Projects that require viewing dozens or hundreds of specimens often include countless hours for specimen preparation. Specimens are often affixed to metal or carbon stubs with conductive tape, paint or paste (Rampley, 1976; Witcomb, 1981). The use of conductive paint or paste requires substantial mounting and drying times prior to coating with conductive metal or carbon and observation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). We here describe a simpler protocol for mounting specimens to expedite specimen preparation.

During a recent study, where cryofractured salmon egg membranes were mounted on edge to view transverse sections, we needed an expedient method of specimen mounting to quickly view hundreds of samples. We experimented with mounting specimens in metal putty, a product used by fishermen for weighting fishing line. The methodology described here solved some of the problems of messy specimen mounting and eliminated the need to wait for curing before coating and observation.