Wood That Helps to Keep People Awake!

By Awake! correspondent in Sweden

THE printing of the Awake! magazine that you are holding in your hand depends to a great extent on a process that begins in a forest. Tree trunks provide the raw materials for the paper. This is how it begins. But let us now take a picture tour and see how a tree becomes a magazine like Awake!

The equipment in the first picture is a modern felling machine, a processor, in action. It not only cuts down the trees but also removes the branches. Further, it saws the logs into suitable lengths. The timber is transported by truck or rail to the paper mill. A fully loaded truck delivers 20 tons at a time. At the paper mill that Awake! visited for this report, one timber delivery arrives every 15 minutes throughout the day. A whole section can quickly be unloaded by giant mechanical claws, as seen in the last picture on page 25.

Many such trees are needed for just one issue of Awake! Since so much paper is used each year, many trees must be cut down. However, in Sweden this is a very carefully controlled process. The authorities permit felling only if equivalent areas are replanted, and in this way, Sweden’s forests are continually replenished.

The diagram on page 25 shows the process within the paper machine. The pulp is fed at one end, and paper comes out at the other end. But how is the pulp produced?

First the timber is cut into suitable lengths, and the bark is removed in giant drums. Then the timber is automatically sorted according to thickness and length. Timber that meets certain standards is converted to groundwood pulp in the grinder. This pulp is one of four different kinds used in papermaking at this mill. The remaining timber is chopped into chips and is used to produce thermomechanical pulp and sulfite pulp. The fourth kind of pulp comes from recycled paper.

Groundwood pulp is produced by grinding, under pressure and between large grindstones, the timber with water. The result is a mechanically produced pulp.

Thermomechanical pulp is produced by refining wood chips under high pressure and heat so that the fibers are separated from one another. This gives longer and stronger fibers than the mechanical process.

Sulfite pulp is produced chemically. It is prepared in large vessels that decompose the chips by boiling them with magnesium bisulfite, as in a pressure cooker. This produces the strongest pulp of the first three types.

The fourth type, pulp from recycled paper, is produced after the used paper has been pulped and cleansed of old ink and glue.

Finally, on the winder the big rolls of paper are cut according to the customer’s specifications and then packed. The completed rolls are sorted according to destination and then shipped by truck, rail, or boat to the customer.

The paper has now reached the printery at Arboga. The roll is fed into a machine that cuts the paper into the appropriate size for Sweden’s new full-​color sheetfed press. This new press is capable of printing 15,000 impressions an hour.

Each issue is sent to subscribers in Sweden and abroad. In addition, bundles of copies for public distribution are sent to the hundreds of congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the country. Thousands of copies from these bundles are left by the Witnesses when they call at people’s homes or meet them elsewhere.

Yes, that tree trunk in the forest has reached its final destination​—the Awake! magazine. Notice, please, that Awake! includes articles that inform and awaken readers to the meaning of world events in the light of Bible prophecy. It thus assists readers to learn about man’s Creator and His purpose for our day. Such knowledge will help you to understand the meaning of what is happening in our time and will also help you to build a solid hope for a better future.

[Box/​Diagram on page 25]

The Paper Machine

A. The pulp reaching the paper machine resembles thin gruel and is spread in a coating several yards [meters] wide on a wire-​gauze conveyor belt. At this point the pulp is about 99 percent water. Most of this water will be removed during the journey through the machine, which is approximately 230 feet [70 m] long.

B. The amount of water is reduced to about 60 percent in the press section. The water is pressed out mechanically, often in conjunction with vacuum suction.

C. In the drying section, the paper layer is dried on steam-​heated cylinders.

D. Polishing makes the paper smoother, and this is done by allowing the paper to pass between rollers. Only 5 percent of the water is left when the paper is finally wound into rolls.

[Diagram] (For fully formatted text, see publication)

Head box Wire part Press section Drying section Glazing

Wet end Reeling

[Pictures on page 26]

The branch at Arboga, Sweden

Paper rolls being stacked