Technique of free-hand section cutting

Biology

 Technique of free-hand section cutting

The first step of slide preparation is section cutting. Keep all the requirements needed for section cutting such as watch glass, sharp razor or safety blade, slide, brush, needles, water and materials in front of you. Hold the material vertically in between the thumb and fore finger of the left hand in such a way that the material lies at the level of fore finger and the thumb below it. hold the razor or blade by the right hand, now, make a horizontal cut to material with a single stroke. Repeat the process several times by moving the blade rapidly so as to get a number of sections. Keep all the sections collected on the blade on water into the watch glass. Select a number of thin and uniform sections and place them on the slide with the help of a fine brush. Select under microscope the best thin and unruptured sections from them. Discard the thick, incomplete and oblique sections.

The material, which is very small or fragile to hold without support, pith is used to hold it. pith is a stiff tissue used to support the soft tissue during the section cutting. potato, carrot and radish are commonly used as the pith. Take a piece of pith (sized enough to hold by hand) and cut vertically down leaving a portion enough to hold the specimen. Place the material in between two haves of the pith and hold tightly. Now, follow the above mentioned methods of section cutting to cut the pith along with material horizontally.