Upgrade Your Workbench

THE JEFF MILLER WOODWORKING COLLECTION - ORDER NOW!

By Christopher Schwarz

Format: Download 

Your bench could be a whole lot better. Check out these 10 (mostly inexpensive and quick) things you should do to make your workbench more useful. With tips, photos and supplies list.

For further information log on website:

http://www.shopwoodworking.com/upgrade-your-workbench?source=igodigital

How Wood Product Reduce Construction's Impact on the Environment

Housing the world’s population of more than seven billion people, the construction industry today has grown to consume more of the earth’s resources than any other human activity.1 As such, there has been growing industry awareness to replenish the earth’s resources while reducing the carbon footprint of the built environment. Now more than ever, building professionals are increasingly being called upon to identify products that both meet sustainability requirements and offer a history of the necessary structural performance needed for projects – a balance that is often quite a challenge. The good news is that green building trends are driving a need for, and the creation of, third-party verified information that allows a simplified approach to understanding the potential environmental performance of building products.

EMERGENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS

Availability of standardized measurements for the environmental performance of building materials – including wood products – is likely to influence more purchasing decisions as the green building industry becomes more stringent in the coming years. One standardized approach for measurement has been provided by Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) – a reporting method used for conveying in simple terms the potential environmental performance of building materials. Based on international standards (ISO 14025), EPDs have established credibility and worldwide applicability for measuring the environmental impact of building materials across its lifecycle – either cradle-to-gate or cradle-to-grave. Based on life-cycle assessment (LCA) – EPDs describe everything from resource and energy use, to global warming potential, air emissions, soil, water, and waste generation.

LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING PRODUCTS

Life-cycle assessments have shown wood products to have significant environmental benefits with a lighter footprint, lower production of greenhouse gas emissions, and energy efficient advantages for structures. For the purpose of business-to-business EPDs, life-cycle assessment is conducted for cradle-to-gate performance: taking a look from the extraction of raw materials to the factory “gate” or the point at which the product or material has been manufactured and is ready for shipment. By definition, an EPD for a commodity product like lumber can only be cradle-to-gate because the manufacturer may not be able to characterize how the product is used after it is sold.

Showcasing these benefits, last year the American Wood Council and Canadian Wood Council together released nine third-party verified EPDs and transparency briefs that describe the potential environmental impacts and manufacturing energy consumption for wood products. The EPDs take into account everything from composition and life-cycle environmental impacts to water and energy usage, along with other product information – all in a standardized format that makes it easier for construction professionals to digest. All North American wood industry EPDs are independently third-party verified by UL Environment (ULE), a business unit of Underwriters Laboratories, ensuring conformance to requirements of ISO 14025. The nine EPDs were created for wood products including: softwood lumber, softwood plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), glued laminated timber (Glulam), laminated veneer lumber (LVL), wood I-Joists, redwood decking, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard products. On a similar vein, transparency briefs have been created to summarize the most critical data presented by the EPDs, with the intent of providing construction professionals a quick way to identify key product details based on environmental data.

PRODUCT EVALUATION & BUILDING CODES

While, some environmentally conscious construction professionals are already doing their own research regarding the environmental and structural performance of building products, this can be a daunting and time-consuming process depending on the size and scope of building projects. To help alleviate this, EPDs are playing a larger role in simplifying these decisions. Several building codes are driving demand for verified LCA information on products, notable examples include LEED v4, the California Green Building Code (CALGreen), the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) for commercial buildings, and the International Code Council’s ICC 700—the National Green Building Standard aimed at residential and multifamily construction. This list is expected to continue to grow in the future; however in the short term EPDs are already allowing construction professionals better ability to evaluate and compare leads in an informed and timely manner.

Whether you are a builder, designer, or consumer, you want to know about the products you specify and use. EPDs are a transparent and unbiased way to ensure buildings are meeting the stringent green building requirements in today’s construction environment. For more information, download EPDs from AWC for your use and future reference.

Kenneth Bland, PE, is the vice-president of code and regulations for the American Wood Council (AWC). He served as building official of Keene, New Hampshire prior to joining AWC in 1988.

1 reThink Wood Infographic, “Wood Reduces the Environmental Impact of Buildings,” October 2013.

Report by;

BY KENNETH BLANDVICE PRESIDENT, CODES & REGULATIONSAMERICAN WOOD COUNCIL

For further information log on website:

http://www.constructormagazine.com/how-wood-products-reduce-constructions-impact-on-the-environment/

Drive screws after the glue dries

Trying to hold the brackets in place for a shelf or wall cabinet while drilling pilot holes and driving screws into the brackets will make you wish you had an extra pair of hands. Save yourself a lot of frustration by gluing and clamping the brackets to the shelf or cabinet bottom, and then letting the glue dry before drilling the holes and driving the screws (left). Leave the clamps on while you drill and drive the screws.



— from the WOOD® shop

For further information log on website;

http://tips.woodmagazine.com/2016/04/21/

Drill accurately from opposite edges of a workpiece

To drill a 1/2″ hole through a 6″-wide workpiece you’ll need to drill from opposite edges and have the holes meet in the middle. Doing that requires an accurately adjusted drill press. First, make sure it bores holes exactly 90° to its table. Then, chuck in a brad-point bit and set the drill-press-table fence to center the bit on the thickness of a scrap the same thickness as a bed rail. To do this, with the machine off, press the point of the bit into the edge of the scrap piece. Turn the scrap end-for-end and place the opposite face against the fence. Plunge down the bit again and check the positions of the two indentations. Tweak the fence location and try again until the indentations fall in the same spot, as shown. Now that you know your bit will be perfectly centered on the edge of the stock, you need only clamp to the fence a stopblock 1 1⁄4″ from the center of the bit. The holes will line up precisely.

For further information log on:

http://tips.woodmagazine.com/drills/drill-accurately-from-opposite-edges-of-a-workpiece/

PARASITIC PLANT

A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. All parasitic plants have modified roots, named haustoria (singular: haustorium) which penetrate the host plants, connecting them to the conductive system - either the xylem, the phloem, or both. This provides them with the ability to extract water and nutrients from the host. About 4,100 species of parasitic plant in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known.

Cuscuta, a stem holoparasite, on an acacia tree in Pakistan.

Classification

Parasitic plants are characterized as follows:

• 1a. Obligate parasite - a parasite that cannot complete its life cycle without a host.
• 1b. Facultative parasite – a parasite that can complete its life cycle independent of a host.
• 2a. Stem parasite – a parasite that attaches to the host stem.
• 2b. Root parasite – a parasite that attaches to the host root.
• 3a. Hemiparasite – a plant that is parasitic under natural conditions and is also photosynthetic to some degree. Hemiparasites may just obtain water and mineral nutrients from the host plant. Many obtain at least part of their organic nutrients from the host as well.
• 3b. Holoparasite - a parasitic plant that derives all of its fixed carbon from the host plant.

For hemiparasites, one from each of the three sets of terms can be applied to the same species, e.g.

• Nuytsia floribunda (Western Australian Christmas tree) is an obligate root hemiparasite.
• Rhinanthus (e.g. Yellow rattle) is a facultative root hemiparasite.
• Mistletoe is an obligate stem hemiparasite.

Holoparasites (also known as Obligate parasites are always obligate so only two terms are needed, e.g.

• Dodder is a stem holoparasite.
• Hydnora spp. are root holoparasites.

Plants usually considered holoparasites include broomrape, dodder, Rafflesia and the Hydnoraceae, Plants usually considered hemiparasites include Castilleja, mistletoe, Western Australian Christmas tree and yellow rattle.

Seed germination

Seed germination of parasitic plants occurs in a variety of ways. These means can either be chemical or mechanical and the means used by seeds often depends on whether or not the parasites are root parasites or stem parasites. Most parasitic plants need to germinate in close proximity to their host plants because their seeds are limited in the amount of resources necessary to survive without nutrients from their host plants. Resources are limited due in part to the fact that most parasitic plants are not able to use autotrophic nutrition to establish the early stages of seeding.

Root parasitic plant seeds tend to use chemical cues for germination. In order for germination to occur, seeds need to be fairly close to their host plant. For example, the seeds of the parasitic plant witchweed (Striga asiatica) need to be within 3 to 4 millimeters (mm) of its host in order to pick up chemical signals in the soil to signal germination. This range is important because Striga asiatica will only grow about 4 mm after germination. Chemical compound cues sensed by parasitic plant seeds are from host plant root exudates that are leached in close proximity from the host’s root system into the surrounding soil. These chemical cues are a variety of compounds that are unstable and rapidly degraded in soil and are present within a radius of a few meters of the plant exuding them. Parasitic plants germinate and follow a concentration gradient of these compounds in the soil toward the host plants if close enough. These compounds are called strigolactones. Strigolactone stimulates ethylene biosynthesis in seeds causing them to germinate.

There are a variety of chemical germination stimulants. Strigol was the first of the germination stimulants to be isolated. It was isolated from a non-host cotton plant and has been found in true host plants such as corn and millets. The stimulants are usually plant specific, examples of other germination stimulants include sorgolactone from sorghum, orobanchol and alectrol from red clover, and 5-deoxystrigol from Lotus japonicas. Strigolactones are apocarotenoids that are produced via the carotenoid pathway of plants. Strigolactones and mycorrhizal fungi have a relationship in which Strigolactone also cues the growth of mycorrhizal fungus.

Stem parasitic plants unlike most root plants germinate using the resources inside its endosperm and are able to survive for a small amount of time. An example, Dodder (Cuscuta spp.) is a parasitic plant whose seed falls to the ground and may remain dormant for up to five years before it is able to sense a host plants nearby. Using the resources in the seed endosperm, Dodder is able to germinate. Once germinated, the plant has 6 days to find and establish a connection with its host plant before its resources run out.

Dodder seeds germinate above ground and then the plant sends out stems in search of its host plant reaching up to 6 cm before it dies. It is believed that the plant uses two methods of finding a host. The stem is able to pick up its host plant’s scent whereby it then is able to orient itself in the direction of its host. Scientists used volatiles from tomato plants (α-pinene, β-myrcene, and β-phellandrene) to test the reaction of C. pentagona and found that the stem will oriented itself in the direction of the odor. Some studies suggest that by using light reflecting from nearby plants dodders are able to select host with higher sugar because of the levels of chlorophyll in the leaves. Once Dodder finds its host, it wraps itself around the host plants stem. Using adventitious roots, Dodder taps into the host plant’s stem and creates a haustorium, which is a special connection into the host plant vascular tissue. Dodder makes several of these connections with the host as it moves up the plant.

Host range

Some parasitic plants are generalists and parasitize many different species, even several different species at once. Dodder (Cassytha spp., Cuscuta spp.) and red rattle (Odontites vernus) are generalist parasites. Other parasitic plants are specialists that parasitize a few or even just one species. Beech drops (Epifagus virginiana) is a root holoparasite only on American beech (Fagus grandifolia). Rafflesia is a holoparasite on the vine Tetrastigma.

Importance

• Witchweed, broomrape and dodder cause huge economic losses in a variety of herbaceous crops. Mistletoes cause economic damage to forest and ornamental trees.
• Rafflesia arnoldii produces the world's largest flowers at about one meter in diameter. It is a tourist attraction in its native habitat.
• Sandalwood trees (Santalum species) have many important cultural uses and their fragrant oils have high commercial value.
• Indian paintbrush (Castilleja linariaefolia) is the state flower of Wyoming.
• The Oak Mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum) is the floral emblem of Oklahoma.
• A few other parasitic plants are occasionally cultivated for their attractive flowers, such as Nutysia and broomrape.
• Parasitic plants are important in research, especially on the loss of photosynthesis during evolution.
• A few dozen parasitic plants have occasionally been used as food by people.
• Western Australian Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribundas) sometimes damages underground cables. It mistakes the cables for host roots and tries to parasitize them using its sclerenchymatic guillotine.

Newly emergent snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), a fungus parasite

Plants parasitic on fungi

About 400 species of flowering plants, plus one gymnosperm (Parasitaxus usta), are parasitic on mycorrhizal fungi. They are termed myco-heterotrophs rather than parasitic plants. Some myco-heterotrophs are Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea) underground orchid (Rhizanthella gardneri), bird's nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis), and sugarstick (Allotropa virgata).

References

1. ^ Nickrent, D. L. and Musselman, L. J. 2004. Introduction to Parasitic Flowering Plants. The Plant Health Instructor. doi:10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0330-01 [1]
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Scott, P. 2008. Physiology and behavior of plants: parasitic plants. John Wiley & sons pp. 103–112.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Runyon, J. Tooker, J. Mescher, M. De Moraes, C. 2009. Parasitic plants in agriculture: Chemical ecology of germination and host-plant location as targets for sustainable control: A review. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 1. pp. 123-136.
4. ^ Schneeweiss, G. 2007. Correlated evolution of life history and host range in the nonphotosynthetic parasitic flowering plants Orobanche and Phelipanche (Orobanchaceae). Journal Compilation. European Society for Evolutionary Biology. 20 471-478.
5. ^ ^a b Lesica, P. 2010. Dodder: Hardly Doddering. Kelseya Newsletter of Montana Native Plant Society. Vol 23. 2, 6
6. ^ Parasitic Angiosperms Used for Food?
7. ^ Sclerenchymatic guillotine in the haustorium of Nuytsia floribunda.

Further Reading

• Joel D.M. et al. Eds.(2013) Parasitic Orobanchaceae: Parasitic Mechanisms and Control Strategies. Springer, Heidelberg
• Digital Atlas of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae)
• The Parasitic Plant Connection
• The Strange and Wonderful Myco-heterotrophs
• Parasitic Flowering Plants
• The Mistletoe Center
• Parasitic Plants Biology Study Guide
• Nickrent, Daniel L. 2002. Parasitic plants of the world.
• Calladine, Ainsley and Pate, John S. 2000. Haustorial structure and functioning of the root hemiparastic tree Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) R.Br. and water relationships with its hosts. Annals of Botany 85: 723-731.
• Milius, Susan. 2000. Botany under the mistletoe: Twisters, spitters, and other flowery thoughts for romantic moments. Science News 158: 411.
• Hibberd, Julian M. and Jeschke, W. Dieter. 2001. Solute flux into parasitic plants. Journal of Experimental Botany 52: 2043-2049.

Wikipedia 

Wheat Chex Cereal Nutrition Information

A healthy breakfast can improve your energy levels and help you control your weight. Wheat Chex cereal from General Mills is a whole-grain, low-fat, ready-to-eat breakfast cereal that can help you prepare breakfast quickly. Eat it with milk and some fruit for a balanced breakfast. You can also have it as a dry snack.

A boy is eating cereal. Photo Credit Thinkstock Images/Stockbyte/Getty Images.

Calorie Count

Each 3/4-cup serving of Wheat Chex, or 47 grams or 1.7 ounces, contains 160 calories. It provides 1 gram of fat, or 10 calories from fat, and has no saturated fat. The cereal has 5 grams of protein, or 20 calories from protein, and 39 grams of carbohydrates, or 112 calories from carbs. Low-fat, low-calorie foods can help you limit the calories in your diet if you are trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain.

Dietary Fiber

A 3/4-cup serving of Chex Mix provides 6 grams of dietary fiber. Healthy adults should get at least 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories in the diet, but the average American gets about half that amount, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Linus Pauling Institute explains that dietary fiber may help prevent constipation and lower your risk for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Whole-grain products, such as Chex Mix, are higher in fiber than refined grains.

Vitamin Content

Wheat Chex is fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. A 47-gram serving provides 100 percent of the daily value for folic acid, which helps pregnant women protect their babies from neural tube birth defects. Each serving of Wheat Chex provides 10 percent of the daily value for the antioxidant vitamins A and C and also for vitamin D, which helps your body absorb and use calcium. Eating your cereal with fruit, milk and nuts increases the vitamin content of your breakfast.

Calcium and Iron

A 3/4-cup serving of cereal has 10 percent of the daily value for calcium, which is an essential mineral for building and maintaining strong bones. Adding a half-cup of fat-free milk to your cereal provides an additional 15 percent of the daily value for calcium. The cereal has 80 percent of the daily value for iron in each serving. Iron is a part of healthy red blood cells, and a deficiency can lead to iron-deficiency anemia.

www.livestrong.com

ISOBORNYL CYCLOHEXANOL

Isobornyl cyclohexanol (IBCH) is an organic compound used primarily as a fragrance because of its aroma which is similar to sandalwood oil. Its chemical structure is closely related to that of both α-Santalol and β-Santalol, which are the primary constituents of sandalwood oil.

Sandalwood trees are endangered due to overharvesting, leading to a high cost for the natural oil. IBCH is therefore produced as an economical alternative to the natural product.

Isobornyl cyclohexanol

Names
IUPAC name 3-(5,5,6-Trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-yl)cyclohexanol
Other names Isocamphyl cyclohexanol; 3-[5,5,6-Trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl]cyclohexan-1-ol; Sandal hexanol

Identifiers
CAS Number	3407-42-9
Abbreviations	IBCH
EC Number	222-294-1
Jmol 3D model	Interactive image
PubChem	103005
SMILES OC(CCC1)CC1C2CC3C(C)(C)C(C)C2C3
Properties
Chemical formula	C16H28O
Molar mass	236.40 g·mol−1
Appearance	Colorless to pale yellow clear viscous liquid
Density	0.97 g/mL
Boiling point	302 °C (576 °F; 575 K)
Hazards
R-phrases	R36/38
S-phrases	S26 S36
Flash point	110 °C (230 °F; 383 K)
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Infobox references

References

1. ^ Sandal hexanol at thegoodscentscompany.com
2. ^ ^a b c 3-(5,5,6-Trimethylbicyclo(2.2.1)hept-2-yl)cyclohexan-1-ol at Sigma-Aldrich.
3. ^ Demole, Edouard (1964). "Synthesis and relations between chemical constitution and odor in the 3-terpenylcyclohexanol series". Helvetica Chimica Acta 47 (7): 1766–74.
4. ^ Jean-Francois Tremblay (2011). "Rhodia Invests in Synthetic Sandalwood". Chemical & Engineering News 89 (12): 24–25. doi:10.1021/CEN031511180238.

Wikipedia