Don't want to step on Joe the Toe's toes (hee hee, ok that was bad)...but I  
have a different way of cutting toenails that seems to work for us. In our lab 
 we face into the processed block, turn it upside down and put Nair (yes, the 
 hair removal cream) on it for about 3-4 hours (a decent dab). I didn't come 
up  with this, just "inherited" the suggestion and tweeked it a bit. We then  
wipe it off, spray it with Cytocool and cut it (it's so nice and soft by then) 
 and put it on a plus slide. We leave really hard nails faced up overnight to 
dry  and then reapply the Nair as necessary until it is soft enough. We then 
"bake"  them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes and let them completely cool 
before  staining. We do PAS-F's on the automated stainer this way as well. 
Our pathologist has not had any problems reading them at all and our slides  
come out beautiful! 
Good luck.
Kari Zajic, HT,MLT :) 



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