The book "Botanical Microtechnique and Cytochemistry" by Graeme P. Berlyn & Jerome P. Miksche (Iowas State University Press, 1976; ISBN 813802202) give a detailed account of softening wood using hydrofluoric acid - including safety precautions for this nasty stuff. Pages 73-74. A sliding microtome is recommended. This book also has a good chapter on cutting techniques for botanical materials. It is out-of-print but available 2nd-hand quite cheaply, eg http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AGraeme%20P.%3B%20Miksche%5Cc%20Jerome%20P.%20Berlyn
John Kiernan London, Canada = = = On 10/02/15, "Preiszner, Johanna" <preis...@mail.etsu.edu> wrote: > Thanks everybody for the ideas and the expression of sympathy! > > Our conclusion is that it's not possible to soften up a hard fruit pit for > paraffin sectioning in a standard Histology lab. We never tried celloidin > embedding, so that's still a possiblility. > > The best approach might be a bone or mineral grinder that can produce > microscopic sections of hard material. > > Thanks again, > > Hanna Preiszner > ETSU/QCOM > ________________________________________ > From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > [histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] on behalf of Preiszner, Johanna > [preis...@mail.etsu.edu] > Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 4:20 PM > To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > Subject: [Histonet] peach stone (pit) sectioning? > > Hi Netters, > > does anybody know how I could soften up a hard fruit pit for sectioning? > > Thanks, > Hanna Preiszner > ETSU/QCOM > > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > > _______________________________________________ > Histonet mailing list > Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu > http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet > > _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
