Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

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linuxusr
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Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#1 Post by linuxusr » Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:46 pm

I am posting in Beginners and defining same as “first time doing something.” For those who have washed and re-used many times, maybe depending on your suggestions and tips, this thread will serve as a “sticky” in the Beginners sub-forum.

First, the same jars I use for infusions, I also use for my used slides. By definition, cover glasses go here too because they are adhered to the slides. I have the following containers: Depression Slides; Slides OIL (immersion oil; petroleum jelly; various mountants); slides NO oil; Trash (broken stuff). Into each bottle I put a few drops of dish soap and of bleach. The reason for the bleach is to kill any protozoan food chain that might appear and lead to a smelly jar in need of further cleaning. And fill each jar with 1/2 to 2/3 of water; otherwise, you will break the slides when you drop them in, glass on glass.

And finally comes Wash Day! I found a medium sized plastic basin. I also found a slightly smaller sieve/strainer/colander with smallish holes. This colander fits neatly inside the basin. For a given jar, pour out the bleach/soap/water combination. Gently pull out the slides and cover glasses by hand and lay them in the bottom of the colander. Do not empty out the jar or you will have broken slides.Now go to a sink with a deep basin where you can re-fill with clean water. Raise and lower the colander in the larger basin 10 or 15 times, gently agitating and cleaning by this kinetic motion. You don’t need to touch the slides. Then dump the soap water, and clean water, and repeat this agitation until the water runs clear.

Now it is time to dry. I use clean white cotton cloths that I buy by the bundle at Amazon. Separating any cover glasses, take one slide at a time and remove excess water with a few swipes on both sides. If you hold the slide up to the light, you will yet see cloudiness made by many small droplets that adhere. Here you must buff out each slide, both sides, with different parts of the dry cloth until the slides are shiny and clear when held up to the light.

Depending on the thickness of your cover glasses, particularly if they are < 0.17 mm, they break very easily and are very difficult to buff out clean. I recommend trashing cover glasses and not bothering with the cleaning. However, you can do it. It’s an individual decision. In my case, I did clean some because I had an extenuating circumstance. The circumstance was that I bought inferior quality cover glasses from Amsco, each laden with thousands of white particles. This is as good a time as any to say, Caveat emptor! Do NOT buy Amsco cover glasses. Buy from a professional site such as https://www.emsdiasum.com

Compared to many aspects of amateur microscopy, maybe washing slides is a no-brainer. Let’s see what useful suggestions other members have.

A consideration: When you consider that you may keep the same slides for life, if you purchased “plain vanilla” slides, would it not be better to put those aside and buy, a one time purchase only, the best slides obtainable? And what is a “best” slide? Are there differences in optical quality?
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Phill Brown
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#2 Post by Phill Brown » Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:59 pm

I recently picked up part of an estate,
Amongst the neatly labelled boxes and unused slides was a cover slip box also labelled. Broken cover slips.
I like to get the most out of everything but stop just short of there,could break some fresh if needed.
Some slides labelled American, no good. Too late to ask them why.

farnsy
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#3 Post by farnsy » Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:33 am

I don't ever save slides and cover slips for later washing. It easy gets out of hand and they stick together and get broken. I have to clean after each microscopes session. I also don't like to dry with anything with any kind of cloth because then you get bits of fiber.

1. Wash each item one at a time with ivory or dish soap and tap water. Rinse with tap water.
2. Spray each item off with my bottle of distilled water
3. Place them vertically in my slide cover holder or cover slip holder to drip dry

That's my procedure. I would love to have it improved upon, though.

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linuxusr
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#4 Post by linuxusr » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:04 pm

farnsy wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:33 am
I don't ever save slides and cover slips for later washing. It easy gets out of hand and they stick together and get broken. I have to clean after each microscopes session. I also don't like to dry with anything with any kind of cloth because then you get bits of fiber.

1. Wash each item one at a time with ivory or dish soap and tap water. Rinse with tap water.
2. Spray each item off with my bottle of distilled water
3. Place them vertically in my slide cover holder or cover slip holder to drip dry

That's my procedure. I would love to have it improved upon, though.
1. Drip dry doesn't leave water stains? The reason I use white cotton cloths, instead of paper towels, is to not leave fibers. When buffed dry, they are crystal clear when held up to the light.
2. Why do you use the distilled water after the tap water?
3. Using my agitation method with the strainer and basin means that I do not have to wash or even touch the slides individually. The work is in buffing each slide until bone dry.

Do you use a slide dispenser? Does everyone? That's one lab accessory that I find indispensable. And on the cover glasses, you have to be pretty desperate if you want to re-use those!
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dtsh
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#5 Post by dtsh » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:59 pm

linuxusr wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:04 pm
1. Drip dry doesn't leave water stains? The reason I use white cotton cloths, instead of paper towels, is to not leave fibers. When buffed dry, they are crystal clear when held up to the light.
2. Why do you use the distilled water after the tap water?
That's the reason for the rinse in distilled water. The spots left are disolved particles which are left behind when the tap water evaporates.
linuxusr wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:04 pm
Do you use a slide dispenser? Does everyone? That's one lab accessory that I find indispensable. And on the cover glasses, you have to be pretty desperate if you want to re-use those!
I have a storage container, but it's not the typical dispenser. I don't tend to go through a lot of slides in a session so it hasn't been something I've felt the need for personally. I do reuse coverslips if I can easily clean them without breaking; sure they're cheap and disposable but my motivation isn't saving money.

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75RR
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#6 Post by 75RR » Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:46 pm

dtsh wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:59 pm
I do reuse coverslips if I can easily clean them without breaking; sure they're cheap and disposable but my motivation isn't saving money.
I wash and reuse cover slips as well.

Why throw away a perfectly good cover slip - particularly if you have gone to the trouble of measuring it accurately with a micrometer to confirm it is just the right thickness.

https://www.microscopyu.com/microscopy- ... correction
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farnsy
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#7 Post by farnsy » Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:15 pm

I think other people have said it pretty well. Having a spray bottle with distilled water in it has been pretty handy for microscopy. It was cheap and is very easy to use and everything comes out clean--you don't have to deal with random fibers from wiping and you don't get water spots or streaks.

I meticulously keep and maintain my slide covers. I measure them carefully with a micrometer and throw away any that are larger than .17mm. The rest I group by thickness. Normally I just use the ones that are right at .17mm, which is a small fraction of all the slide covers. The cost of slide covers is not high, but there is some effort involved in finding the ones with the right thickness.

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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#8 Post by JGardner » Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:19 pm

I can perfectly understand why some wash and reuse slides and cover slips. For me, however, I have more money than time, so I never reuse slides and cover slips purely because I can better use the time spent doing it for something else.

charlie g
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#9 Post by charlie g » Fri Jul 23, 2021 3:08 am

Great questions and good opines to your post,linuxer. Everything you said ( 'protozoa, bacteria') to me implys you are observing wetmount-slide preps of living organisms . So think really cheap tiny ( ?5oz?) paper cups. Think about a classic glass dropping bottle with 70%-90% alcohol. You drink and cook with you homes tap-water...you are not harmed by it...for this reason your protozoa and bacteria...etc., etc. wee beasties tollerate it for dilution..and for simple shut-down of a wetmount-slide after observations are done. Critical to have a large trashbin in arm reach of where you do your microscopy.

With an eyedropper , flush the coverslip off the slide you will keep ( a really nice glass slide..not a cheapo crude microscope slide)....flush the cover slip into the trashbin...then with simple snipets of paper toweling..flush and wipe down the quality glass slide you wish to keep. Last flush with the alcohol and simple paper toweling wipe down. Shutdown right after observing session makes most efficient use of your time..takes less than five minutes.

If you insist on reusing the cover-slips ( a great hand control and dexterity exercise...I reused my coverslips as a highschooler with a summer loan of a school microscope)...if you insist on reuse of cover slips..same procedure...flush the slip with eyedropper of water over your trashbin..final flushwith the alcohol..then tissue genttle blotting..but I advise not reusing your coverslips.


The cheap paper cup filled with tapwater permits multiple flushes of a working eyedropper with which you sample sample specimens of fluid...after setting up a wetmount slide..you immediately flush the working eyedropper ( ideally a pastuer borrosilicate pipett..very low cost)..several times with the papercup tapwater...into the trashbin at arms length from your comfortable seat at your microscope bench. If you are too highstrung..lastly remove the rubber bulb from your working sample dropper ( again..ideally a borrosilicate glass pastuer pipet)...and squirt alcohol down it from your glass alcophol dropping bottle...shake this rinse out into your arms length nearby trashhbin..and your slide/coverslip shutdown is complete. No way should you clutter your microscopy bench with 'stuff waiting to be cleaned'. my advice, charlie g

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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#10 Post by linuxusr » Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:12 pm

OP: Today, July 23, I just watched Oliver Kim's video on slides and cover glasses. For slides that you will re-use, essentially, for life, he makes a good point: Buy slides with ground edges and 45 degree corners to prevent injury, particularly while washing and drying, as well as the flaking off of small shards. I'm now going to open some of my new packs and see what I have! I think I will buy this type, if I don't already have them, and dispense with the rest. 200 of best quality in a slide dispenser and one is set for life. Oh, and may as well add frosted ends as you never know when you might want to save a macro object or a permanent mount. Oliver notes that you can write directly on the frosted section with a pencil or a pen and that the writing "sticks" and must be removed with alcohol.

Where I live, in the Dominican Republic, they do not sell distilled water, except in very small glass vials for diabetic patients. . . However, in spite of using city water, after a bone dry rub out with a clean, white, cotton cloth, I have no water spots (or if I did, I removed them when drying).
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Re: Washing Microscope Slides and Cover Glasses

#11 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:56 pm

A dehumidifier will help prevent mold in your optics as well as providing an unlimited supply of distilled water.
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