PAPER . . .
ITS VARIOUS FINISHES

1. Machine Finished (MF) is the ordinary finish from the paper making machine. Has medium smooth finish.
2. Super Calendered (SC) is the paper that has been glazed by the application of pressure and friction in a stack of steel rollers. Has smooth surface.
3. Newsprint is made from wood pulp and can be MF or glazed.
4. Machine Glazed (MG) Paper that is glazed on one side only through contact with large steam heated drum. (MG Litho for example).
5. Writings (Bonds, Banks, Ledgers) Papers that are well sized for use with writing inks. Usually made from rags or chemical wood pulp. The size prevents the penetration of the fluid inks.
6. Roll Coated or Machine Coated Art. Paper that is made and coated with China Clay in the one process on the paper making machine.
7. Brush Coated Art. Paper made and later coated with China Clay on a separate machine.
8. Imitation Art. Heavily-loaded, compact and has smooth and uniform finish with good surface. Paper is sprayed with water jets before passing through calendering machine.
9. Pasteboard. A board made from one or more layers of pulp, pasted and lined on both sides with paper.
10. Pulpboard. Made on a cylinder type paper making machine where a layer of good pulp is backed by an inferior pulp to give required bulk.
11. Ivory Board. A quality board made from quality pulp, either glazed or matt finished.
12. System Board. A fine quality hard sized board made from two or more sheets pasted together.
13. Antique Paper. A sheet that has not passed through the last rollers.  It is left rough  and is in reality unfinished. Used mostly for book work. Prints line work well.
14. Cover Paper. Strong paper, usually hard surfaced, often heavily grained and brightly coloured.
15. Cartridge Paper. Strong and tough, medium-rough finish. Suitable for offset printing and envelopes. Name derived from use in making of cartridges.
16. Tinted Papers. These are obtained  by adding the required dye to the pulp before it goes through the paper-making machine.
17. Parchment. True vegetable parchment papers are waterproof and greaseproof. Produced by chemical process. Imitation parchments are made by prolonged beating of wood pulp, which destroys the fibres, leaving a jelly-like mass.
HARD OR SOFT PAPERS
Paper that is said to be hard or soft according to the amount of sizing applied to it. Banks, Bonds, Ledgers and Cover Stock are usually hard papers. Blotting, news and MF are all soft papers. Sizing is applied by two different methods:
Engine Sizing - The resin size is applied to the paper pulp in the beating engines. It is the cheapest and  quickest method of sizing.
Tub Sizing - The size is applied to the paper after manufacture by passing the paper through a vat or tub of gelatine size which penetrates into the paper and seals the surface. This gives a harder and more impervious surface finish and is used for better quality Bonds and Ledgers.

Most writing papers were sold in wrapped reams of 500 sheets and prices quoted by the pound. If a ream of paper contained sheets 23" x 36" and the ream weight was 60 pounds, it would be indicated as 23 x 36/60. The number after the oblique indicated the weight of the ream. Writing papers were usually wrapped in reams of 500 sheets. Boards were wrapped in packs of 100 sheets.
Post 1966
Paper sizes remained the same for quite a few years, except that the inch measurement was decimalized to millimetres and the ream weight was replaced with "gsm" (grams per square metre). Thus a particular paper may be referred to as being 90gsm, irrespective of the sheet size or reel size in which it is made.
International paper sizes (recommended by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). These sizes are stated as 'trimmed' (the size of the finished work after trimming). In each of the three series of ISO sizes - A, B and C - the shape of the basic size and of all normal subdivisions is the same. The sides are always in the proportion 1:v2 (that is, approximately 1: 1.4)
In the A series, the basic size is AO (1189 x 841mm), which occupies an area of 1 square metre. All A sizes derive from this standard and are described by the letter A followed by a number. For example:
*  A1 is half of A0  *  A2 is half of A1  *  A3 is half of A2  *  A4 is half of A3
For sizes larger than A0, the number precedes the letter - for example, 1A is twice the size of A0.
The B series is based  on the size B0 (1414 x 1000mm) and the normal subdivisions provide sizes between the A subdivisions - for example, B5 is midway between A4 and A5. C sizes, based on C0 (917 x 1297mm), fall between the A and B sizes.

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