The advantage for me is the stability with little or no backlash when advancing the sample or making a cut, a serious problem with my larger and more expensive hand microtome. This one is very simple and well made. I did lap the top for smoothness - sharpening stones or a couple of grades of wet/dry sandpaper will

Mine was silver, so I liked that better than the picture. The well is about an eighth inch deep and almost half an inch in diameter. Very smooth screw. Also it came on the first day of the 6 day shipping window.

The top is not quite flat and also has burrs that would dull the razor blade. It needs to be flattened, smoothed, and deburred (using a sharpening stone or sandpaper on a flat base) before use. Once this is done, it is usable and inexpensive device.

Works great. Used it with a carrot, and used it with wax. I am able to make thin slices. The wax method allows for the best and thinnest slice.

This is a good theoretical microtome. As it's the only one available for noncommercial use, there could be a better designed one.

The first thing I have to do is admit that I didn't know what I was doing when I ordered this. It is, as described simple. It is too simple. It claims to cut slices of only 10 microns, and technically, it probably can. Here are the reasons I wish I had not odered it. 1) It has no scale to indicate how much a specimen has been moved from one cut to another; 2) It has no means to secure a speciman in place for a cut (application of warm wax destroys and/or soils the specimen); 3) the flat top, at least of the "microtome" I received, was not smooth enough to avoid shavings of metal being removed by the cutting edge of the razor. I am not returning it, because I used it, and I don't like doing that. So, it will be a reminder to me to investigate potential purchases more carefully and that sometimes being "economical" gets you less than you pay for. In this case, I think I clearly purchased a reasonable concept for a simple microtome that does not, for me, present sufficient basic engineeing necessary to allow this simple instrument to function at all well. I take a hit every now and then, and this is a full-loss hit. It was delivered promptly and was packaged well. My judgment: nice concept, inadequate execution of the concept. I will search for another simple microtome, but in the meantime, I'll just use a razor under a 10X dissecting scope.

This is tool you need,if you make your own slides

When I was eight, way back in 1954, I received an elaborate, fairly high grade microscope lab set made by Gilbert which came in a three foldout metal carry case. The microscope was fairly decent compared to the optics you get in kids sets nowadays. I also included a small plastic microtome which I proceeded to ignore for years.

I was really pleased when I received this and tried it. I have a couple of microscopes in my greenhouse (for apiculture and horticulture). Often, I need to use high magnification to try to detect problems with plants and bees. A very thin section is necessary to determine if problems are occurring at cellular level, or, if they have some other cause (such as parasites).