lapping glass or what?

[Alistair Hosie]

Quite late in life 12 years ago I went back to university to do an honours degree in psychology part of the degree called for two years when an inclusion of Biology was called for .During the course of this I got into microscopes and purchased one second hand though in very good condition
the said microscope was bought from a great enthusiast of insects who had many scopes in his collection and he made me pay through the nose for it.Anyway it came with some slide boxes etc and a wooden box similar to the type of box you would find an oilstone in only a bit bigger this contained a glass about the size of an oilstone it had a few bottles of powder with it I never used it but was told it was for sharpening the blade used for cutting specimens thin enough for to be put on the glass slide .I assume it was for lapping of some sort and the paste which resembles whiting or talc and is not rough would be for fine finishing it has since lain in my study ,my question is
COULD IT BE USEFUL IN MY SHOP AND FOR SHARPENING OR HONING AND IF SO WHAT?
As I dont use my microscope much these days although I would like to keep it for my sons or granchildren perhaps they will develop a love of this hobby,Alistair

[Robi]

The cutter used in microscopy are called microtomes and when done properly are capable of cutting a specimen tens of molecules thick.

Might be a bit of overkill for a machine shop.

However, if you wanted to lap small pieces to a very flat surface it would work. i.e. the slide valve for a steam engine.

Robi

[hms50]

I think the white powder is dimantene, (spell). This stuff is powdered artificial ruby as used in watches. It is a very fine abrasive used to polish watch parts to a"dead black" polish. It used to be available in several grades and was often used on a tin lap. When I was in grad- school we used to sharpen microtome blades with an electric contraption that was a type of lapping machine. In the past, glass and dimantene would have done the job but slower.
hms50