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Common Terms - W
Washing see de-inking
Waterless Printing a printing process that runs on offset lithography presses, but without using water. The non-image areas of the plate are coated with silicone, allowing the ink to run off freely into shallow wells, in the plate. Because finer dots can be used in waterless printing, the image is very detailed. The cost for this printing process is high, but the results can be magnificent. see also dryography, offset, plate.
Watermark a mark in fine papers, imparted during manufacture, that identifies a paper. It doesn't leave an impression in the paper, instead it leaves behind a translucent mark. see also dandy roll.
Web a roll of paper. see also web paper
Web Break a tear through a roll of paper, either while it is being manufactured at the mill, or while it is running through a printing press. When the web breaks, either at the mill or on press, machinery must be shut down, causing a loss of production time. see also papermaking, web paper, web press.
Web Paper paper that comes in a roll rather than in sheets. A web press runs this paper, folding and/or cutting it after it is printed. web press a press specifically designed to print rolls of paper called webs, rather than sheets. A web press runs much faster than a sheet-fed press: as many as 40,000 images per hour versus a maxi- mum of about 14,000 per hour on a sheet-fed press. see also offset, sheet-fed press, web, web paper.
Web Press A high speed printing press that prints on both sides of a continuous roll of paper. Web presses are used for high volume printing such as newspapers and magazines.
Weight the tonnage or poundage of a quantity of paper. The weight of paper may be expressed as basis weight, ream weight, M weight, or grammage. Basis weight is the weight in pounds of 500 sheets of paper cut to a given standard size (called basic size), such as 25"x38", depending on the grade of paper. Ream weight is the actual weight in pounds of 500 sheets of paper, regardless of basic size of grade. M weight is the actual weight of 1,000 sheets of paper. Because this is twice the quantity of a ream of paper, it is also twice the ream weight. Grammage is a metric measure similar to the basis weight of paper. Unlike basis weight, which uses different basic sizes for different grades of paper, grammage always uses the same sheet size - one square meter - regardless of the paper grade. see also actual weight, basis weight, grammage, M weight, ream weight.
Wet End the front end of the papermaking machine, including the head- box, wire, and presses. Paper is more water than fiber in this section of the machine. see also dry end, headbox, papermaking, slurry.
Wet Trap Printing a layer of wet ink over, or adjacent to, a previous layer of wet ink. see also dry trap, tack, trapping.
Whiteness the measure of the amount of light reflected from a sheet of paper. How white a paper is depends on how evenly it reflects all colors in the visible spectrum. If it reflects more blue than red and yellow, it will have a cool, blue tinge to it, making it appear brighter than white. A cool paper will appear brighter than a similar paper with a warm tinge. A cool or warm tinge doesn't affect paper quality, but it does create optical impressions. For example, in color printing with blues and blacks predominating, a cool white sheet tends to brighten the colors. But color printing with reds, oranges, and yellows predominating, a neutral or warm white sheet tends to make the colors appear clearer and stronger. see also brightness, fluorescent dye, refractiveness.
Wire Side the bottom side of the paper that comes in contact with the wire (now called the forming fabric) of the paper machine during the papermaking process. The top side of the paper is called the felt side. As the water drains through the wire during manufacture, it carries fibers, fillers, and other chemicals with it, depositing more of them on the wire side than on the felt side of the paper. This can result in the wire and felt sides having slightly different textures. see also felt side, papermaking, tooth, two-sidedness.
Work and Back see imposition
Work and Tumble see imposition
Work and Turn see imposition
Wove Finish uncoated paper that has an even finish with slight toothiness. see also finish, tooth.