Cannabis Study House - ＵＳＡ・ヘンプ・ミュージアム、ヘンプ・パルプ紙

ヘンプ・パルプ紙

Every acre of hemp grown for paper or particle board saves four acres of trees. Hemp paper is more recyclable than tree paper, and its production does not require chlorine bleach or cause dioxin pollution.

The Hemp Paper Room is about much more than I ever expected. From the first discovery of writing or drawing, people have looked for materials on which to write or draw. Walls of caves, bones, bamboo strips, silk, clay tablets, wood, metals, and papyrus (laminated grass material) were written on for thousands of years prior to the invention of papermaking. True paper involves the use of pulped material in the manufacture of products.

When I first learned about hemp for paper, I didn't really know what pulped material looked like so my first attempt was much more like felt than paper. In fact, hemp felts nicely.

(right)Hemp Museum samples of hemp paper: A framed early sheet of paper by the curator, a pack of hemp envelopes, a vacuum cleaner bag from China, front, a sample of felted hemp.
(left)Some of the first boxes made by the Curator.Photo: Bill Bridges

I went to a Fiber Fair at the Mateel Center in Garberville and sat in on a class in papermaking with John Stahl. It was there that I saw and touched the first piece of 100% hemp paper, made by school kids! I bought some of their paper for the museum.

John Stahl, paper at left, had a pulping machine, but I didn't and ;so discovered that a blender could do the job if the hemp was boiled for eight hours and a very small amount blended at once.

William Rittenhouse established the first paper mill in British America, near Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1690. Hemp Museum plate showing a water wheel powered mill.

In early North America, in 1810, 185 paper mills were powered by water wheels for the pulping of rags (hemp) for paper. Framed Hemp Museum print, "The Old Mill."

Dried hemp stalks. Photo: Bill Bridges

The way to reverse global warming is to grow green plants (hemp) for paper and let the forests remain to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. The use of hemp building materials, such as medium weight fiberboard, hemp cement and plaster, hemp building paper, and laminated beams can reverse global warming. (See BUILDING MATERIALS )

This is an English bible, the original rag paper book of the Hemp Museum. Printed in 1830, this 170 year old paper is in excellent condition. Most bibles are printed on hemp paper, it is simply the best paper in the world. Photo: Bill Bridges

This hemp buck is from Lawrence, Kansas, half wheat, half hemp paper.

This 1997 calendar is printed on 100% hemp paper, by the Vermont Hemporium.

1867 Obligation Bond and Warrant.

Cellulose Atomic Structure.
The carbon (C) in cellulose is from carbon dioxide (CO2)
a greenhouse gas that is taken in and stored by plants in wood.

l848 Paper search documents.

1848 paper search receipts.

Of what kind of paper were word rolls made?

Handmade hemp paper.

For those wanting a detailed history of papermaking see: PAPERMAKING: The History & Technique of an Ancient Craft by Dard Hunter, 1943 & 1947. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Hunter compiled an excellent chronology (125 pages) of the history of true paper and papermaking that documents the important advances and inventions along this 1900 year history, including some earlier important dates of related events. Click here [PAPER CHRONOLOGY] to see a greatly shortened version edited by the curator.

Hunter stated (p.4): "Ifman may now be considered as having reached a high state of civilization his gradual development is more directly due to the inventions of paper and printing than all other factors"

And all the way along this path hemp was there. From the first paper, the first printed document, the first book, to the best paper, and to our most cherished documents hemp was part of that history.

For the first 500 years China kept the secret of papermaking from therest of the world. This gave China an incredible edge in new inventions of paper and many of the uses of paper we take for granted such as paper money, playing cards, wallpaper, books, and many others originated in China.

B.C. 2700. Chinese characters conceived; Ts'ang Chieh credited with the invention. [The ancient Chinese symbol for hemp (left) is 4,700 years old, and shows the male and female forms in a drying shed for fiber use. (Conrad, ibid.).]

B.C. 2200. Prisse manuscript on papyrus, probably the oldest Egyptian document. Papyrus is a built-up, laminated material and should not be confused with true paper, which was not invented until about A.D. 105.

Papyrus shown here from a Hemp Museum painting. Notice strips of material going different directions.

[A.D. 1937. Mechanical Engineering magazine declared hemp the most profitable and desirable crop that can be grown. (Conrad, ibid.)]

[A.D. 1938. Popular Mechanics magazine dubbed hemp the A New Billion Dollar Crop and predicted a bonanza for farmers and industry alike, in a report prepared in 1937. With its 25,000 viable uses, hemp will provide thousands of jobs for American workers throughout the land, reported the magazine.]

http://hempmuseum.org/
Un-Copyright 2003 USA HEMP MUSEUM. SPREAD THE WORD All rights NOT reserved

▲