178 out of 178 people found this review helpful.
Are You Handy In The Family?
Date of Review: Aug 30, 2001
The Bottom Line: I recommend this magazine if you like to work with your hands in and outside the house. If you know someone wanting to learn, give it as a gift.
I have in front of me 3 issues of The Family Handyman which under the title says ?Tons of projects, tips & tools? and I thought I would review one of the issues. I?m not a Handyman or woman but my husband tries to be. Of course I hope nothing gets broken in his attempts. In any case a bit about the magazine. I have the May, June and July/August 2001 issues. They are between 116-120 pages long with the same 2 main sections: Features and Departments. Of course in each magazine the contents within each section vary.
I will be reviewing the July/August issue. The reason this issue is 2 months is because it is a 10 month per year subscription. All three covers have happy looking everyday people doing something creative or relaxing. I found it interesting that on no cover does it show anyone actually working. This issue has a woman with a little girl and 2 little dogs sitting on a deck. The cover story says, ?Build This Cedar & Stone Deck?25 photos, 7 illustrations.?
?The feature story named above is a 13-page article on everything you would ever need to know to build a deck if you were so inclined. This includes planning and buying tips including what you might expect to pay for a 4-inch grinder ($75) and a cautionary note to call your utility companies and have the utility lines marked before you dig the holes.
?There are 20 incredibly detailed steps along with the same incredibly detailed pictures of each step. Step 7 says, ?Assemble the 2x6 knee walls according to the plan using the 16d galvanized nails. Sheathe the outside with ? inch treated plywood, securing it every 8 inches with 8d galvanized box nails. Snap chalk lines on the plywood at every stud to make sure your nails hit solid wood.? You will see a picture of the wood with the chalk line, knee wall, studs, etc.
?Also under features is an article that interested me called ?Yard and Garden Handy Hints.? This 4-page article was interesting for me even though I only sort of garden. It has lots of Handy Hints such as "if your wheelbarrow is too unwieldy for you place a 5-gallon pail in the hopper of a rotary-style fertilizer spreader for small loads and tight corners." (Not a bad idea!)
?In the Department section there are more Handy Hints from the magazine's readers. Gail Snyder stores her extra fasteners in a clear plastic bag instead of a coffee can or junk drawer. Sounds like a Bright Idea to me and listen to this: If they print your top and let?s face it, that one is pretty basic, they will send you $100!
?There is a Great Goofs page with mistakes people made. There are 3 on one page and they are lengthy but to summarize one- Joe Bickerstaff stuffed a rag in his toilet to keep out the sewer gases and forgot to take out the rag. You can guess what happened and he got $100 because they printed his mistake!
?There is an excellent 5-page article on Controlling Bugs addressing insecticide safety, ants that eat you out of house and home; carpenter bees that hammer you and yellow jackets that are dive bombing you. Notice the cute titles of the short articles that play on the words.
By the way if you have bugs you can?t identify try the National Pest Management Association?s discussion forum at www.pestworld.org.
?The cover of the June issue has a picture of a shed with an article telling us how to build it. July/August?s issue continues the building of the shed which started with pouring a foundation and now continues with windows, siding and roof panels. You can get Part I at the website or you are directed to one of the pages for back issues or reprints. The website is:www.familyhandyman.com. The website has a 5-year index so you can type in what you are looking for and find out when and if it was published and order that issue of The Family Handyman.
?The subscription rate online is $14.97 for 10 issues. The off line rate is $19.97 which is 33% off the newstand price so the subscription rate is a good one making the magazine only about $1.50 an issue.
My final thoughts:
I could get into negative comments about the title of the magazine, after all many women are handy as well as men. In addition there are many articles that may attract a woman more than a man, such as making gardening easier. Out of the 5 people on the 3 covers in front of me 2 are men; 2 are women and one is a girl The magazine may be trying to attract more women to it with these covers, if so, the title is really misleading.
Putting all that aside, however, whatever your gender, if you are handy, like to putter in or out of the house or are into serious building (I call a shed and deck serious.), then you will really enjoy this magazine. If you are just an amateur at all this but want to learn, this is a great magazine because it gives you step by step instructions with pictures to match. I won?t be buying this anytime soon for my husband, but if you have a shop in your basement, know what a 4-inch grinder is and get excited about the thought, or know someone who does, this is the magazine for you.
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