Picked up a tip about paper grain at a print shop in Portland

I was waiting for a quote at a local print shop and overheard the owner telling a customer that paper grain direction can mess up your fold lines and cause ink cracking. I always thought my stuff looked weird on certain jobs but never knew why. Turns out you should fold with the grain, not against it. The guy showed me a test where he folded a sheet both ways and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else noticed their prints acting up based on paper orientation?

2 comments

2 Comments

bailey.xena4d ago

Paper grain is one of those things nobody tells you until you randomly hear it from a crusty old printer guy. I remember folding a batch of wedding programs and the ink literally flaked off along the fold line, looked terrible. The owner at my local shop showed me the same test and I felt like an idiot for never noticing before. Now I always check the grain direction when I buy paper, especially for anything that needs to fold clean.

john_hunt24d ago

Gonna have to disagree a bit here. I've been folding paper for years and I swear sometimes grain direction doesn't matter as much as people make it out to be. Just last week I folded a bunch of greeting cards with cheap printer paper that supposedly had bad grain and it came out fine, no flaking or cracking. Maybe it depends on the paper weight or the type of ink you're using. I think people get too hung up on this one rule when really most home printers and basic folds work fine regardless.