How do I make paper from wood?

Question

I have plenty of tools and probably everything I need.

How do I make paper the old way without using recycled paper?

How do I bleach it to make it white?

Answer 1

Chip up wood, soak in acidic water for long periods, add bleach to whiten. Once fully saturated with acidic water, the wood is crushed into pulp, a sort of gelatinous floating substance that should be whitish.
Make a very fine screen and place in the bottom of a square vat or water container, larger than the paper you want to make. Put the screen (needs a frame so you can handle it, and the screen must be very fine) in the bottom of the vat, float the wood pulp on the water surface and raise the screen to catch all the pulp. Allow to drain as much as possible.
Now, place screened woodpulp into a press and screw the press down to wring out the water, carefully scrape the pressed wood pulp off the screen and dry with weights to keep it flat. You will have wood pulp paper.
Do the same thing with cotton or linen threads in the wood pulp and you will have linen paper or "rag paper." Do the same thing with papyrus and you will have parchment paper. This is the way paper used to be made. You can see demos of paper making at Williamsburg PA in the summer months.
good luck, hope this makes sense to you.
IF you want the paper to last a long time, you must neutralize the wood pulp that you acid soaked....add baking soda until the pH is aobut 7.2 to get rid of the yellowing acid in the pulp. Acid free paper is much longer lasting than paper that has not been neutralized.