News

September is going to be an extremely busy month in the Histology wax calendar. Poth Hille will be either exhibiting or attending several histology related shows, symposium and exhibition centres in Europe, The UK and the United States. See our Tissue Embedding Wax...

The biggest detailing event of the year happens on one day only. In 2019, the date for your diary is Sunday 21st July. If you’ve been to previous Waxstock events, you’ll know what to expect. A packed day full of detailing demos, one-off special deals and impeccable...

Fix your ski so it is secure to work on. Set the ironer to the correct temperature. Clean the base of the ski thoroughly removing any dirt and wax.Apply the ski wax to the hot iron creating a zig zag pattern of melted wax on the base of the ski.Run the iron over the...

England is full of contrasts and offers a whole range of surf destinations and waves to match, and what most travelling surfers fail to realise is that England receives swell on its entire coastline, thus effectively providing a 360° swell and no part of England is...

Zion Market Research has released its latest report, “Wax Market by Product, by Application, by Region - Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2017-2024”. According to this report, the global wax market, which in 2017 was valued at roughly...

When somebody says “wax”, what springs to mind? Candles? Beehives? Or depilatory cosmetic procedures? The single term “wax” hardly seems adequate to cover all the substances that fall under this definition and all the uses to which they can be put- from the naturally-occurring plant and animal waxes to the carefully synthesised organic compounds created by industry for individual and specialised uses. Even the humble “candle wax” is no such thing, really – candles can be made from a wide array of waxes- petroleum wax, for example, or the more environmentally-friendly soy wax.

Of all the many and varied uses people have found for waxes over the years, one of the most interesting but least known is their use in histology. Histology, the study of organic microanatomy, relies on the sectioning and staining of biological samples, which are then placed into slides so they can be viewed under either a light or electron microscope. Before they can be sectioned, however, the samples need to have all the water removed from them and replaced with a substance which will solidify and allow them to be sliced into very thin sections- and this is where the wax comes in.

As we reach the start of a new calendar year, if not a business year, it is time to take stock of the state of the global wax industry. As far back as the beginning of 2016 troubled times were being predicted, as demand began to drastically outstrip supply.

Waxes may well be the unsung heroes of civilisation. These intriguing compounds, whether occurring in nature or synthesised, have lent themselves over the years to a huge range of uses, from sealing important documents to helping surfers pull off radical tricks and stunts. And one of the most vital things in life, medicine, has made good use of them in all sorts of interesting ways. Wax anatomical models used to be used to train medical students to understand the human body, for example.