I have extremely limited experience with sectioning wood (a few times, years
ago). But I think that PVA (polyvinyl acetate) would be a good choice. I
made some comments about PVA last week, in a thread on sectioning nails, so
I won't re-post that information here. PVA is used in making wood glue, so I
assume it will bind very well to wood! And I know from experience that it
adheres very well to glass.

Of course, the first consideration in attaching any section to a slide,
regardless of what adhesive you are using, is creating intimate contact
between the surface of the slide and the surface of the tissue section. In
other words, getting the section to lie flat. No adhesive will fill gaps
between the tissue and the slide.  So, if the section looks "wavy" on the
water bath when you pick it up, it probably won't adhere to the slide during
staining, regardless of the adhesive used. Methods for flattening the
section include:

- longer time on the water bath
- higher temperature of the water bath
- placing the slide on a "slide warmer" at 80 degrees after draining the
slide briefly
- holding the section against the slide with physical pressure while drying,
as is often done with methyl methacrylate sections



Paul M. 


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