[Histonet] Excessively Wrinkled sections

[John Kiernan]

Is it really OK to float out sections on water
that is "a couple degrees below the melting temp 
of the wax"? Ribbons of 58C wax extend nicely
on water at 40-45C. I've never dared to float
ribbons on a water bath in the 50s because I've
seen the bad effects of high temperature when
doing on-the-slide flotation on a 55C hotplate. 
That's the way I was taught, by technicians 
who were skilled enough to do it well. 

Hot water under a paraffin ribbon yields up
its dissolved air in the form of many tiny
bubbles. These form under the sections and
cause lousy staining for obvious reasons.

When wax melts in the presence of even a thin
film of water under a ribbon of sections you
have a recipe for disaster. If you can cut,
float and mount "ideal" sections from water
that's only 2C below the nominal melting
point of the wax, please post detailed
instructions. 
-- 
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John A. Kiernan
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
The University of Western Ontario
London,   Canada   N6A 5C1
   kiernan <@t> uwo.ca
   http://publish.uwo.ca/~jkiernan/
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Albert Grobe wrote:
Ideally, the waterbath should be a couple degrees below
the melting temp of the wax but some fine adjustment is
sometimes necessary.  I have had the same problem in
the past, and raising the temp has helped.
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