Bouyancy Compensator
Who wouldn’t want to explore the world under the sea? Mankind has always been fascinated with life underwater. Because of this great fascination, extensive research and amazing inventions have given us the chance to breathe underwater so we can observe or simply have fun in dealing with aquatic animals.
However, breathing underwater isn’t just simply bringing a tank full of air with you when you dive. There are many things that you need to consider. Staying underwater is totally different from living on land.
For one, humans don’t have the gills that can extract oxygen from the water. Air pressure is also significantly different from water pressure. The human body isn’t adapted to high-pressure changes. Controlling your buoyancy and avoiding losing body heat when underwater are also major considerations.
Fortunately, probably everything that a scuba diver needs to safely explore the depths of the ocean is available. There’s the mask, snorkel, fins, regulators and diving suits to name just a few. These equipments allow the diver to breathe, control their position and stay warm underwater.
To breathe underwater, a scuba diver wears a metal tank full of compressed air. A regulator is attached to this tank, which adjusts the air pressure to match that of the surroundings so the diver can breathe comfortably. The regulator delivers air through a mouthpiece, which the diver uses to inhale and exhale. Breathing through your mouth comes naturally, so you don’t need to add that to your worries.
Another hose is attached to a regulator to control the diver’s buoyancy. It is attached to an air bladder that is adjustable. Since the diver wears this as a vest, adding air into it would make him more buoyant, and thus, he rises. When he releases the air, the opposite happens.
These buoyancy compensators also help a scuba diver achieve neutral buoyancy. When you are in neutral buoyancy, you can stay at a constant depth without much effort. This minimizes gas consumption due to swimming.
Divers also wear lead weights as a belt to allow them to descend and stay underwater. The weights are evenly spaced to achieve proper balance. During emergency situations, a diver can quickly release these belts to rise to the surface.
A diver’s suit is really incredible. It is made of a compressible substance, thus when you descend, it reduces the volume, and when you ascend, it expands. They are very helpful in conveniently controlling one’s buoyancy.
A suit can also provide thermal insulation. A wetsuit, for example, is usually made of neoprene that has poor thermal conductivity, which minimizes body heat loss to the surrounding water.
Another way that a driver’s suit can reduce loss of body heat is by trapping a layer of water between the suit and human skin. The wetsuit is very well sealed at the neck, wrist and legs thus water flow rate is reduced. This technique in reducing heat loss is known as convection, which is the same principle used in the concept of semi-dry.
A dry suit on the other hand keeps the diver dry, as opposed to a wetsuit. Frigid water can’t penetrate a dry suit. Preferably, dry suit undergarments are also worn for better insulation. A dry suit keeps a thin air layer inside that helps keep a diver warm.
Of course, to be able to familiarize yourself better with scuba diving gear, it is best if you get yourself a certification by passing a scuba diving course. In the course, you’ll not only learn about the equipment, you’ll also be taught how to adapt to diving.
During the course, student divers learn how to achieve neutral buoyancy. Through various swimming exercises, they learn how to control their breathing rate. A diver should know how to breathe in a slow but continuous manner.
At the end of the course, you are expected to know some safety procedures in diving, such as how to clear your mask in case water leaks in, how to avoid any mishaps while underwater, and of course, how to help a fellow diver in need.
Conventional hand signals are used underwater to communicate.
As a certified diver, you can refill your own air tanks, buy scuba diving gear and scuba dive anywhere in the world. Scuba diving businesses require this certification as proof that you can well manage yourself underwater.
Tags: Scuba Diving
Since that first “Penny Black” was issued the issuance of stamps grew in all countries and the collection of stamps has also increased, and there is no stopping it. And because the number of stamps has grown in leaps and bounds – for the sake of convenience – collectors have limited themselves into single country collecting.
Multiple country collecting
Collecting stamps from one country compared to collecting stamps from various nations is better as there is a lot more time and effort to have access to more stamps locally than internationally.
For instance, it is a bit difficult to complete an Austrian stamp collection because of its rarity and only a few stamps are ever available.
The easiest and probably the most famous stamp to collect are those that come from one’s own country.
However it all depends on your own preference. For instance, stamps from Austria began to be collected through a specific motif that a particular stamp or group of stamps have. An example would be the collection of stamps as according to the pictures they have, such as flowers, dogs, trains, paintings, ships, buildings, weapons or women.
However, a beginning stamp collector or those that intend to collect on an average basis may do well to start gathering stamps from their own country.
Stamps that are issued fresh hot of the post are very affordable. Believe it or not, stamps that have just been released may be bought with no additional charge from any postal office right on the day of its issuance.
Beautiful US stamps about beautiful US
If you are willing to collect stamps about the beautiful country that is the US of A, there are a set of stamps out there which showcase such.
The Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, for instance are shown in the stamp issued by the United States Postal Service. The stamp that costs a mere seventy-five cents shows the Great Smokey Mountain during sunset as photographed by David Muench from California, specifically in Santa Barbara.
The breathtaking picture view also has portions of Tennessee and North Carolina. This national park is best known for its diverse plant life as well as animal life as one will definitely see when he hikes along its eight hundred mile trail.
Another beautiful US landmark that has been immortalized in a stamp is the Yosemite National Park. The stamp costs eight-four US cents and it features a picture of the valley gates of the Yosemite as photographed by Galen Rowell of California, specifically Emervville.
If you are a nature lover, or even if you are not, collecting the stamp will most probably make you one.
Yosemite Park was established as such on the first of October in the year 1890. The park boasts of a variety of natural features and geographical wonders such as meadows that stretch as far as the eye can see lakes, waterfalls, sequoias and monoliths that are made out of granite. These granites are called half Dome and El Capitan.
Believe it or not, Yosemite has been designated as ninety five percent authentic wilderness.
Another US treasure found on a sixty three cent stamp is Utah’s Bryce Canyon. These stamps are all part of the Scenic Landscapes in America released by the US Postal Service.
The canyon is beautifully photographed by Tom Till from the city of Moab, Utah. Thanks to erosion, the Utah landscape developed spires now called as whimsical-looking hoodoos. Bryce Canyon was recognized nationally as a monument in 1923.
America’s crops
Believe it or not, the crops grown in America are also featured in US stamps. The following crops has been featured, beans, corn, squashes, chili peppers, sunflowers.
An artist named Steve Buchanan designed five of the stamps through the slides photographed by his wife. Other crops featured were corn ears, chilies (both the red and green type), lima beans, pintos, squash, pintos, seeds and sunflowers.
All in all, collecting stamps is a worthwhile activity that anyone who has the perseverance, patience and passion to pursue could. All it takes is a good eye for detail and a liking for anything and everything literally small.
All year round, scuba diving is a popular activity. It is basically defined as the act of entering the water and remaining below its surface to explore, work, or simply just have fun. There are several famous scuba diving spots all over the world. Scuba diving isn’t limited to the oceans, however. Many divers dive into other forms of water, such as lakes, ponds and rivers.
Scuba refers to the tank containing air that divers carry with them to enable them to breathe underwater. As we discussed earlier, the word scuba stands for “self-contained underwater-breathing apparatus.”
For centuries, people have been fascinated by the life found underwater. In fact, there is an estimated six million active divers around the world. Commercial, cave, wreck and military diving are just a few purposes for diving. The most popular of which is sport or recreational diving.
However, before you go diving, there are several issues to be considered. Scuba diving is a potentially hazardous sport. Thus, you need to look at a few of its physiological concepts to help familiarize yourself.
Diving requires special training, especially when you plan to go more than 130 feet below the surface. Due to the water pressure, you would find yourself experiencing decompression sickness and air embolisms.
Also, it would be helpful to know that a person tends to consume more air the deeper he goes underwater. It follows that with the same amount of air, divers at a shallower depth last longer. Also, air consumption varies per person, depending on their diving experience, general relaxation and physical fitness. Also, those who have a healthier lifestyle, which means less alcohol and tobacco intake, expect to last longer underwater.
Scuba diving dangers primarily stem from the physiological hazards encountered. Unlike aquatic animals that have gills to extract oxygen from the water, humans need external devices to breathe underwater. Thus, it is important to strictly follow the procedures learned during scuba diving certification process. You should never attempt to dive beyond your abilities and experience.
To breathe comfortably underwater, it takes more than good supply of air. You need to consider the pressure exerted by water onto your chest and lungs. That means, you should be able to exert enough pressure when inhaling to counter the surrounding temperature, or else, you might not be able to safely inflate your lungs.
Fortunately, there are modern devices such as valve regulators to ensure that the diver can breathe naturally and almost effortlessly underwater, regardless of depth. You won’t be using your nose in inhalation since it is usually encapsulated in a diving mask. However, you don’t need to worry since inhaling from the regulator’s mouthpiece will come out spontaneously.
It is also important to ascend or descend slowly, to give your body enough time to equalize the pressure. Sudden changes in water pressure can be very harmful. A significant difference from the pressure outside and inside the diver can cause severe injuries, referred to as barotraumas.
Staying too long in great depths then ascending very quickly causes bends or decompression sickness. The deeper you dive underwater, the denser the air you breathe, which allows you to breathe nitrogen more than safe amount. Nitrogen forms tiny bubbles on your tissues and bloodstream. If these bubbles stay trapped inside your body, they could burst and cause extreme pain.
Another fatal pressure related injury is air embolism. When you ascend too quickly, the gases in your bloodstream will form a large bubble, which can impede the flow of blood to your brain. To allow excess air to escape from the body, a diver should ascend slowly enough.
To avoid these risks, you must be able to calculate how long you can safely stay at a certain depth and how long you should dive again. Of course, there is also the risk of running out of air and breathing contaminated air when underwater. Scuba diving certification courses should teach you how to avoid these and what to do should a fellow diver experience such problems.
So before you explore the underwater world, make sure you have passed a scuba diving certification. This will allow you to do unsupervised dives, refill your air tanks and buy scuba diving gadgets. Of course, when you go scuba diving, make sure that you have somebody with you who can assist you if something goes wrong.
Tags: Scuba Diving
While jobs can rarely be found without using the internet and its multitude of job search engines, there is a sense of awareness that job applicants have to have in order to successfully use these websites. Protecting yourself from harassment and identity theft is important when you have personal information posted on a public website.
Remember that when you allow anyone to see your resume that ANYONE can see it. Your phone number is often on your résumé; if you don’t want it to be made public, you should consider making your résumé private and only sending it to out, not allowing just any employer to see it. Also, set up a new email address to put on your résumé. Often junk email is part of the internet job search process, so prevent your regular email from getting full by having all job search emails go to a special address.
Tags: Employment, Search Engine
Scuba Diving, while fun, has its share of hazards like any outdoor sport. Knowing how to recognize and deal with potential problems before (or when) they occur can make the difference between life and death when you’re under water. Here are a few safety precautions to take, as well as some of the things that can happen that you should look out for.
Plan Contingencies for Every Emergency – there’s that law good old Murphy made, that “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. While a seemingly pessimistic and cynical statement, it actually helps sometimes to take this approach, especially when planning for emergencies. Take enough gear to handle all the potential problems that you’ll encounter, and have back up means of getting external help on hand in case something arises that you weren’t prepared for.
Decompression Injuries: DCS – know how to recognize the symptoms of these two maladies. They will require treatment in an emergency decompression chamber. They are: Decompression sickness, or DCS, and Cerebral arterial gas embolism, or CAGE. DCS occurs because the body forms air pockets in it when utilizing compressed air, as well as because it is subject to increased external pressure from the water. DCS occurs because the nitrogen in a person’s air supply, unlike oxygen, is NOT used up and absorbed by the body, and the increased levels of nitrogen, unless controlled by a device on the breathing apparatus called a regulator, collects air pockets in the body. These create a cramping sensation, nausea, and lightheadedness, and a physical sensation referred to by divers as The Bends. DCS usually occurs on an overly fast descent, as the body and the regulator can’t compensate fast enough for the increased water pressure.
Decompression Injuries CAGE – Cerebral arterial gas embolism occurs more often as a result of an uncontrolled rapid ascent, as opposed to the bends that hit divers due to a fast descent. This manifests as sharp pains in the body, especially in the sinuses, head, and in the lung area. This is a very serious condition that can be potentially fatal. CAGE is caused when the rapid ascent of the diver causes air bubbles similar to those formed during DCS, only this time the air pressure changes that trigger the bubbles in the body are due to a sudden lessening of the water pressure surrounding the body. This causes the trapped air to have a higher pressure volume than the surrounding atmosphere. In effect, the diver is an unopened can of soda that got shaken real good underwater, and once he leaves the water, it’s the same effect as opening the can…
Injuries – the injuries that can occur from decompression range from the merely bothersome, like nausea, sharp pains, and cramps, to more serious matters. One of the most potentially damaging is trapped air bubbles reaching the heart or the cerebral system. As some of you may have seen on television, there are episodes where a villain kills a sleeping victim in a hospital by injecting air into their dextrose. The air bubbles formed in the veins cause cardiac arrest when they hit the heart, or a stroke when they hit the brain. This is a true fact, and the air bubbles causes by decompression may have this effect, if large enough. This is one of the major reasons why controlled ascents and descent rates are so vital to safe diving.
Other Potential Maladies – aside from decompression sickness, which is the most common and severe type of injury incurred by divers, other maladies are mostly atmospheric in cause. Hypothermia is caused by dives in extremely cold water, or by diving with a wetsuit that doesn’t provide enough heat insulation. Dehydration also occurs on a dive, surprisingly. Be sure to drink lots of water before you go. Asphyxiation occurs, on the other hand, if the air supply used is flawed and doesn’t give the body adequate oxygen to function.
Scuba Lifesaving – Take up a first aid class that will allow you to recognize the signs of the conditions given above, and also teaches you emergency measures to be used in those events. Don’t rely on text based or verbal descriptions make sure that the first aid course gives you full, hands on training in dealing with these injuries. Also keep your first aid kit handy and well stocked on your dives, and always have a means to call for help from others, including a radio transmitter, cellular telephone, and even signal flares. While seemingly bulky and unnecessary, these items can mean the difference between life and death.
Tags: Scuba Diving
Are you a fresh graduate and planning to look for a job? Did you just recently quit your job and are looking for greener pastures? Are you unemployed and have little experience regarding ways to secure a job? Whatever your situation may be, it would be to your advantage to study the following tips:
Check your resume for mistakes
Before submitting your resume to a prospective employer, check your it for corrections at least three times before handing it over. After researching about the job position, it is critical that you format your resume to match the needs of the company. For example, if you are applying for an accounting job, you should put in detail your accounting experience on your resume. Typographical and grammatical errors are serious no-no’s. It is also ideal to keep the length of the resume’ to at least a page and a half long.
Taking the interview challenge
A survey conducted by a staffing and consulting firm based in California which corresponded with 1,400 chief financial officers concluded that candidates for employment made most of their mistakes on their interviews. Some of the mistakes they made include:
• Arriving late
• Having little knowledge about the company
• Having little knowledge about the position applied for
• Having a superiority complex
• Behaving arrogantly
The body language of the applicant must also denote that he is confident yet not overpowering. He must maintain eye contact, have a strong handshake, and avoid looking defensive by the act of crossing the arms. Wearing the right clothes is crucial for projecting a confident stance. As they say, it is better to go to an interview over-dressed than being under-dressed.
Answer questions smartly
A common mistake of interviewees is that they tend to get tense and forget the questions that are given to them, which has the effect that they are not prepared for the interview. It is important to research the company and the position applied for to prevent being side-tracked during the interview. If you do not know the answer to the questions being asked, it is better to admit you don’t know the answer to the question and add that you can research about it. Look for the skills or expertise that the company is looking for so that when interview day comes and the interviewer asks about your strengths and core competencies, you will be able to match it to what they need.
Getting the necessary referrals
Having a referral from one of the company employees can go a long way toward landing an interview. A typical company may receive job applications in the hundreds and usually 35% to 60% of all job vacancies are filled by referrals. The odds of getting hired when you have a referral are very high if you have another 200 to 500 applicants vying for the same position. If you do not know anyone from the company that may give you a referral, it is a good idea to network the alumni of your college or university, trade groups, social networks, and professional associations. Remember, having a referral greatly increases your chances of getting the position.
Online application
With the current trend of technology and its merging with business processes, more and more companies are now requiring prospective applicants to submit their application online. Thus, first impressions are relayed not by your first appearance but by the quality and content of your e-mail. E-mails regarding job application should be polished and well-articulated. When applying on-line, use the following tips:
Complete your sentences and do not abbreviate
Employers do not like when you send them application letters that seem to be too casual. It is important to make a letter that is both formal and well written. This gives a good impression regarding your capabilities and skills.
Get directly to the point
When writing an application letter, you must be concise and straightforward. Do not put a story on the letter just to get the attention of the employer, chances are he or she will just get irritated with you and this only reduces your chances of getting hired.
Consider potential issues that may hinder you from getting the job
You may find instances wherein there is a lot of need for a job but the requirements for the position may entail training programs that may bar you from getting the position due to its highly competitive nature. Some require a lot of experience even at least 3 years of work experience. Some may have no barriers to entry but the job itself may entail a very routine work flow.
Getting the job you want may be a challenge but never lose hope. It is better to wait a while and get a job that you will enjoy rather than get a job as soon as possible but ending up dissatisfied and unhappy. Make the right decision then act on it.
Tags: Job Hunting
Phishing is an Internet term used for a certain kind of modern crime performed over the Internet. It basically involves people masquerading as something harmless, like a bill collector or online survey taker, in an attempt to gather sensitive information and/or insert harmful programs like worms, spyware, and viruses into your computer.
More often than not, children are the biggest security breach in this case. While adults have often been victims of phishers as well, children are often in a greater area of danger because of their inexperience and lack of knowledge. As in the old days, teaching your children to defend themselves is one of the best things you can do to avoid this problem.
Here are a few things to do:
1) Explain Phishing to Your Kids – let your children know about phishing. Explain to them that people CAN pretend to be your business associates or government representatives online, and that they should NEVER give out any information to someone they don’t know.
2) Drill Your Children in Anti Phishing Procedures – aside from refusing to give information, treat this as you would the old case of what you teach your children to do when approached by strangers: that they should contact you if you’re available, or play safe and run away (go offline and disconnect the Internet) if the stranger is persistent. Also remember that phishers can come in many forms, even over something as harmless seeming as an online game.
3) Install Simple Firewalls and a Computer Activity Monitor – these two programs are essential. While they may not prevent the actual act of a person getting information from your kids via phishing, they provide their own security measures as well. Firewalls insure that, in case your children accept a harmless seeming survey form, no viruses or worms get inserted into your PC. Also, in the event that a phisher manages to get information from your kids, a system activity monitor program will allow you to trace what happened while you were gone, so that you can forward the recorded information over to your local police if you wish to have them investigate what happened.
4) Know and Teach your Children about Alternate Phishing Methods – Phishing does not simply involve people trying to access your information by contacting you and your children online. There are other, more indirect methods that they can employ, so make sure your children (and you yourself!) keep aware of the following:
Link Name Manipulation – this is a common trick used by some phishers. They take the name of a famous and trustworthy site and alter it’s name slightly to appear, at a casual glance, like the original site. A common trick used is to substitute a small letter “L” for a capital “i” in the name, or to replace a capital “o” with a zero “0″. Aside from these simple naming tricks, placing an extension at the end or middle of a URL, like say, sitename.com.realname.com, is another common way of masking a hidden site. These sites will often sport a front page that looks almost exactly like the home page of the site they’re mimicking, and as soon as you enter your user name and password, the phishers will have it on file and you’re in trouble.
Phone Phishing – sometimes, in an offer to “validate” themselves, phishers will offer to call the victim’s home to “prove” that they exist and have a “physical office” (As if you could see that over a phone! You’d be surprised at the number of people who fall for this though). As above, remind your children that this does NOT prove anything, and they should avoid any offers of such contact. Under no circumstances are they to give the home number, and if the caller already knows it and calls but you have caller ID, have them take the number down on paper for the authorities.
5) Anti Phishing Programs – there are a few licensed anti phishing programs that interact with most major firewalls. Get the latest one. These will have the names and locations of known phishing sites, as well as the programs commonly used by phishers to build their sites. These licensed programs also update themselves from their own secure websites on a constant basis to keep up to date with any changes and new information. This added security acts like a firewall or antivirus program but is dedicated to blocking, detecting, and tracing phishers.
Tags: Internet
In the lightning fast World Wide Web, today’s job applicant has to do more than just look in the local newspaper for job openings. Most employers don’t list in newspapers anymore, and instead have switched to advertising their job postings online. So the job applicant’s search has become an internet search.
Job search engines like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com are great because they allow you to find exactly what job you are looking for. Simply enter your application information and upload your resume. You can choose to have your resume available for public view or you can send it only to companies with openings that interest you. The sites also have detailed descriptions of the open positions so you can determine whether or not you will fit the offered job. Savvy searchers must be wary of unnamed companies, and companies that are national and do not have local branches. These often are “work from home” scams, or will require you to pay money to sell a product.
Tags: Employment, Search Engine
In the previous chapter we discussed the different trees and the types of woods they produce. If you really want your work to be perfect, you must have the perfect wood for the job. You can only do that if you are capable of choosing it yourself. You can’t depend on others to do this for you because it is you who knows what you plan to do with it.
So, here are some tips that you can use when you are choosing wood in the lumber store.
1. Know the different classes and types of wood
As you learned previously there are many woods to choose from, all with unique characteristics. However, not all woods will cater to your needs and requirements.
- On wood classes
You have learned that there are two classes of wood, defined by the kind of trees from which they came from. So, we have hardwood and softwood.
Hardwoods belong to the group of plants that we call angiosperms. These are flower-bearing plants that have broad leaves. On the other hand, softwoods, or conifers, belong to the gymnosperm plant groups. They don’t have flowers, but they bear seeds.
These aren’t the only things that set them apart. Constitution-wise, hardwood produces more attractive lumber because of the patterns produced by the various types vertically aligned cells. This is the reason why most hardwoods are used as materials in furniture and decorative items.
Softwood, on the other hand is used as framework in structures, and as flooring material. Contrary to its name, most of the softwoods are harder and stronger than hardwoods.
- On wood grades – Here is where we deviate from the generalities you have already learned.
While woods can be classified into two classes (hardwood and softwood) within those two classes they are additionally classified into two grades, select and common.
Select lumbers are excellent types of wood that are almost 100% free of blemishes. These are used when there is a high need for a beautiful finish and appearance. Expect to pay a premium for the select grade.
Common grade lumbers are woods that have appearance flaws and are basically used in general projects and in construction.
- Let’s add to our discussion on the different wood types
There are different types of wood that are best suited to your specific project. There are also types which will make the job more difficult for you because of certain limitations. That is why you must know these wood types and their special characteristics and flaws.
- Pines can be stained in a variety of colors. That is why it is preferred to be used in indoor projects. It is also ideal for cabinet making because it can easily be cut and sanded, plus it offers stability and durability.
- Poplars don’t have many pores so it is ideal for work that needs painting to give that very smooth look.
- Birch wood isn’t that easy to use since it is difficult to drive nails on its surface. It also produces an uneven tone when stained.
- Spruces are lightweight, so it is used in travel vehicles like ships and aircraft.
- Cedars have a sweet taste, so it is advisable to use it in lining closets and building storage chests.
- Redwoods are naturally resistant to decaying. That is why it is a commendable wood type to be used in outdoor furniture, fences, and other damp areas.
- There are also chemically treated types of lumber that offer better protection from decaying due to water exposure making these types of wood best for outdoor work like fences.
- Cherries, oak, maple, and the likes have really nice grain patterns that can be used as accents in woodworks.
- Rosewoods are used in creating musical instruments such as pianos because of the high polish finish and its reddish color.
2. Be aware of the deformations and defects of the wood.
You must be aware of the deformations that can affect the quality of work that you will produce from the wood. You have to closely examine if the wood has the following:
- Physical deformities such as twisting, cupping, bending, and crooking that will affect the shape and stability of the work;
- Cosmetic flaws such as knots and checks.
- Splits that must be cut off immediately since it will widen as long as it is present in the wood.
Armed with this information, it will be easy for you to choose the right wood for the task at hand.
Tags: Woodworking
One of the most exciting ways to collect stamp is to process them while they are still attached to envelopes. It’s a little like detective work, and doing so is pretty fun and exciting. However, if you are careless in processing your stamps from the envelopes, you could very well damage them. And you know what they say, damaged stamps are worthless stamps.
If you are one of the countless stamp collectors that derive much pleasure from soaking and mounting stamps yourself, you will want to learn the proper way of processing stamps.
First of all, you have to collect all the envelopes with their stamps attached. Some of this mail will come from your mailbox. The others you can collect form neighbors and friends – having a foreign correspondence won’t hurt (plus they use stamps not readily available from where you’re from. But at least be sincere with your correspondence!). We discussed numerous ways to obtain stamps previously.
You may then want to sort or organized them before and after soaking. Get your tools ready for the soaking and mounting process – your stamp tongs, scissors, and a saucer with lukewarm water, towels, and such.
Now, take an envelope and cut the envelope around the area around the stamp. Make sure you leave enough space so that it is easier to handle the stamp. You can then place the stamp along with the paper it is stuck too – reasonable trimmed by your earlier action – on the saucer of water. Make sure you put the stamp in with its front facing up. If possible avoid having the stamp getting damp on the face.
Also, avoid putting too many stamps in the saucer at the same time. The purpose of soaking the stamps is so that the stamp gum dissolves. However, the gum also can cause the stamps in the saucer to stick to each other if they are not properly spaced.
Make sure you use lukewarm water. Hot water can cause the color of the stamp to spread or stain. Now, place the stamps on a towel face-down. Use a pair of stamp tongs to separate the envelope paper from the stamps. Although using a newspaper is fine, try avoiding paper that has colored ink on it as may stain the stamp.
Let the stamps dry. It may take a while and they may end up curled and wrinkled. Do not fear, however, since the next step will take care of that problem. When the stamps are completely dry, place them flat in any book. Telephone directories do well for this. Just make sure the book does not have colored ink to stain the stamp. This step should take a few days. Make sure, that you remove them immediately as paper contains acid that could damage your stamp.
When you are ready to store your stamps, you will need a stamp album. This is where you store your stamps and should be the centerpiece among your tools. A good stamp album protects your stamps against chemicals, the elements, dust and dirt. This is probably the piece of equipment you will want to invest a better deal of money in. Shop around and compare products well before choosing a stamp album for purchase.
A good album will allow for the stamps to be laid flat and safe from damage. Use stamp tongs to deal when placing the stamps in your album.
For stamps which you will not place in your album – duplicates, or those that you plan to give away, use glassine envelopes. Glassine envelopes are great way to keep stamps temporarily. They also serve as transit storage for your stamps – a place to put them before mounting them in your collection. Avoid using paper envelopes as they have a high acid content that could very well damage your stamps. These envelopes also make a great container when mailing or giving stamps to other people.
In all, stamp collecting can be a fascinating experience for those who do it properly. As you build your stamp soaking, and mounting skills, you will better appreciate the beauty and the history of stamps. You may, as you go on, opt to purchase more specialized tools and equipment to keep your stamp collection in tip-top shape. But in any case, the knowledge of these basic stamp processing skills is integral to any stamp collector’s hobby efforts.
Tags: Stamp Collecting