Raw Materials used in Papermaking
Cotton and Rags
The raw material needed for the production of paper is cellulose, this can be found in most plant fibres. Traditionally mills used cotton fibres from rags. Rags were bought from a local rag merchant and then were brought to the mill rag house. This area was staffed by women who picked out buttons and foreign objects before the rags went to the beaterhouse to be turned into pulp.Esparto Grass
The mid nineteenth century saw a shift in the materials used to make paper; many mills, particularly in Scotland, began to use esparto grass as a more economic alternative to rags. Esparto is a tough grass that grows wild in North Africa and Spain. It has a short fibre length which produces a paper of bulk which makes a clear watermark. This was popular in the manufacture of writing and book paper; esparto was a major ingredient in the paper made at Kinleith and Galloways Mills. The grass was shipped to Granton Harbour in empty holds that had taken coal to North Africa and Spain. When at the mill it was first sorted and cleaned by hand and it was not uncommon for lizards, exotic spiders and snakes to be found among the bales of grass. After sorting the grass was fed into the duster or willow to be cleaned and for esparto wax to be extracted. Esparto wax was a bi-product of esparto which some mills sold to be used in furniture and boot polish manufacture. After the duster the grass was boiled and ready to be pulped.Woodpulp
After the second world war esparto began to be phased out and woodpulp became the main raw material used in the papermaking industry on the Water of Leith. Woodpulp was imported from Scandinavian countries and arrived at the mills already boiled, bleached and cleaned ready for paper production.