Posted By Jim Walker Blimey!, that takes me back a few (30) years. My first "career" was in Med Lab sciences. I remember the main bit of safety advice was "if you accidentally drop the knife don't attempt to catch it". This wasn't a joke and I later saw the outcome of someone forgetting this gem - fortunately the outcome wasn't too serious. These knives are unbelievabaly sharp and heavy, quite capable of removing a few fingers. Don't know the answer Bryn, other than sack the gung ho manager. Good luck in Oz, your contributions to the forum have been invaluable.

Posted By Martin R. Bessant Hi Bryn, In a previous career pre H&S I was a chief officer in Histopathology and used microtomes daily. My experience however is now 15 years old. The knives are either used with processed tissue which are prepared into wax blocks or resin. In addition frozen tissue is cut inside a freezer type machine using fresh tissue. The cleaning methods vary between the machines. Originally most machines used large heavy knives and they were cleaned off the machine by screwing in a handle and then wiping with tissues soaked in a solvent such as xylene from the back to the front of the blade to prvent cuts and also damage to the blades edge which as you stated cuts sections at about 5 thousanths of a millimetre (5 microns). By the time I changed careers, most labs were going over to disposable blades which looked like long single edged razor blades. These we just disposed of at the end of the session into a safe sharps container. If they had to be cleaned then a small sable hair brush was dipped into solvent and again wiped from back to front. The frozen microtome had a different method in that another brush was used dry to brush off any frozen unwanted material. The knives again were disposed of into a sharps container and the whole cabinet disinfected because the tissue is unprocessed apart from freezing. Resin sections are the newist type of material and tend to be cut by diamond or glass knives. Thank heaven for disposable blades as the heavy old knives were difficult to handle and in order to be kept sharp were stropped on a barpers strop to finish the sharpening after a hand sharpen on a fine carburundum type stone. I must point out this was mostly pre Health and Safety legislation. I wonder how they would manage know? Hope this helps. Regards, Martin.

Posted By steve williamson Hi Bryn, In any issue involving a manufacturer's piece of equipment I'd be asking the rep. for advice before trying to invent a wheel. If he doesn't have a standard safe working procedure he's better placed than you to find someone who does. Fair goes, possum Steve

Posted By Geoff Clements Bryn Hope this is not too late. Single use blades seem to be the answer - then the use of PPE for the handling of these. Kevlar gloves are available and very good. Regards Geoff