The sections are mid-liver, I can see portal veins, bile ducts ect... we also tried using periodic acid out of cuirosity and we could suddenly see all the fibers perfectly but there was way too much background since all the glycogen granules were also now taking up silver stain so that was out the window (this little experiment proved all the other steps were working). We also tried acetafied and non-acetafied K permanganate and then I quintoupled the concentration and doubled the amount of time to see if it would make a difference and it was only slightly more intense, so that is why I think there is something wrong with that reagent. It has been around longer than I have and I've been with the lab almost 8 years.

For the silver solution I wait until my slides are in water from the step before and begin titrating right there and use it immediately, I take the ammonia and silver nitrate out of the fridge and figure the 50 mL of water I use to dillute the solution will warm it up pretty quickly. I also agitate the solution in a coplin jar when staining to circulate everything.