[Histonet] Shandon Elliott Autosharp consumables

[Gordon Brown]

I haven't posted anything on here for a while, hope someone can help me 
as I'm drawing a blank searching on the internet. I'm one of the leaders 
of an amateur microscopy group in the UK, the Anglian Microscopy Group, 
and one of the subjects we regularly cover is histology where we help 
members to make thin sections - usually of plant material - stain and 
mount them. Quite a few of our members own a Cambridge Rocking microtome 
as in the past they were very popular with amateur microscopists in the 
UK. Only problem is that they use a fixed blade and replaceable blade 
holders are expensive and frankly usually poor quality.

We were recently give a very good condition Shandon Elliott Autosharp 
(think it's a Mark 2) with all the blade holders and four glass plates 
that we want to use for sharpening Cambridge Rocker blades. It also came 
with one bottle of abrasive powder, presumably aluminium oxide, but with 
no sensible indication of grain size. I've been trying to get hold of 
information on which abrasives should be used and I'm hitting a bit of a 
blank wall, probably because these machines are effectively obsolete in 
professional circles.

In an older paper I've found the following abrasives were recommended; 
Aloxite 2F, Aloxite Optical 50, Aloxite 1200 and Polishing Alumina 350, 
however these are no longer in production and the company that 
made/marketed them in the UK, the Carborundum Company, Manchester, no 
longer exists. I don't think the numbers refer to grit sizes, especially 
the Optical 50. Diamond pastes are unlikely to be of any use to us as 
they require copper plates that we don't have.

Is there anyone out there who can provide me with information on which 
currently produced aluminium oxide abrasives will be suitable for this 
machine, preferably with the grit size in micrometres so that that I can 
look for alternatives? If anyone in the UK actually has any old tins of 
these materials we'd be very interested in acquiring them! I've given 
the club email address below if anyone wants to contact us directly.

Many thanks
Gordon
anglian.microscopy at gmail.com
www.anglianmc.org.uk