2 microtome knives by T.Rex
Open full image in new tab Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
Description
Microtome Knives
These are the sharpest, most dangerous instruments for cutting and slicing in the world! (Forget about scalpels!) If wielded as a sword it would slice the victim in half without effort!
Microtome – from the Greek mikros, meaning small or little; temnein, meaning to cut
A microtome is an apparatus for slicing tissues into very thin slices, often cutting cells into several thin slices for study. The common blade is of highly sharpened steel, as seen in the photo. This is used to section prepared specimens embedded in paraffin, or for slicing frozen tissues in a cryotome (freeze microtome). These slices are studied using light microscopy. The sharp edge of the knife can be seen as a thin grey bevel in the photo.
Then there are glass knives made by breaking squares of special hard glass into triangles, or diamond knives. These are used for ultra thin slices of plastic embedded tissues for high power electron microscopy. Section thickness can be 50 nanometers (50 X 10-5 meters or 50 X 1 billionth of a meter) to 100 micrometers (100 X 10-6 or 1 millionth of a meter). This allows for extremely thin sections that the electron beam in an electron microscope can readily show the contents of. Even large molecules can be examined in place!
I have worked with all 3 types. One day, while working with a cryotome, I noticed some odd brownish spots on the floor of the instrument casing. Then another one. That’s when I discovered my little finger had come in contact with the blade edge. If my finger nail hadn’t stopped the movement, I would have lost the tip of my right pinkie! No pain until over an hour later! Healing was slow since the cut was so clean the cells and nerves did not react to the injury. But when the pain started, it was phenomenal! Vengeance of the nerves for not getting the proper signals for an injury! It took over 3 weeks to heal the cut!
After that, I was even MORE careful when working with the cryotome. Part of the problem was working in the cold which reduced feeling and finger movements (COLD fingers)!
So, now you’re experts on microtomes, or at least know what they are!
ENJOY!
Comments (11)
RodS
I had heard of microtomes, but never realized how dangerously sharp they are. Wow! Thanks for the info - I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Great photo as well.
You should probably keep these away from Summer...
T.Rex
She doesn't know I have them. However, she prefers frying pan! :)
MagikUnicorn
COOL ;-)
Diemamker
WoW! cool cutting tool...
steelrazer
My finger started to bleed just reading this! Interesting info.
makennedy
Best to keep them away from me then, I've been known to cut myself with a butter knife!....Nice info and presentation!
Faemike55
I'm thinking about decapitation of zombie with swords made like this! I can bet that these are cheap or on the open market either...
thanks for sharing
T.Rex
VERY expensive! Not easy to find on the open market. Most vendors require info about grants, research institution, and payment through research grant/institute. NO payment by cash! All this for safety's sake. The same goes for purchases of chemicals and other scientific materials. Thanks for the comment! :)
A_Sunbeam
Not the sort of knife I need here - new word to me. Nice shot!
Meisiekind
Fascinating info about these knives. I never knew. Careful when you slice those onions!
X-PaX
Thank you for the information.
Very nice capture.
goodoleboy
You mean even sharper than a Xacto blade? Man, I have to use Xacto knives with extreme caution lest I slash myself to shreds. Anyway, a good shot of the sharp instrument and the interesting narrative as to its use and history.
EdKline
Wow. The only thing I've heard of that might be sharper than those Microtomes are the new ceramic scalpels, they are supposed to have molecular edges shaped by a laser. (And I can't see them being used more than once before the cutting edge is gone.) Your Microtomes are made to last a very long time, I'll bet.