mixed furnish of softwood and straw fibers

Ingredients

softwood pulp, conifer fibers, straw fibers, hardwood fibers, starch, kaolinite, rosin, alum

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The manuscripts were written on a hybrid 'quasi-Islamic paper' substrate (p. 2). The furnish consists of a mixture of softwood (conifer) fibers (60-70%) and straw fibers (30-40%), likely from paper mill waste (p. 8). Sample 24 145 also contained 53% hardwood and grass fibers (p. 8). Sizing was achieved with starch, detected by the iodine test and FTIR bands (p. 8). Kaolinite was consistently observed as a filler (p. 8). Resins like rosin and alum might have been used as secondary sizing agents (p. 8). Thicknesses varied from 90 to 210 µm, with both laid and wove paper structures present (p. 7).

Evidence

"The paper samples... were identified as a mixture of wood pulp (~60–70% softwood, conifer fibers) and straw fibers perhaps from the paper mill waste of (~30–40%)."

Remarks

The paper is highly acidic (pH 4.8 to 5.3), which accelerates degradation (p. 8, 14). The presence of softwood pulp and straw suggests a post-colonial period of production where local schools used imported or locally produced industrial paper (p. 14). Watermarks of British and German origin (German Imperial Eagle) were identified in several samples, confirming European influence on the paper supply (p. 8).