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Mounting Techniques Continued
You are here: MineralCollecting.org >> Posted Articles >> Article 29

by Paul A. Smith, Fairfax, Virginia, (703) 273-1468
E-mail: jpmicros@aol.com
From the Mineral Mite, Newsletter of The Micromineralogists of the
National Capital Area, Washington, D. C December 1996

MOUNTING TECHNIQUES CONTINUED

There seems to be a never ending supply of unusual and innovative ways by which micromounts may be mounted. While everyone would like to think up new techniques, I find there are few really new ideas. All those mentioned in this series and published in the Mineral Mite, seem to be variations of those used by prior generations of micromounters. Whiskers, porcupine quills, fiber optic rods, toothpicks, blackened corks, pins, wires stretched across the top of the box end numerous variations have been described. One that we seem to have missed is the use of a crank or wheel inserted in the side of the M/M box in order for the specimen to be viewed from all sides. I have used a paper clip bent in the form of a crank that works fairly well except there is no real bearing support to keep the specimen from wandering off center as it is rotates. In a recent review of the collection of Ruth Wertz (left to the Club), I discovered one of her mounts that seems to improve on the crank. She used a straight wire or pin inserted through a hole in the side of the plastic box and, instead of making a bend, she places a medium sized cork on the out side to serve as the turning device. This left no sharp edges or points to cause injury to the user.

To solve the wobble problem, Ruth glued another section of cork on the inside of the box through which the pin is passed. This serves as a bearing surface for the pin. Of course the hole in the inside cork is somewhat larger than the pin to allow the pin to rotate freely. I have not figured out how she got the specimen on the pin and the pin in the box and through the cork and box to attach the outside cork handle except by careful use of tweezers and excellent finger dexterity.

Mention has been made of the use of very fine wires strung diagonally across the top of the box and attaching tiny specimens at the point where the wires intersect. I have found sources of wire fine enough for this purpose to be a bit elusive but the other day I mentioned my problem to a friend who promptly dug deep in his tool box and came up with a length of tungsten wire which is black and fine enough to serve my purpose. I have not used this wire as yet but will do so in the near future and will report on the outcome.

Happy mounting and good luck!

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