To begin, place a steel box with a lid fitted with a valve for a vacuum pump connection on a hot plate. Fill the box up to approximately two centimeters with paraffin and wait until it has completely melted. Take the mounted cores out of the transport box.
Place the holders with the cores in the liquid paraffin and close the lid. Then, start the vacuum pump and apply a constant light vacuum to the container. After stopping the vacuum pump, open the lid.
Take out the holders with the cores, place them on a grid and let them cool down. If needed, remove surplus paraffin from the sides of the holder. Remove the mounted cores from the transport box or the paraffin bath.
Place the holder with the core in the sample holder of a core microtome. Ensure the latewood of the rings faces toward the blade. Now, tighten the screws of the sample holder until the core holder is completely secure.
Lift the sample holder until the core slightly touches the blade. Pull the blade over the entire extent of the core to cut off the first part of the top. Then, push back the knife behind the core, and lift the sample holder a few microns.
Once the surface is cut as intended, remove the core holder from the sample holder of the microtome.
