nor publishing professional—instinctively understood that seeking out and nurturing content was a skill separate from day-to-day woodworking. He knew woodworkers would be the best sources for compelling content, so he sought out the best he could find to become the magazine’s contributing editors.

In our 25th anniversary issue (#146), Jonathan Binzen wrote this about the founding of Fine Woodworking:

Over the next few months [in the spring of 1975], Roman spent evenings and weekends seeking out woodwork and woodworkers. Roaming from Virginia to New Hampshire, he visited woodshops and craft shows, bookstores and libraries, schools with woodworking programs and museums with furniture collections. . . . Roman’s notebooks from those months brim with names that would soon become familiar to readers of Fine Woodworking: Tage Frid, R. Bruce Hoadley, Alphonse Mattia, Bill Keyser, Jere Osgood.

Born from Roman’s intuitive sense, the mission of the contributing editors is to bring their hands-on expertise into Fine Woodworking by writing quality content based on the work they do in their shops and classrooms every day. They are consummate craftspeople, with unique and deep knowledge, who are committed to teaching new skills, introducing and refining techniques, answering queries (often in the magazine’s former Q&A department), imbuing design sensibilities, and inspiring readers. And for the last 50 years the 29 people on the list at left have been the mainstay of ideas and talent behind the magazine.

The next 50 years

It’s likely that neither the current contributing editors nor my colleagues and I will be around for the 100th anniversary tribute, but I believe Fine Woodworking will. I envision the current staff making room for and mentoring exciting new recruits, and I hope that the roster of contributing editors and authors continues to flow from expert to expert and that the content continues to teach and excite. It is my dream that the readers also share their knowledge and passion wherever, whenever, and to whomever—a collective passing of the torch that will glow beyond all our time here.

With that, I present the contributing editors, the titans of Fine Woodworking over the past 50 years. While all of them have had an enormous influence, we are highlighting in this article 18 who stayed the longest, wrote the most articles, answered the most questions, broke new ground, and reached beyond our pages by writing books, teaching, and otherwise promoting the craft.

From Fine Woodworking #323 To view the entire article, please click the View PDF button below.

Intrepid Makers Who Have Paved the Way for Innovation

Makers profiled include Judy Kensley McKie, Michael Hurwitz, Wendell Castle, Garry Knox Bennett, Kristina Madsen, and Brian Newell

A New Magazine for Serious Woodworkers (1975)

In 1975, Paul Roman sent out a charter letter for “a new magazine about making beautiful things out of wood.”

The First Years of Fine Woodworking

A unique magazine started in an attic helps woodworkers share their passion