The plane has been a staple of any woodworkers toolbox since we started manipulating the environment around us. From a simple sharp stone dragged down a length of wood, to the most complicated wood planers today, the history of the plane is a long and productive one. The purpose of a plane is to shape wood. To flatten, smooth, reduce the thickness or finished wood to a desired angle or finish.

What began with a hand plane, which needed muscle power to achieve anything, has now evolved into electric wood planers that take the effort out of creating beautiful woodwork in a fraction of the time. Electric wood planers come in two flavors, hand-held or stationary. The hand-held planer is a power tool shaped like a sander with the blade at the bottom with a dust and shaving collector. The stationary planer can be either bench or floor mounted and will have rollers to feed the stock through two or three knives spinning at high speed. It is these knives that removes the wood to the desired thickness.

A good quality stationary wood planer will have an infeed table at one end which will feed the stock through the machine, and an outfeed table at the other end. These are generally ten or fourteen inches wide, which is the maximum thickness the machine can cope with. Machine shops will have much larger devices, but this size should be more than adequate for hobbyist use.

The infeed table will have rollers, which feed the stock into the machine. It guides the stock through the planer and passes it to a counterpart on the outfeed table. This roller then takes the stock and passes it clear of the blades so it can be retrieved. The rollers move at a constant speed to ensure the wood finish is as even as possible. A relatively slow pass through, with a high cutter speed will give the best finish.

For extra safety, the infeed and outfeed rollers should come with a pawls or spikes, which will grab the wood as it passes through. This is to prevent kick-back if the rollers lose their grip on the wood. When passing wood through a wood planer, it’s a good idea to keep hold of it until the rollers have a good purchase on it and then quickly let it go.

Cutting depth on a wood planer is adjusted using a hand-crank. The average depth is up to six inches, which again, should be more than adequate for the vast majority of applications. The idea is to set the blades so they shave a little off the wood each pass, which will give a much smoother, even finish to the wood, and not strain the knives or motor.

The wood planer is another technological advance that has divided woodworking. Traditionalists saw power tools take the soul out of the trade, and modern woodworkers say it improves efficiency and productivity too much to ignore. Whatever side of the fence you’re on, there is no doubt that these tools really do make life easier.

Having fitted many kitchens cabinets in our time, we thought we would offer out top ten tips for designing kitchens for small spaces.

1. Use a kitchen island if there is room. If wall space is limited, an island may be the answer. It also offers a place for a cooker and a sink. It also makes for great storage and work surfaces.
2. Galley kitchens are ideal for longer, narrower spaces. They are designed to take up as little room as possible while offering a lot in the way of storage and working areas.
3. Use compact appliances where possible. If there are only a couple of people living in the house, smaller appliances work wonders at saving space. They do everything their larger cousins do, just on a smaller scale.
4. Use light colors in smaller spaces to give the illusion of light and space. Use light colored kitchen cupboard doors, glass fronts and contrast it with a dark work surface, works a treat!
5. Use hanging racks for your pots and pans. Not only do they look contemporary, they are also an excellent way of storing larger items.
6. Don’t shrink the sink. While many smaller kitchens have to compromise somewhere, don’t make it the sink. Keep the sink a standard size, or even go large. The practical limitations are far more difficult to cope with than slightly reduced workspace.
7. Use a drop-down table in any seating areas, or one that can double as a working area. Many kitchen cupboard manufacturers also offer some clever space-saving initiatives to help make the most of the space, this is one to consider.
8. Use lighting carefully. The more light in a room, the more spacious it feels. Consider cupboard lighting to add character and the illusion of more space. Use under counter and under cupboard lighting to give a neat impression of space.
9. If you’re using floor tiles, lay them diagonally. It’s a subtle, but effective way of giving the impression of space. It takes a little more effort to lay, but is worth it in the end. Galley kitchens benefit from having long lengths of wood or a long row of tiles running the length of the kitchen.
10. Why not use deeper counters on one side of the kitchen to allow for deeper storage and more working space. Depending on the shape of the room, this configuration can maximize space if it is limited on only one side, or one part of the room.

These few tips are ideal for those wanting to fit a kitchen in a place where space it at a premium. There’s now no need to compromise on quality if space is limited.

Wood corbels have been a feature of homes since time immemorial. From plaster and stone of the Greek and Egyptians, to the hand carved corbels of today. They have served either decoratively to enhance a design or functionally to support weight. The name corbel comes from French, which in turn comes from the Latin, corbellus, or “raven,” named for its beak like shape. It played a large part in classical architecture, and can still be seen today in places like Rome and Athens.

Today, corbels are mainly restricted to furniture making where they still work either decoratively or functionally. They aren’t really present in contemporary design, but still feature heavily in traditional and American designs. Wood corbels can be used in furniture and kitchen design either as edging or to support counter tops and lids. They emphasize simplicity and craftsmanship while being pleasing to the eye. Hand carved corbels take skill to make, and therefore add significant value to a piece.

Wood corbels come in a variety of shapes and sizes in most of the popular wood types. This makes them simple to fit onto an existing piece or into an existing room design with the minimum of fuss. In a kitchen for example, small corbels can add decoration to cabinets and larger ones can support a counter top or shelf. They can turn a simple, functional design into something much more attractive, which is why they’re making a comeback.

The availability of ready-made, hand carved corbels is also a reason why they are becoming popular again. No longer do you have to employ a woodworker to build them to fit a piece. They can now be bought off the shelf and added to any piece of furniture you like. To support a simple shelf, the depth of the wood corbels should be at least 70% of the overall depth. For example, for a 8″ shelf the corbels should be at least 6″ deep. If the shelf is to support weight it’s necessary to choose a depth of 1” to 2” less than the shelf width. This offers much more in the way of support, and allows the shelf to carry more weight. This is especially useful in kitchen applications.

A wood corbel can be accentuated by staining it just enough to bring out the texture, or paint it to bring out the design. The look heavily relies on the existing style of the room or piece of furniture you’re working with. In some cases and with certain designs one finish may look better than another so plan before starting. Often, less is more, and you have to have your end result in mind to get the finish you want.

So once again, advances in technology means you don’t have to spend hours making a hand carved corbel. DIY stores have cottoned on to this demand and now stock a range of ready-made ones. Most will be molded, but for those with the budget, some can be hand-carved. It just takes imagination and basic woodworking skills to decorate your home or furniture the way you want. By finding the right tools for the job, and little shortcuts like ready-made wood corbels you can achieve a high-class look without the high-class price tag.

Lynn immediately blurted out she wanted to return to the mountain and go on a guided tour this time. She just had to climb the mountain. I suggested to her we could go to one of the inside mountain climbing places. We saw so many of them; there must be hundreds of indoor mountain climbing places in Denver. Anyway, I informed her we were going to the museum today. Lynn wrinkled up her nose, but agreed. We put on comfortable walking shoes.

We ate breakfast in the Hotel, wanting to save time. We climbed into the Malibu and headed for the museum. We managed to find it and parked as close as we could. We paid our admission and went in. This is such a big place! We didn’t know where to start. We decided to look at exhibits until our feet hurt, then go to the IMAX Theatre to rest and enjoy a movie. We looked at the dinosaur bones; we looked at the Egyptian mummies and a display about the human body. I especially enjoyed the mine full of minerals and gems, very beautiful. Our feet began to hurt.

We made our way to the IMAX theatre. The movie was about outer space. It was so real with the large screen and excellent sound system. I felt like I had actually taken a journey into outer space. During some scenes I felt like I was going to fall out of my chair. I could tell Lynn was enjoying the movie as much as I was.

We grabbed a snack at a snack bar and continued. We went to the exhibit on Indian cultures. This exhibit was very interesting. I liked the dream catchers and the Indian jewelry. It made me really think what it must have been like to be an Indian in the past.

We finally had to head back to the hotel. We could have spent many days in the museum. Perhaps we will make another trip to Denver in the future. Maybe a few more trips!

Selecting the right cabinets Naples for your kitchen, bathroom, or even garage will be important, and you will find that there are many different options to choose from. With so many different styles, sizes, types, and materials used for cabinets around your house, it can be hard to know which is best. In order to help you figure this problem out, here are some key elements to consider carefully when going cabinet shopping:

Style

What is the style that you prefer? Modern cabinets will be much different in appearance than contemporary cabinets, and you will need to choose the style according to your preferences. Framed cabinets will give a much more classic appeal, while the sleek look of frameless cabinets tend to be much more popular in modern homes. Consider carefully your style before shopping.

Finish

The finish used for your cabinets will be important, as the finish will determine how long your cabinets look good. Melamine, laminate, and enameled board are three of the most common factory finishes, while wood finish is a much simpler and cheaper option. Which you choose is entirely up to you, but you would do well to find out the pros and cons of each type of finish.

Drawers

The drawers incorporated into the design of the cabinets will be important, and you should ensure that they are designed to be as appealing as possible. The drawers should open and close smoothly, and the drawer slide should be as sturdy and streamlined as possible. You should also check to ensure that you have sufficient drawer space in which to store all of your kitchenware.

Door Hinges

The hinges on your doors will play a large part in the durability of your cabinet. The cabinets with weak door hinges tend to fall apart much faster, as the doors will break much more quickly as they are repeatedly opened and closed. The stronger door hinges will ensure that your cabinet will last as long as possible, which is why it’s best to shop for the doors hung on strong hinges.

Material

The most important thing to consider is the material used for the cabinets. The material should be durable and strong, and the wood should be designed to support adequate weight. When shopping for your cabinets, take into account the items that will be stored in each cabinet. This will help you to purchase the wood or material that will be best able to support the weight of your kitchenware.

Design

The design of your cabinets should be sturdy in order to bear the weight of the different items you will store. The material will be important, but even the best material will malfunction if the design is sloppy and the construction is shoddy. Make sure that the joints are attached securely, and that the entire construction is strong and durable.

One thing that has changed dramatically over the last 40 years has been the development of email. With the first email being sent in 1971 one thing is for sure; things have certainly changed since then! Along with emails becoming so popular, there are some downsides to this level of connectivity that has been afforded by the advent of email.

1.      The shear volume of emails that are sent and received every day

Many people have a love-hate relationship with email. The means of being able to communicate with a wide variety of people in one email is a definite plus if the communication is valuable. Unfortunately, just like snail-mail has become deluged with junk mail, so has email. A lot of time is wasted everyday reviewing emails that have little or no value whatsoever. In some instances these emails can contain harmful viruses that are exceptionally damaging to your computer system.

The time it takes to delete these emails is also just a waste of time and energy. Many simply don’t delete these emails and they wind-up as part of their email archives. Having to sort through all of these emails later to either clean-up the mess or to be able to find the important emails that you were looking for consumes far more time than it should.

2.      Managing your email inbox by moving emails to folders

Just like one can easily forget which physical file cabinet they stored those “important hardcopy sales contracts” in, one can easily become confused about where they moved that important email explaining the terms of the same “important sales contract” stored in their email archives. Developing email folders is just like defining file cabinets. One needs to have a system that they can understand time after time or additional time will be wasted looking through folder after folder for the exact email that one is looking for. Many email providers have worked to improve their search methods over the years, but knowing where to start looking is always the best option when looking through your email archives.

3.      Think departmentally when creating folders

Creating folders to manage your email archiving efforts requires some thought. To setup a separate folder up for each individual that contacts you is not a good solution as you would wind-up with hundreds of folders to try to manage. To simply have one extra large folder to put everything into isn’t the answer for email archiving either as searching through thousands of emails just isn’t an effective option.

One method that many find to be a successful way of finding a happy medium for email archiving is to think departmentally. Is the communication regarding a design engineering issue? Then store it in a folder named Engineering. Sales oriented? Look in your folder titled Sales. Archiving by folders designed to represent functional departments in your organization should give you at lest a fighting chance at finding that communication regarding benefit packages if you look in your Human Resources folder. Of course one can define subsets within the primary folders as well, but the more nested things become, the more difficult it is to recall all of the specifics related to your filing system.

Other Places of Interest:

• Spend an afternoon railfanning. Go to the Milwaukee-Area Railfan Guide (MARGE, for short) to view a list of railfanning sites in the Milwaukee area.
• Spend a day on Milwaukee’s lakefront. Pack a bathing suit and towel to start your day at the lake then take the  Downtown Trolley to the Milwaukee Art Museum featuring the futuristic brise soleil designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava. Set dramatically against the natural canvas of Lake Michigan the wings of this white structure open to resemble a great sailing ship or a bird on the wing. Enjoy the 20,000 permanent pieces of fine art and possibly a special exhibit. Then stroll north along the lagoon through Veterans Park where you can rent a paddle boat, fly a kite, or rent a four wheel covered bike and enjoy the sunshine and the cool lake breezes. A little farther north you’ll find Altera Coffee Roasters where you can partake of a sandwich and a cool drink for lunch in a retro-fitted water pumping station. A leisurely stroll a little further north will bring you to BradfordBeach where you can catch some rays, play beach volleyball or take a swim. After some time in the sun, take a brisk walk back to the Art Museum catch the trolley and meet your significant other for one of the evening’s social events.

• If you have children, you might begin just south of the Art Museum at Discovery World where you will learn about the Great Lakes through interactive exhibits, aquariums, and digital theatres.
• Take a cruise aboard the “Denis Sullivan” a 137 foot great lakes sailing schooner.
• Visit the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum designed specifically for kids age 10 and younger where they can learn fundamental skills in a fun learning environment.
• A short walk just south of these attractions will bring you to Lakeshore State Park where you can explore a tall grass prairie and swim off a sandy beach.
• On another day you can visit the Historic Third Ward just three blocks south of downtown. Explore this trendy neighborhood featuring the Milwaukee Public Market, chic women’s fashions, fine art and antique galleries, unique boutiques and superb restaurants.
• EisnerMuseum of Advertising and Design. Only one industry asks the most profound questions of our time: Where’s the beef? Have you driven a Ford lately? Got Milk? Visit the only museum in the country that explores advertising, design and our culture.
• For evening entertainment try Comedy Sportz an improvisational comedy show prompted by audience suggestions.
• The Potawatomi Bingo Casino – try your luck at table games, bingo or slots and enjoy a show at the Northern Lights Theatre or have a gourmet or buffet meal.

• Miller Park – Home of the Milwaukee Brewers. See a major league baseball game rain or shine because of the retractable roof.

• The Grohmann Museum – The “Man at Work Art Collection” includes over 700 paintings and sculptures which catalog 400 years of human endeavor. This museum is located on the campus of the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE)

• National Soldiers Home Historic District – This is one of three original National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers established after the Civil War. See how these brave wounded men were cared for after the conflict. The grounds include the Woods National Cemetery.
• Miller Coors Brewing Company. A one hour guided walking tour provides an in-depth look into the history and craftsmanship of one of the United State’s major breweries.
• Sprecher Brewery. This micro-brewery is nationally known for producing fine European style beers and gourmet sodas. Several other micro-breweries are located in or near downtown Milwaukee.
• Feeling more adventuresome? Explore the bounty of Lake Michigan, the largest sport fishery in all the great lakes, featuring over 100 species of fish aboard Blue Max Fishing Charters. Maybe you’ll catch a 40 pound Chinook salmon which isn’t uncommon.
• Take a guided tour of the lakefront, downtown and the third ward on a Segway Human Transport. No Segway experience is necessary.
• Visit the Urban Ecology Center and take a canoe trip for a riverside look at downtown and the architectural and ecological features of urban Milwaukee.
• Another way to see the city is with walking tours offered by Historic Milwaukee.

Night Life

• Summer in Milwaukee features several free concert series located in the downtown area June through August. Pack a picnic or choose from one of the food vendors. Bring a blanket, folding chair or find a picnic table and enjoy these music venues.
• “River Rhythms” at Pere Marquette Park is held Wednesday evenings and features a diverse array of music.
• Thursday evenings you’ll find “Jazz in the Park” at Cathedral Square. Enjoy local and national jazz performers ranging from traditional to fusion.
• Day & Evening entertainment can be found on Old World Third Street. You will find the Milwaukee County Historical Center, the Spice House, Usinger’s Sausage and Mader’s German Restaurant as well as several bars.
• One fun place is Lucille’s Rockin’ Pianos where two outrageously talented pianists take you through a fun night of rock and roll tunes from the 50’s to the present. You name it they’ll play it!
• Another evening hot spot is Water Street the home of several bars and eateries that are frequented by the “in” crowd.
• For a more eclectic night time experience try Brady Street where you’ll find Irish music to blues to reggae and a mix of eateries featuring gyros and burgers to bistro style fine dining.

Weekends

• Saturday mornings in Cathedral Square you’ll find the East Town Farmers Market. Sample homegrown Wisconsin produce, home baked breads and deserts, unique arts and crafts while being entertained by local musicians.
• Weekends throughout the summer finds the sounds of ethnic festivals coming from the Summer Fest Grounds and elsewhere.
  • Gathering on the Green – July 9 – 10th – Friday is “Jazz on the Green” featuring top jazz artists. Saturday is “Gathering on the Green” with the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera, the festival orchestra and other performers.
  • SouthShore Frolics – July 9 – 10th – Enjoy three days of food, music and spectacular fireworks nightly. A variety of kid’s games and rides will be available as well as an arts and crafts show, bike ride and a parade Saturday morning.
  • Bastille Days – July 8 – 11th – Celebrate French history and culture as the streets of Milwaukee and Cathedral Square are transformed into a mini French city complete with an Eiffel Tour. This free festival features 3 stages with live entertainment, impromptu street performers, a market place, over 25 sidewalk cafes and the annual “Storm the Bastille” 5K fun run/walk.
  • Festa Italiana – July 15 – 18th – Romance, nostalgia, and rich Italian delicacies fill the air at Festa. Nine stages of world renowned and local entertainment will keep you hopping while the event will be topped off nightly by an impressive fireworks display.
  • Port Fish Day – July 17th – “The world’s largest one-day outdoor Fish Fry,” free admission to festival grounds, featuring parade, classic car show, arts and crafts, five stages of live entertainment with featured national acts, easy parking with free shuttle buses, carnival, soccer, water fights and much more.

Whether you are carrying a brand new IPhone, the last Blackberry from the market, or your old and trusty Palm, you want your device to be able to handle all kind of stuff. As a developer you want to be able to reach all those new and exciting markets, and provide the same services and solutions as your web applications does.

But it’s not always that easy. A mobile device it’s not like the web.
For starters you have to take into consideration the amount of information you will be displaying; You have to tweak your interface to make it easy to use with probably just one thumb, and there are memory and browser limitations to make it even more complex. On top of that, you’ll probably have to master a couple of new coding languages, which might take some time!.
And, as a coder, you’re anxious to bring your new piece of software to your users.

So what can we do about this?

At Wadomo we love Ruby on Rails. Yes, there are a bunch of languages out there, but we just have found in Ruby on Rails it’s the best match for our scrum-based philosophy:

Design right, code nice, change fast, painless deployment and awesome results!

If you don’t know about Scrum, this is what you are missing

Should you spend an hour browsing web pages in search of data right now, you’re most likely to come across at the least one internet site utilizing impressive flash designs. They’ve streaming images just as smooth as a movie playing on the huge screen. Almost everything is set to music that captures your attention (hopefully). Some are intros and others are whole web sites designed with flash.

This was a huge thing when the technologies 1st started getting utilized for internet style, but is it nonetheless all that impressive currently?

Once you go to a web page competing together with your own and see their larger-than-life flash intro, it’s incredibly straightforward to begin thinking you must compete on that level. Just after all, how are your YouTube videos going to compete? How are your custom developed images going to compete? How are you going to leave a lasting impression on your visitors if they have already visited the flash web page from your competitor?

This is an understandable feeling, but it is essential to fully grasp that flash sites are not often superior. Believe of dining out with good friends at an upscale restaurant. It’s hard to obtain reservations at this restaurant, but you may have managed to get in with your very best pals.

What are you currently going to wear? Do you must wear some thing super flashy just to show that you belong at this restaurant? Naturally not! You realize that those who make a unique effort to appear the part often are the ones who don’t belong. You go in a nice outfit that shows you are put together, clean cut and respectful. Then you merely have enjoyable with your buddies without having thinking about it further.

This is how a site really should be. If you do not have to have to be overly flashy, then the flash may not be the ideal technique to go. As opposed to comparing oneself to whomever sits at the subsequent table (your competitor’s web page) you ought to be a lot more worried along with your own site. In case you know that you simply don’t want the flash to make a lasting impression and deliver what your visitors want, then do not add it just because an individual else has.

The Truth about Flash

Flash could appear impressive to some, however it is rather annoying to several visitors also. If it’s completed incorrectly it can entirely turn off visitors and make them immediately click away to a competitor’s website. That means if the impressive competitor you looked at has carried out an excessive amount of with their flash, they might be sending their visitors your way inside the future.

In case you have flash completed in the identical manner since you wanted to compete, you lose those visitors as well!

Flash has to be all of these issues or it truly is not going to work for you:

• Tastefully created
• Important
• Straightforward to load
• Easy to skip
• Minimalistic

This second qualifier is what takes flash off the list of internet style options for several individuals. It is actually just not important for a lot of niches or topics. If it appears unnecessary or done just for the flash of it, then it isn’t going to be nicely received by numerous visitors.

Positive, some of your competitors could be making use of flash. That doesn’t mean flash may be the correct factor for your web page. Make your own option regardless of what others are performing with their space.