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The natural oils on your skin can corrode the exterior of your guitar strings. You may even notice the strings losing color and developing bits of rust. To combat this, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before playing to extend the life of your strings and keep them grime-free. Avoid applying perfumes or lotions to your hands before playing, as they are not suited for guitar strings and their ingredients may cause damage. When first learning to play the guitar, it's natural to press on the strings firmly as you gauge proper finger position. Once you have a better command of playing, though, you can actually use much less pressure to achieve your desired notes. Doing this will help minimize excessive pressure of your metal frets against the strings, which can cause physical wear to their exteriors and shorten their longevity. When you push a string tightly over the fret board so the pitch goes up—a technique often used in rock and blues music—it strains the string. While this effect can sound desirable, doing this excessively can damage the string's internal structure, causing it to wear out more quickly. Nylon strings have a higher tolerance for string bends than metal strings, which tend to have more trouble snapping back into their original shape. If you play your guitar with your fingers rather than a pick, your nails are one of the items that most frequently touch and manipulate your strings. Uneven or jagged nails can actually cause abrasions to your strings' exteriors, which shortens their playable life. A smooth, rounded nail shape is preferable to a square shape for guitar playing. What's most important, though, is filing them smoothly, so no rough edges can scratch your strings. While some tinkering is necessary to properly tune your guitar, most amateur guitar players manipulate string tension far more than is necessary. If your guitar is in tune, try not to mess around tightening and loosening the strings just for fun.  Excessive slackening and tightening wears down the interior structure of the strings, causing their integrity to break down over time. Avoiding this will help increase string life. Try to stick with one method of tuning to preserve your strings. That way you're not manipulating them excessively by switching between methods—for example, between standard tuning and drop-D tuning.

summary: Wash your hands before playing. Ease up on pressure. Minimize string bends. File your fingernails smooth. Don't tighten and loosen strings excessively.


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You can book a reservation at your favorite restaurant or you can cook. It doesn't even have to be fine dining. Often just putting something together in advance is a good way to show your Valentine that you care and that you're thinking of them. Add some candles, turn down the lights, and it's a perfect romantic evening. If you're like most people, there are probably so many things to do in your area that you've just never gotten around to. Spend an entire day exploring with your significant other, and make a point of going places neither of you have ever been before. Go to a new museum, go paintballing together, or hike a long trail that you've both been interested in, but never had the time for. You never know--you might even get to see a fun new side of the person you love. It sounds so cliché, until you realize that it has been forever since you last took an hour or two to simply sit down across from them at a table to talk. Put your phones on silent and out of sight, and just give each other your full attention. If you go to a nature preserve or big park, bring a field guide to birds or wild flowers and have fun working together to identify what you see. If you're in the city, do a self-guided walking tour together, wander down adorable side streets you've never noticed before, and make lots of stops to smell the roses. Book a few nights at a cosy bed and breakfast, or visit a nearby city for a few days. You might have to tell them to set aside the weekend for something special, but they don't have to know where you're going. Go all out, and make it a weekend to remember. Swing dances often include a brief lesson beforehand for beginners and people who want to brush up on rusty skills, and they can be a lot of fun. Or get up close and personal with a tango class. Nothing says romantic like a jazzy number and a beckoning dance floor.

summary: Arrange for dinner. Plan a day out. Take your partner out for coffee. Go for a long walk together. Surprise your significant other with a weekend away. Take your partner out dancing.


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Logs should be processed into lumber as soon as possible to prevent the ends from drying and the wood from rotting. While the ideal thickness for lumber is 1 inch (2.5 cm), you may saw your logs into lumber that is between ¾ inch to 2 inches (5.1 cm) in thickness. If you are processing the wood yourself, make an effort to achieve uniform length and thickness. If you are unable to saw your own logs, find a sawmill to do the job for you. You may wish to cut your wood slightly oversized to account for shrinkage. The ends of lumber cure faster than the rest of the wood. To ensure that your wood cures evenly, it is best to seal the ends immediately after sawing the logs into lumber. You may coat each end of the wood in a commercial end sealer, paraffin wax, polyurethane shellac, or latex paint. Build up a thick layer of the sealer of your choice to prevent moisture from escaping out of the ends. When air-drying your wood, the curing time is determined by a simple formula. Allow 1 year of drying time per 1 inch (2.5 cm) of thickness. This formula only provides a rough estimate. It does not account for all variables, such as the weather and the location of the woodpile. For example, if a piece of wood is 1 inch thick, it would take 1 year to properly cure the lumber.
summary: Process the wood. Seal the ends of the lumber. Determine its cure time.