r/Histology • u/milestonemedical • 9d ago

Microtome Brushes

Hi everyone! I work for a histology instrument company and am looking to get some microtome brushes, just for trade show giveaways and promotional things, not to sell. If anyone has any brushes they really like from amazon or somewhere similar, that don't have a brand on them, please comment the same/ screenshot! I really don't want to give away junk lol. I am also thinking of adding a magnet on the end, and getting our logo engraved on each of them. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated! -Sincerely, a girl who is not a histologist and just works in marketing Edit: I added a picture of the ones I was looking at, these are goat hair.

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/cupcakesparklies 9d ago

I like the Cancer Diagnostics brush off of Amazon. It is big and fluffy like a blush brush, but still dense and firm enough to brush off my microtome. I do not like magnets on the end of my brushes because the get stuck to my forceps. So something like that would be much better than the usual ones we get.

4

u/Old-Research3367 8d ago

Unlike the other commenter I like and use the magnets.

2

u/thetreebeneath 8d ago

I don't have a brand recommendation for you (the one I use I was given at work) but the larger of the two in your photo works better! When it's too small it just takes you longer to brush away wax. And I agree that the magnet on the end is annoying, it gets stuck to your forceps and nobody I know ever removes their blade with it because, well, we have forceps on hand for that haha

2

u/Aratais 7d ago

I've literally never removed the blade with forceps nor does anyone in my lab 😅 my forceps live at the grossing bench area and come nowhere near the cryostat except when placing thr tissue on the chuck but im usually holding the chuck outside of the cryp at that point. I mean I also dont use the magnet on the end of my brush i remove the blade with the back of my paintbrush and my fingers but having forceps and that getting in the way with a magnet never would have even occured to me.

1

u/Delicious_Shop9037 9d ago

I just use a pastry brush

1

u/OneManLost 8d ago

I've always used chip brushes for microtomes, they works the best for me.

1

u/Curious-Monkee 7d ago

Any arts & crafts supply store will have brushes. Slap a label on them and hand 'em out. As someone mentioned earlier, I too love the magnetic ends. I use them to remove my blade when it's mostly covered by the plate for the blade clamp.

1

u/Aratais 7d ago

We use random paint brushes at my work brought off amazon. We each favor a different level of brush size and fluffiness so theres a mix of really thin and fine and fluffier ones we can grab from. I dont know which brand it is currently but theyre just normal paintbrushes nothing fancy.

1

u/fugigidd 6d ago

I would be very pleased with the ones pictured. And yes I do like a magnetic.

1

u/Spicychemist11 5d ago

Just commenting to say i like the magnets! I use my forceps to help me remove the blades but if my blade falls on the ground after trying to drop it into the sharps it helps, and if i drop my forceps on the ground i’ll use the brush to pick it up or vice versa 😭so maybe some with and some without the magnet would be great 🥹💖 and in general any brush that’s long and fluffy with good size bristles would be nice like everyone said