FAULTS DURING TISSUE PROCESSING

FAULTS
Brittle/hard
Milky
Smells of clearing agent
Opaque
shrinks when trimmed
Soft
Air holes
Crystalline
Moist/crumbles
Fail to form ribbons
Roll up
Curved/crooked/uneven
Compressed/wrinkled/jam
med
Squashed
Hole in section
Unequal thickness
Adhere to knife
Ribbon is split/scratche
Lifted on upstrokes
Resistance on lower part
Chatters (furrows)
Sometimes thick/thin
Metallic scraping/ringing
sound
Frozen tissue
crumbles/comes of
Frozen tisse chips into
fragments

REASON
Prolonged/overheated/dryi
ng out
Incomplete dehydration
Incomplete clearing
Insufficient clearing
Insufficient dehydration
Incomplete fixation
Incomplete impregnation
Contaminated wax/block
not cooled
Insufficient impregnation

REMEDY
Softener
Repeat dehydration with
abs alcohol
Impregnation is repeated
Repeat clearing
Repeat whole procedure
Repeat whole procedure
Repeat impregnation
Re-embed
Repeat impregnation

Retrim/readjust/reorient/coat with wax/reduce

tilt/readjust thickness/hone&strop
Sharpen/reduce tilt/clean edge
Adjust/readjust knife & block/retrim/repeat impreg
Resharpen/cool block on ice/ clean knife edge/readjust
thickness/tighten screw
Resharpen
Re-embed/use base-sledge
Reduce tilt/tighten screw,cut blocks into smaller
frag/softener
Blow gently/boil water/clean edge/sharpen/reduce tilt
Sharpen/reembed/clean edge
Reduce tilt/sharpen/cool in water
Increase tilt
Treat with phenol,reduce tilt
Sharpen knife/adjust/reduce tilt/tighten scews/increase
tilt
Readjust/phenol/change knife
Refreeze
Warm with fingers