วันจันทร์ที่ 19 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2552

The Blagger’s Guide to Kitchen Knives

The Blagger’s Guide to Kitchen Knives
By: Arthor Pens

As you might have guessed, in England a blagger is someone who comes across as far more knowledgeable than is the reality - a useful skill sometimes. Anyway, here are a few esoteric facts to keep up your sleeve for when a ‘knife geek’ gets within talking distance!

Japanese knives are sharpened to an angle of 15 degrees from vertical or less (12 degrees min.). Use diamond or ceramic sharpeners, as metal steels will damage Japanese knife blades.

The 'neb' is a rounded downturn at the rear of a knife handle and still features on many European knives such as Wusthof’s Classic range. These can be seen on the Wusthof pages at the Cooks&Kitchens website.

Like fish, many traditional knives have 'scales'! They're the black plastic or wooden sides of a riveted handle.

Many Japanese knife companies are releasing new models with 'scalloped edges', notably Global. This very effective way of reducing the sticking of food to the blade actually originates back in the mists (or smog!) of Nineteenth Century Sheffield when William Grant invented his 'scallop' for ham slicing and named it the Granton edge after his knife company. Many European makers still use this name today.

No high-quality knife should be put in a dishwasher. Although it may describe itself as stainless steel, this is not terribly accurate - good knives have c. 5 times the carbon level of 'ordinary' stainless steel and this is degraded by dishwasher solutions.

The mist-like layering of top Japanese knives is the result of continuous folding of layers of steel around a very hard central layer. This process is also called Damascening - a reference to its origins in Syria. Good examples of this process can be seen at the Cooks&Kitchens website in the Tojiro section. In the Nineteenth Century, acid-etching was often used to create the appearance of layering on standard pocket knife blades.

A bolster is the ‘chunk’ of metal that lies between the blade and handle on traditional knives and contributes to the knife’s balance and heft. Many modern knives, particularly from Japan , have dispensed with these in order to reduce weight and rely on seamless welds between blade and handle.

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A Murphy Bed in the Home Office

A Murphy Bed in the Home Office
By: Andrew Tirenth

Many people who have been downsized, “right-sized”, laid off, or just plain fed up with the corporate world have established a home based business. This often means that the guest bedroom has been turned into a home office. According to the IRS, about 1.6 million people claim the home office deduction. There are also many homeowners that have an area for a computer, desk, and files but not a business to claim a deduction with, so the actual number of rooms designated as home offices would be much higher.

While it is fortunate to have the spare room to turn into an office, the extra bedroom is sorely missed when grandma and grandpa come to visit for the holidays. While throwing some sleeping bags on the floor may work for the cousin that traveled through Europe by staying in youth hostels, you need to be able to offer some house guests a little bit more comfort than those sleeping bags provide.

The Murphy bed is the perfect solution. The Murphy bed, or wall bed as it is also called, is a bed that is stored vertically in a closet or a cabinet. One end is permanently attached to the wall and the bed is lowered for use. When stowed away, the bed takes up minimal space and is the perfect solution for small spaces such as a studio apartment, a motor home, or a home office.

The Murphy bed was patented in 1916 by William L. Murphy who started the Murphy Wall Bed Company. By 1989 the term “Murphy bed” had become such a commonly accepted term for a vertically stored wall beds that the courts decided the trademark cover was no longer valid.

The most common exposure to the Murphy bed is the classic old comic scene in movies where the bed folds up with a person still inside, trapping the poor soul. Today’s wall beds have made tremendous advancement in both style and comfort. Entire office suites are available in beautiful wood tones and custom designs with the Murphy bed being such and integral part of the design that the function is hardly apparent in its closed position.

It is customary for the Murphy bed to be vertical with the head of the bed near the wall. However, where space for extending the bed is limited, a horizontal style Murphy bed is available.

If a home office with a Murphy bed would meet your lifestyle needs, look for a company that can design the entire office to meet both your functional and your esthetic needs. Be sure the installation will be done by skilled professionals so you will be happy with the end result for many years to come.

And, if your spouse complains that you spend way too much time working in your home office and you should just move in there, you’ll be all set with a great place to sleep!

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What Should You Know About Honda Power Tools

What Should You Know About Honda Power Tools
By: Mark Jones1

In accordance with Honda's recommendation, we are one of the few companies to make sure that their NEW Honda Generators are tested (PDI), before they are dispatched. Remove the NEW generator from the box, we start and test it. This is done to give you the confidence that, after receiving your order, you would not encounter any problems.

Control Panel: The NEW Honda Generators are equipped with a “Standard’ digital/LCD control panel. Included in this control panel are all the controls, safety devices and displays, which are required for operating it safely. Also displayed on the control panel are certain values or indicators. Illumination of the control panel is provided on almost all models.

Enclosures: Steel panels and locking doors on a modular structural base frame are used to build weather and soundproof enclosures. A rock-wool layer of insulation included in sound enclosures, accomplishes with the sound attenuating elements, and also complies with the prevailing regulations. A hot ambient air extraction fan is an additional element in the enclosures.

Silencers: Industrial type silencers, which are shipped loose, have been included in ‘Open set’ versions. Likewise, mounted critical type silencers, with a flexible connector, are included in ‘Enclosed’ versions. The Silencer/Muffler Product Option window helps in selecting ‘Critical’ silencers, which are optional on open sets and check out.

Fuel Tanks: An economical fuel use of 0.95 gallons at 1/2 load is another feature of the NEW model. On a full tank, the generator can run for over 105.3 hours. Product Options listed at hondageneratorstore also indicate the availability of single walled (non UL) and double walled (UL) tanks. The day tank, which is a normal provision, is removed in case base tanks have been added. To make the generator a complete operable unit, installation, fuel level gage and fuel line piping are included in tank prices. On special request, special tank versions, with stub up voids, can also be made available.

Transfer Switches: In these generator sets, it is the automatic transfer switch that effectively monitors utility and generator power. In the case of failure or unsatisfactory utility power, the generator set is started, the generator speed and voltage output are checked and the load is transferred to the generator set. As soon as utility power gets restored, the transfer switch automatically gets transferred back to utility power.

For optimum results, a transfer switch of either the same size, or a larger one, in amps than the building service or sub-panel should be selected. This has also to be borne in mind in the case of the relation between transfer switch and the maximum output of the generator that you have selected. Different types of fuel are required for running standby generators and portable generators. In some models, tri-fuel or dual-fuel configurations allow them to switch from natural gas or propane to gasoline, with the use of a hose. With this aspect in mind, a consumer should purchase a generator after determining the type of fuel that is available in his area.

There are no two ways about the fact that generator set is a piece of equipment that is worth every penny spent, and that it will easily run the whole house in case of utility power failure.

Article Source: http://articleaddict.com

Electric Blankets – A Greatest Solution For Winter Nights

Electric Blankets – A Greatest Solution For Winter Nights
By: Tina Hope

Electric blankets are really helpful to get great comfort in the chilly winter season, or whenever the night gets cold you need not to get worry about it. You can set exact temperature for your blankets and wrap up yourself within this blanket, and enjoy the heat of this blanket when you are reading or watching TV or talking on the phone during these chilly days.

Enjoy the winter nights by making yourself warm and comfortable with an electric blanket. Electric blankets are very useful commodity specially on the winter nights when one can't afford to loss the heat out of the body. It was invented somewhere around the 1900's but used to be very big and large and also very unsafe to use. It acquired an ill fame after the sanitariums started using them. These blankets were used by the patients for keeping them warm on the fresh air outside. After long time of evolutions the todays electric blankets are much more safer and very comfortable to use. These blankets come in various colors, designs, weight, sizes and shapes. You need to do one thing, just select the best quality blanket that comes within your budget range and the rest would be taken care of by the Electric blanket.

Electric blanket come in various types in the market with different weight and price tags, however the good ones are those that have an automatic shutdowns options. So, the idea to buy an automatic electric blankets is better than the non automatic ones. For preventive measures always place a piece of blanket between your body and the electric blanket. It is wise idea to read expert advice before using any electric blankets, also you should always read the user manual of particular blanket. You can find the proper way to use these blankets with safety.
If you are thinking that these blankets are expensive and use only by the fortune people than you are totally wrong. The truth is that these blankets are available at very affordable and reasonable price, if you purchase from the right place. There are many stores in USA that deals in various shopping products with offering different discount rates. You would be surprised at the cost of electric blankets if you buy through on line shopping stores. Always compare the prices before you actually buy it through online. You can save lots of money by comparing and researching on the Internet. However, the best store always keep their rates as low as possible to get the business online.

Whatever the process of your purchase , you would be happy enough to get your heating machine right inside your bedroom. It is indeed a great gift for the people that often gets cold in the winter seasons. The greatest solutions for the warmest comfortability in winter nights is to use electric blankets that are super soft, automatic and very safe to use.

Article Source: http://articleaddict.com