Some months ago I was given a Cambridge rocking microtome, some knives and a few dozen wax-embedded botanical specimens. My initial attempts to cut sections of these resulted in small heaps of wax chips or slices of wax that rolled so tightly that I was unable to un-roll them onto a slide.
Recently there was a "Go-it-alone" microscopy course held at Belstead House, Ipswich. Far from being alone this is a time to share activities and experience. I was very glad to have the expert assistance of Ernie Ives, who showed me how to sharpen the knife and get the microtome cutting usable sections, which were then stained and mounted. The technique needs a lot of practice but I have managed to repeat the operation at home and some of the results are shown below.
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A close-up view of the microtome knife with a ribbon of wax sections being cut. The sections are about 8 microns thick, if I can believe the setting dial on the microtome. Setting the thickness to >15 microns resulted in tightly curled sections. Settings below 6 microns produced sections with holes through them. |
| Once cut, a section is put on a slide, the wax washed out and the remaining section stained and mounted.This sample has been stained for 40 minutes with Safronin red. There appears to be a small fold in the stem - poor handling! - but you can still see the shape of the forming buds in this shoot. | |
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