try your steel blades first (not disposable, they are not held well enough) and if
you have trouble with the steel knife i would suggest going to a D profile tungsten
carbide knife, they work great and stay sharp for a long time, especially if you are
not cutting bone.  i buy my TC knives from Delaware Diamond Knives, they are not
cheap but worth it in my opinion.
patsy

Margaret Gondo wrote:

> Patsy -
>
> What type of knife would you recommend for cutting the anterior portion
> of the eye?  I've been getting by a steel blade which works with
> paraffin.  However, the PI wants to use plastic (methylmethacrylate).
>
> Thanks,
> Margaret
>
> rueggp wrote:
> >
> > just another little aside about glass knives in general.
> > in my experience ralph type knives were very good for cutting larger pieces of
> > soft tissues embedded in gma, but i found them to be too fragile to cut
> > mineralized bone embedded in gma and thought the triangle knife edges were a
> > little less fragile, but ultimately for bone i had to abandon glass knives all
> > together and go to tungsten carbide because the fragile glass knife edges just
> > did not hold up for cutting bone, too many scratches.
> > my 2 cents worth.
> > patsy
> >
> > "Monson, Frederick C." wrote:
> >
> > > No! No!  Patsy.  Ralph knives were originally made by Ralph without a Ralph
> > > knife maker!  Even worse, Ralph didn't even make the Ralph Knife Maker (It
> > > would have been called "Ralph's Knife Maker"), no money for the use of his
> > > name either.  Ralph made his knives by scoring a 6mm thick long strip of
> > > ultramicrotomy glass, then he rested the glass strip on a wooden stirring
> > > stick so that the score lay slightly to the left or right, but parallel to
> > > the stick.  Then he pressed with a Ralph amount of force to get the strip to
> > > break (he wasn't wearing his glasses, and his mother said he would put his
> > > eyes out!).  The result was a short strip with a cutting edge that extended
> > > the full width of the strip.  Ralph mounted the glass knife on a length of
> > > steel with some adhesive, I used hot glue, and cut 2um sections on his
> > > rotary microtome from GMA blocks.
> > >
> > > Ralph's real claim to fame is that no one remembers whether "Ralph" is the
> > > first or last name, but he is better known than Student who is more famous
> > > than the totally anonymous fabricator (also a student!) of FITC from F.
> > >
> > > If I read this, I won't be able to send it.
> > >
> > > Fred
> > >
> > > Frederick C. Monson, PhD
> > > Center for Advanced Scientific Imaging
> > > Schmucker II Science Center
> > > West Chester University
> > > South Church Street
> > > West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, 19383
> > > Phone:  610-738-0437
> > > FAX:  610-738-0437
> > > fmonson@wcupa.edu
> > > CASI URL:  http://darwin/wcupa.edu/casi/
> > > WCUPA URL:  http://www.wcupa.edu/
> > > Visitors URL:  http://www.wcupa.edu/_visitors/
> > >
> > > > ----------
> > > > From:         rueggp
> > > > Sent:         Thursday, April 11, 2002 11:23 AM
> > > > To:   Margaret Gondo
> > > > Cc:   HistoNet Server
> > > > Subject:      Re: Sorvall 45700 Glass Knife Maker
> > > >
> > > > NO
> > > > The Sorvall knife maker makes the cut on the thickness of the glass, you
> > > > would need a Ralph Knife maker to cut Ralph Knives.
> > > > Patsy
> > > >
> > > > Margaret Gondo wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Hi All -
> > > > >
> > > > > I have unearthed a Sorvall 45700 Glass Knife Maker.  I can't seem to
> > > > > locate any other information on this.  I'm just curious if anyone out in
> > > > > Histoland knows if the instrument will make a Ralph Knife.
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks in advance,
> > > > > Margaret
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >