recycling materials into paper with a Hollander beater

I've always had a fascination for paper making and for awhile thought it could be my next home based business.

There are many fibers that can be processed into paper with the proper tool.....linen, cotton, rami cloth from thrift store clothing and woodland fibers also. This is many steps away from 'blender paper' or 'dryer lint paper' which is only using fibers that are already broken down.........

My thoughts were to turn it into a major local recycling project using our local thrift store as a main fiber source.

The Hollander beater is the tool used for breaking down fibers into the right size for making sheets of paper.
I think there would be many practical uses for this paper around ones homestead.....wall coverings, insulation, planting pots in addition to the obvious art papers.

This is absolutely amazing.

The first thing that comes to my mind is using vegetable inks and printing out permaculture leaflets / one page flow charts for dummies and selling that as well.

Shaz Jameson wrote:This is absolutely amazing.

The first thing that comes to my mind is using vegetable inks and printing out permaculture leaflets / one page flow charts for dummies and selling that as well.

Yes! great ideas, Shaz
The Hollander beater is the expensive part of the process and is the thing that blocked me from going ahead with it. Now, I've gone on to other things but I still thing this is a good idea for a home based business. I think someone with a lot of skill could build the beater part or it might be a project for a Kickstarter campaign for somebody.

It's funny, I live in the Netherlands and in the state of North Holland (Holland, Hollander, beater). I'm curious to see whether there are any of these still in use as 'artisanal' machines or so. That could be quite interesting.

Quick update - the Dutch wikipedia page for papermills refers explicity to these traditional paper mills, whereas the english wikipedia page looks more more at industrialisation.

It appears there are three remaining Hollander beaters which are actually museum relics, though there is one working Hollander paper mill that only stopped working in the 60s because it was no longer economically feasible, using the power of water from the canal (water is something htere is a lot of in the Netherlands..). The Middle Mill was restored in 2001 that functions as a working museum - see Wikipedia here and webpage here (sorry, Dutch only).

Here is a (slow) video of the industrialised production process.



It appears their sell specialised paper, both for family albums/events but also for art restorators that need old-school paper.

What I can't seem to find is where they source their pulp from. It would be an excellent way to close the loop and recycle, though as it is now it is framed as a speciality thing rather than a ' cool and hip ' thing.

thanks for posting more info, Shaz...that is all new to me I'm looking forward to anything else you run across.

Here is a picture of one that I briefly tried to convince my husband to make a tub for (he is a bucket cooper). Woodware Designs This web site has a lot of information about building the press and the process using the beater.

a short snip about the Hollander Beater from Hand Papermaking

Necessity inspires invention, and 17th-century Dutch papermakers looked for alternatives to the water-powered stamp mills used in Germany. Though the name is lost, and the date is in question (between 1660 and 1682), we know that an inventor in Holland eventually came up with a method for beating pulp that required no river power, did away with the additional time-consuming step of fermentation, and produced a higher quality product. The machine this inventor produced is today named simply after its country of origin.

...and a few more videos:

I have this book...It covers both history and 'how to'. I found it very informative and inspiring..... I'm sure there are many others also.


Papermaking by Jules Heller

here is the book summary from amazon

Shows how to make paper for painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, etc. In step-by-step photos, leading artists demonstrate their favorite methods and techniques.

it is available at amazon us

An article here Spinning a Tale by Velma Bolyard / images: Photos by Hannah Stevens

Velma Bolyard wrote: I sewed the pages into the cover with a traditional stationer's style of binding which dates back to medieval Europe. Thus the book includes pages made from many papers, including day lily, cotton rag, iris, hickory, hosta, slippery elm, dogbane, and others.

Any paper makers out there?  This is still on my wish list of things to do...on the hollander beater scale, not kitchen blender paper.  I might have time yet to give it a try

About half way down this page there is some info on preparing (cooking) hemp (or flax) for papermaking.
MAKING PULP FROM FIBER: 'BEATING' using a Hollander beater.
an image of cooked hemp fiber for paper making...


and another link...
THE HYDRA HOLLANDER BEATER pdf

Peace Paper Project

We are passionate about our portable studio model, which is the cornerstone of Peace Paper Project. It is not just about convenience; this system has become our passport to connecting with international communities. The benefits of hand papermaking are most clearly experienced first-hand, so it makes our work all the more accessible to have the equipment that we use handy and easy to transport.

This page is dedicated to the resources, materials and approximate costs for developing a portable paper studio.

We invite you to contact us if you have any questions regarding information on materials, scheduling a visitation by Peace Paper or taking advantage of our training opportunities.

R. Ranson's thread what do you want to try but haven't? reminded me of my paper making thread here.  

Has anyone here used a Hollander beater to make rag paper?

Not me,  but it looks like it could be a great tool to get fibers for natural building or papercrete.

William Bronson wrote:Not me,  but it looks like it could be a great tool to get fibers for natural building or papercrete.

It does! Maybe a community owned machine?

I looked into making one at one time...it's possible.  

Judith Browning wrote:The Hollander beater is the expensive part of the process and is the thing that blocked me from going ahead with it. Now, I've gone on to other things but I still thing this is a good idea for a home based business.  I think someone with a lot of skill could build the beater part or it might be a project for a Kickstarter campaign for somebody.  

This would be quite easy to make.

The key I found with homemade equipment is to never try and reinvent the wheel, and so it is here.

A galvanized oval sheep watering trough can be had at Tractor Supply for very little money. A strip of tin, epoxied and pop rived down the center would make for the revolving channel. As for the beater itself, that can be made from a woodworking power planer. It would have to be remounted on a hinge with some stop bolts and adjusting knobs, but easy to modify into a beater.

Overall, an easy build. I have the parts kicking around, but even if a person bought them new, it would be around $400. A person might be able to find a used power planer too.

As a making of my own books, it would be interesting to make my own paper as it is one of my costs.

I think it would be a pretty decent set-up though to get homemade paper that was consistent enough to feed through my printer however. Doable for sure, and a great project, but sadly paper is not a huge cost for books. I want to do it, and might, but it will be on the back-burner for now.

I know paper costs sounds like such a lie, but it really is not. For a 5.5 x 8 soft cover novel that is 400 pages, it is only 100, 8.5 x 11 sheets because when printed out. That means front and back, you get (4) book pages per sheet. That means a ream of paper will net me (5) novels. So it is a cost for sure, but not a huge one.

Ink is another story. Sadly, the printer companies are getting smarter. I used to be able to recharge my own toner cartridges, but they now add computer chips to stop the cartridge from working once it is used up only once. I can get aftermarket cartridges for $34 instead of $75 like name-brand ones, but I can only get about 15 books out of a cartridge.

For those that care about details, its about $1 for paper per book, 66 cents per book for ink, then about 33 cents for laminating sheets and specialty paper, making it cost about $2 to print each book at home. Its not really bad because I can print a book today, add any changes, and get my revamped book in print tomorrow. They also make for great Christmas presents, but I admit, I really love books and want people to know, they can easily and cheaply make their own books, so more books get out into the world.