Dear João,

Just to add that yes, the Ghent lab in Belgium still prepares tin sections, including the large ones (9 x 12 cm). They are usually of good quality and not too expensive. You can find their contact via the University of Gent website.

In the past, I have also used the EarthSlides lab (http://www.earthslides.com), they also produce XL thin sections. Slightly more costly, but of very good quality.

Best,

Barbora

Dear João,

I think you have listed most of the European labs as far as commercial preparation of large-format thin sections is concerned. The labs in Stirling and Tübingen cut excellent thin sections. I do not know if the lab in Ghent is still preparing thin sections (some colleague from Belgium or the Netherlands may know), they were very nice as well.

I use an Italian lab (Servizi per la Geologia, in Piombino); they do cut good slides, maximum length 9.5 cm, but they are often overloaded by work as they are the only lab cutting thin sections in Italy.

We probably need new labs / facilities cutting large thin sections…

Best,

Diego

Dear João,

Just to add that yes, the Ghent lab in Belgium still prepares tin sections, including the large ones (9 x 12 cm). They are usually of good quality and not too expensive. You can find their contact via the University of Gent website.

In the past, I have also used the EarthSlides lab (http://www.earthslides.com), they also produce XL thin sections. Slightly more costly, but of very good quality.

Best,

Barbora

Dear João,

although I have not used Earthslides yet, I know well the quality of slides produced by the people there - among the finest and best manufactured slides I have seen. In addition to producing large size slides, Earthslides can also draw from decades of experience in dealing with samples from a wide range of context - an important consideration if you're working on challenging materials (e.g. organic-rich sediments/soils, etc.)

Slides produced by Ghent are also of very good quality,  I am not updated on charges and timeframes.

Also, you may want to consider sample import fees if you send materials to a US lab, which may add up significantly to laboratory charges.

All the best, Federica

Dear all,

Earthslides is also a good option indeed, thanks for recalling it.

Cheers,

Diego

Ghent and Earthslides do indeed produce very nice thin sections, but if you are not in a hurry, the best thin sections I've seen are still the ones produced by Thomas Beckmann in Germany. He really is an artist. I just got a set of thin sections made by the lab of the University of Liège which also look quite nice. (details can be found on their website: http://www2.ulg.ac.be/geolsed/services.htm).

The EPOC laboratory at Bordeaux also produces large thin sections (7 x 14 cm).

http://www.epoc.u-bordeaux.fr/index.php?lang=fr&page=eq_sedimentologie5

(they are busy until september this year)

Mathieu

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Still in Bordeaux, there is the PACEA laboratory that does nice thin sections (and analyses) :

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