Philipp,

This is a good question for the microscopy mailing list:
http://www.msa.microscopy.org/MicroscopyListserver/HomePage.html

There are people there who work on wood and 
adhesives -- probably someone who does both.

Phil

>Hello,
>
>We are doing some investigations on glue-lines 
>in wood. Our standard procedure so far is to 
>boil the wood in water to soften it, produce 
>microtome slices and stain them. However the 
>boiling process might affect the condition of 
>the adhesive and the wood itself. To avoid this 
>effect, we want to survey little wooden cubes 
>(untreated), where the investigated surface has 
>only been smoothed with the microtome. To get a 
>better contrast between the wood and the 
>adhesive, we tried various staining methods 
>(safranine, iodide-iodide-potassium, 
>toluidine-blue), that have been mentioned in the 
>literature. Anyway, the tests results were not 
>satisfying. Not every part of the adhesive was 
>dyed by the staining agent to the same degree 
>making a determination of the adhesive 
>penetration very difficult.
>
>My question now is: Has anybody some experience 
>with a dry sample preparation of wood or glue 
>lines respectively? And has anybody some 
>experience with the staining of wood or adhesive?
>
>The wood is beech; the adhesives are PUR, UF and PVAC.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Philipp
>
>Philipp Haß
>Institute for Building Materials (Wood Physics)
>ETH Zurich, HIF E 23.2
>Schafmattstrasse 6
>CH-8093 Zurich
>Tel: (0041)-(0)44-632 32 50
>Fax: (0041)-(0)44/632 11 74
>phass@ethz.ch
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-- 
Philip Oshel
Microscopy Facility Supervisor
Biology Department
024C Brooks Hall
Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
(989) 774-3576

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