|
Another designation for paper fibers. Paper grain can be either long grain or short grain. Long grain refers to paper in which the fibers line up in the same direction as the longest measurement of the paper. For digital web-fed presses, the grain of the paper is parallel with the length of the paper web. When paper is torn parallel with the grain, it tears easily. The tear is also fairly straight. Short grain refers to paper in which the fibers line up in the same direction as the shortest measurement of the paper, or perpendicular to the long dimension. Paper grain plays a key role in the success or failure of a print application in terms of production and proper use. Paper folded parallel with the grain, produces a cleaner fold than if folded across the grain. This is an important consideration for applications printed with toner because folding against the grain may cause toner to flake off in the folded area, although because of improvements in technology, this problem is not as common as it once was. Laser printers require the used of long grain paper for the best results. Short grain paper may not feed properly into a laser printer and the heat produced by a laser printer may result in excessive curling of the paper as the sheets exit the printer.
|
