Grammage ream developed because such a size can easily be cut into sixteen 6 by book sized sheets without significant waste. Early newsprint presses printed sheets in size, and so the ream dimensions for newsprint became , with 500 sheets to a ream. Newsprint was made from ground wood pulp, and ground wood hanging paper (wallpaper) was made on newsprint machines. Newsprint was used as wrapping paper, and the first paper bags were made from newsprint. The newsprint ream standard also became the standard for packaging papers, even though in packaging papers kraft pulp rather than ground wood was used for
Paper by hand, a blotter sheet is used instead. Drying involves using air or heat to remove water from the paper sheets. In the earliest days of paper making, this was done by hanging the sheets like laundry; in more modern times, various forms of heated drying mechanisms are used. On the paper machine, the most common is the steam-heated can dryer. These can reach temperatures above and are used in long sequences of more than forty cans where the heat produced by these can easily dry the paper to less than six percent moisture. The paper may then undergo sizing