| By :
Mark Etinger
Papermaking, despite the popularity of the internet, is going nowhere anytime soon. Heavyweight paper is made from trees as you probably know, but how wood becomes construction paper is something you probably don't. It turns out that there are a lot of ingredients besides wood in paper, of which wheat straw, linen rags, and even cotton (for fine grade papers) are some. For example, the greenbacks sitting in your wallet are made from 75% cotton and 25% linen, which is why they can go through the washing machine. But for the most part, trees are the originators of printable paper products. Softwoods like fir, pine and spruce are common. Hardwoods, like oak, birch and maple are too. Cellulose fibers are the determining factor for how custom stock sheets are made. Almost half of the tree is made of these fibers. Only the cellulose is necessary, so the rest of the tree must be separated. This process is called pulping. 1. Pulping - The wood is chopped up finely. But since this doesn't get rid of the other stuff we don't need (like lignin) mechanical pulping is used only for newspaper and other cheap forms of paper. Chemical pulping uses dissolving measures. The wood is cooked and the resultant "black liquor" is used as energy for the paper mill. These mills are popular - about 75% of American paper production comes from this method. --White paper is bleached to achieve its color. Recycled paper usually is too, but because of its original inks, dyes and lignins, it may not be perfectly white. 2. Dilution: The pulp is then diluted. The resulting mixture is sprayed and flattened onto a mesh screen. More mixture is sprayed and then it is dried, sometimes with infrared drying. It is laid on a huge mat. 3. Synthetic binders: These are sometimes added to make the paper stronger. It may be colored to make the heavyweight paper used for crafts. Then the paper is rolled and sent away for more processing. The paper making process is very efficient. Paper moves at almost 45 m.p.h. in the mill! It's estimated that 1 ton of paper uses about 24 trees. Or, 1 tree makes 8,333.3 sheets. Other interesting printable paper facts: Paper mills stink because of the sulfur compounds used in removing the lignins from the wood. The cotton is usually added before the mixture is applied to the mesh screen. The heavier the paper, the more suitable for fine printing it is. Glossy paper has added compounds called kaolin. Now that you know a little bit about how paper is made, you might appreciate it more when you're hovering over your copier, waiting for the printable paper to be done, or when you're mailing your checks in colored envelopes. Paper making is efficient and green because all of the energy used for its creation comes from burning wastes. And since you can recycle paper about 3 times before the fibers fall apart completely, don't feel bad about doodling or scrawling a note.
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