Natural Science Forum / Physics / Optics / October 2005

Nate,  watch me venture into deep waters... Friends of mine who repair
microtomes say that disposables are only good for paraffin embeds.  For an
Epon embed you should use a non-disposable knife and keep it good and sharp.
In general non-disposables are better than disposables, Gillete (Leica) made
disposables are better than other disposables.

Hope this makes sense.

Kevin Cunningham
SMS

Nate,

Your best bet for cutting epon would be to use either glass or diamond
knives, similar to the ones used in electron microscopy.  However, that
would require a special knife holder for the microtome, and that would
cost *big* bucks.

You say that your Epon block is on the soft side.  I'm wondering if it
might be worth first trying a coated disposable blade that's used for
bone and other hard specimens.

C.L. Sturkey (www.sturkey.com) has a disposable blade called the
"diamond blade" that's available in both high and low profile
configurations.  They don't mention anything about cutting plastic with
it, but it might just do the job for a few sections.

If your microtome has a disposable blade holder on it now, it won't
cost anything to try one of the Sturkey disposable knives, since they
will send you a free sample.  Details are on Sturkey's website.

Good luck!

Bob Chiovetti
The Microscope Works
Arizona's Microscopy Resource
Tucson, Arizona USA