MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hi, wondering if anyone can recommend a good supplier of immersion oil in Canada?

Or, alternatively, recommend a good ebay seller.

Thanks!

Hi mes0,
I stopped using the balsam products a few years ago... I now use a product that I found to be equal to or superior to the Canadian balsam... It is called "CytoSeal 60".... It is reasonably priced... Here is a link to it on Ebay...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NC-5988-CytoSea ... 417988dc83

BillT

I would get Cargille Type A immersion oil. You can google for it and find out where you can get it for the best price including shipping. Many suppliers sell it.

billbillt wrote:Hi mes0,
I stopped using the balsam products a few years ago... I now use a product that I found to be equal to or superior to the Canadian balsam... It is called "CytoSeal 60".... It is reasonably priced... Here is a link to it on Ebay...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NC-5988-CytoSea ... 417988dc83

BillT

I believe he was looking for immersion oil not a mounting medium. But thanks for the advice. I will try this material.

Hi einman,
You are absolutely correct... I have no idea how I read "Canadian Balsam" from his post...
Must be the age creeping in....

BillT

If you know a vet clinic well enough, they might let you buy one from them. They can get it easily from one of their veterinary suppliers and also usually have an extra 1 or 2 on hand. Some farm supply stores can get it or carry it because some farms do egg flushes for selective breeding....mostly cows and pigs.
Of the common oils you might have on hand or can get. Tung oil( the paler yellow version) is almost ideal and really, no other is needed. Grape seed oil is the highest of the common cooking oils around and baby oil or common mineral oil is a little better yet. Other vegetable oils and castor oil dip below 1.47 n, so aren't really as good.
Some hobby shops might carry it and of course scientific supply distributors but you may need an account to do business with them.

I buy immersion oil, glass slides and cover glasses, etc., from Ted Pella (in the US). They are an excellent source for light microscopy (as well as EM) supplies. I find that their prices are very good, and their products are clearly and accurately specified. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they sell to "private persons". I don't know what the cost of shipping to Canada would be, but I think it would be worth checking. They do not list Canada among the countries where they have International Distributors, so I assume buying from them from Canada would be the same as from the US.
https://www.tedpella.com/chemical_html/ ... n-Oils.htm

Hi gekko,
Thanks for the link to "Ted Pella"...
BillT

Almost all unit or small shipments to Canada are treated as " foreign" and despite the relative ease to ship here, the cost usually goes stratospheric. There is a lot of gouging. Ebay is a reasonable choice but irregardless, it's going to be 2 weeks at a minimum. Immersion oil is available around the corner, if you just know where to look and should be priced as though shipping doesn't exist because it arrived here as part of a consolidated large shipment.

It's actually pretty tough to find this at a reasonable price...most people want 7-10$ for a 1/4 oz + 10$ shipping..

The 'guy around the corner' I found in calgary is selling 1/4oz for 20$cdn., and 30$ for 100ml of permount..



Anyone heard of this stuff? I think the brand is Jarvist? seems to be the most economic @ 120ml
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Immersion-Oil-H ... 3f5216fd06

my bad, the guy around the corner is selling 1 oz for 20 bucks, which isn't so bad.
http://www.science-is.com/
is the website...

Actually, in the past, I have used castor oil and can see no difference in the performance... Castor oil in my locale costs $1.50 USD for 59 ml...


BillT

interesting you mentioned that. I too have a bottle of castor oil and gave it a try...it seemed to work fine, but from what I read it has a lower refractive index (~1.48) than most immersion oils (~1.51-1.52)..

Are you mostly looking at thin sections?

Why don't you check Ted Pella as I suggested above (a 4-oz. Cargille Type A sells for $15.75, check what they will charge to send it to you-- 4 oz. will probably last you a very long time).

I have not used immersion in quite awhile, so I can't remember what I last looked at.... Oh, I am sure that the refraction index is not perfect, but I am a hobbyist and not a perfectionist... I just remember it worked well enough that I could tell no difference with my eyes in it and the expensive immersion oil...
BillT

Ted Pella is a very good option if you happen to live in the U.S. but by the time that 4 oz. at 15.75 gets to Canada it is about 65.00 CDN. with the shipping, exchange rate,duty,tax,brokerage fee and tax on the brokerage fee factored in. I know, because I considered buying from them at one time and figured it all out at that time.
The Jorgenson Labs 120ml. looks o.k. but it again will be about 40.00 CDN. once landed and that's if customs doesn't take a peek, which is unlikely ,through the post. Ted Pella ships by Fedex, so customs involvement is guaranteed.
The refractive index of immersion oil is very important, especially if one is looking for high resolution results, such as are expected in dark field. Any oil will give adequate results, if your expectations aren't too high and if you aren't comparing one to another but I have compared one to another and the difference between even .1 in the refractive index, makes a visible difference. Spherical aberration is noticeable below 1.48, which most oils are. The best non-dedicated easily available oils for use are mineral oil/baby oil and then much better is tung oil , as long as it is a lighter version. Tung oil is available at most hardware , furniture finishing , building supply stores. The refractive index is 1.5 + , so it gets close enough to be the real thing. A lot of it is dark and oxidized, so that is why I mention to look for a light yellow coloured version. Cedar wood oil has about the same colour, not in any way noticeable in use.

apochronaut wrote:Ted Pella is a very good option if you happen to live in the U.S. but by the time that 4 oz. at 15.75 gets to Canada it is about 65.00 CDN. with the shipping, exchange rate,duty,tax,brokerage fee and tax on the brokerage fee factored in. I know, because I considered buying from them at one time and figured it all out at that time.
The Jorgenson Labs 120ml. looks o.k. but it again will be about 40.00 CDN. once landed and that's if customs doesn't take a peek, which is unlikely ,through the post. Ted Pella ships by Fedex, so customs involvement is guaranteed.
The refractive index of immersion oil is very important, especially if one is looking for high resolution results, such as are expected in dark field. Any oil will give adequate results, if your expectations aren't too high and if you aren't comparing one to another but I have compared one to another and the difference between even .1 in the refractive index, makes a visible difference. Spherical aberration is noticeable below 1.48, which most oils are. The best non-dedicated easily available oils for use are mineral oil/baby oil and then much better is tung oil , as long as it is a lighter version. Tung oil is available at most hardware , furniture finishing , building supply stores. The refractive index is 1.5 + , so it gets close enough to be the real thing. A lot of it is dark and oxidized, so that is why I mention to look for a light yellow coloured version. Cedar wood oil has about the same colour, not in any way noticeable in use.

Thank you for the insight. It amazes me that FedEx would charge so much more to Canada. Customs couldn't possibly be significant on a $16 value, but the shipping charges are surprising. Would buying it on ebay work? One thing about tung oil (and possibly others) is that, unlike modern synthetic immersion oils, it hardens if left on the objective making cleaning without damaging the objective somewhat difficult. I wouldn't use them myself. In my view, the savings in oil costs are negligible when one considers how little immersion oil one uses at a time and how infrequent one uses an immersion objective.

Gekko is certainly correct... Such a small amount is required that the actual cost per dose in tiny...

BillT

Personally, I use immersion, oil but for someone worried about the high cost and availability, tung oil is a good option. It takes any oil a long time to harden; weeks, at least, so if it is removed completely after every use, there should be no problem.

The non-hardening sales pitch that the modern synthetic oil makers use must be geared towards scholastic use and complete amateurs, where a microscope could easily be put away after use and not used again for up to a year. Cedar oil by then , can and will harden, so the synthetic oils evolved to overcome that little problem and are clearly the best. They are the best , for many reasons but in lieu of their availability another more easily available high n oil like tung is a very usefull option and no frequent microscopist who looks after their equipment is going to run into hardening issues, with it.

The shipping on the Ted Pella oil by the way was quoted to me at 18.75, which amounts to around 25.00 CDN. the way the exchange is right now.

mes0:
Immersion oil in Calgary
http://www.science-is.com/microscopes.htm

http://www.scopecity.com/detail.cfm?Pro ... 0&pn=Wesco Microscope Immersion Oil 10ml for Sigma Microscopes+Wesco+PK-035