Fibres, shaken flat and let dry
How Is Paper Made From a Tree?
Paper is wood fibres separated in water, drained flat on a mesh, and pressed until they bond to each other.
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Step 1 of 5
Wood is already made of fibres.
Nobody makes the fibres. The tree made them; the mill only separates them. A tree is built from long thin cellulose tubes glued together by a natural resin. Papermaking is mostly the job of undoing that glue.
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Step 2 of 5
The fibres are separated in water.
Chips are ground or cooked until the fibres come apart and float freely. The result is pulp — about 99% water, with fibres drifting in it.
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Step 3 of 5
Draining on a mesh lays them flat.
Pour the pulp onto a fine screen and the water runs through, leaving the fibres behind in a flat criss-crossed mat.
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Step 4 of 5
Drying is what actually bonds them.
As the last water leaves, it pulls the fibres tightly together and they bond directly to each other. No glue is added — the fibres simply grip.
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Step 5 of 5
Wet paper falls apart because the bonds let go.
Add water back and it slips between the fibres, breaking those bonds. The fibres are unharmed — which is exactly why paper can be recycled.
A wood fibre can go round the recycling loop about five to seven times. Each pass shortens it, until it is too short to grip its neighbours and becomes cardboard, then nothing.
The short version
Nobody makes the fibres — the tree did, and the mill only unglues them. Pulp is 99% water, and drying is what pulls the fibres into contact. No glue is added, which is why wet paper falls apart and why it recycles.
Try it yourself
Tear a sheet of paper slowly and look at the torn edge. The fuzz is the individual fibres, pulled apart rather than cut.