Craft or kraft or Kraft? In case you're not sure ...

[Absalom]

I was just going through the bible for anyone interested in WW II-era US handguns, Charles Pate's book, and noticed that even he (or his proof-reader) couldn't quite decide whether US military handguns shipped in kraft boxes or craft boxes (see attached). A quick use of the forum's search function revealed that even among those here that are aware that those were indeed kraft boxes, a considerable percentage believes incorrectly they should be capitalized as Kraft boxes. So as a public service, here's the scoop.

If you want to call them craft boxes as a tribute to the craftsmanship involved in fabricating them, you may do so, but that's not where the name comes from.

It's also not Kraft boxes. Kraft is not a proper name here. James Kraft, who patented processed cheese in 1916, had nothing to do with the boxes, nor anyone else by that last name.

They are simply kraft boxes, after the kraft process, a wood pulping and paper making process developed in Germany in the 19th century; the word kraft derives from the German word for strength, as the resulting paper was particularly strong.

That's it. Class dismissed. Carry on.

 

[tcon]

Ah... industrial terminology from a former gig. I worked my way up in a corrugated box factory from forklift driver to machine operator to scheduler to middle management.

The terminology police were dormant but always waiting. You learned quick. Saying "cardboard box" was like blasphemy and would earn you an instant, stern and public correction.

Our product was actually "industrial corrugated containers". Brown shipping boxes. We took delivery of railcar and truck loads of roll paper, made the corrugated sheets and ran it through machines that cut, folded and glued the board into boxes.

If you cut a piece of corrugated board and look at its cross-section, you will see two flat pieces of paper and a squiggly piece of darker paper sandwiched between the two flat sides in an S shape all held together with a starch-based glue.

The two flat pieces of paper are "kraft linerboard" or "liner". Linerboard is usually made from wood pulp with a high content of virgin fibre and the squiggly corrugated piece is called "medium" and has a high content of recycled fibre. The weight (stiffness) of the kraft paper sides is what gives the corrugated box its stacking strength.

The brown paper grocery bags we rarely see anymore? Those are called "kraft bags" - also made from kraft paper of varying weights.

*sigh* It's been years since I quit that job but I can still smell the corrugator. Cooked cabbage is the best way to describe the smell.

 

[Kinman]

Kraftig...

 

[Comrad]

kraft

noun

noun: kraft paper

a kind of strong, smooth brown wrapping paper.

 

[JP@AK]

It is fun to see how our varied careers intersect here on the Forum.

We can push this conversation back one more layer, beyond the point at which kraft pulp is crafted (sorry!) into final products, such as corrugated boxes or brown paper bags.

I spent a large part of my working life in the forest products industry, in various roles. There are two (actually four, but let's keep it simple) basic types of wood fiber pulp mills: those that produce kraft pulp and those that produce dissolving pulp. The former are what have been discussed so far in this thread. The latter produce a higher grade of pulp (nearly 100% pure cellulose) that does not go toward paper products. Rather, it is converted into a large array of products, including Rayon for tires and clothing, filler for toothpaste and ice cream, cigarette filters, certain types of plastics, cellophane and, back when we actually used film in our cameras, photographic film.

And yes, kraft in reference to kraft pulp does not get a capital K.

 

[JP@AK]

James Kraft, who patented processed cheese in 1916

Hey! I've got an idea. Let's outlaw the sale of processed, shredded cheese. Then we will make America grate again!

 

[wundudnee]

It is fun to see how our varied careers intersect here on the Forum.

We can push this conversation back one more layer, beyond the point at which kraft pulp is crafted (sorry!) into final products, such as corrugated boxes or brown paper bags.

I spent a large part of my working life in the forest products industry, in various rolls. There are two (actually four, but let's keep it simple) basic types of wood fiber pulp mills: those that produce kraft pulp and those that produce dissolving pulp. The former are what have been discussed so far in this thread. The latter produce a higher grade of pulp (nearly 100% pure cellulose) that does not go toward paper products. Rather, it is converted into a large array of products, including Rayon for tires and clothing, filler for toothpaste and ice cream, cigarette filters, certain types of plastics, cellophane and, back when we actually used film in our cameras, photographic film.

And yes, kraft in reference to kraft pulp does not get a capital K.

I spent 37 years working in a DuPont cellophane plant. I helped build the plant working as a cement finisher, hired on when it was completed in 1959. I worked in the process control lab for many years and probably tested many of your pulp rolls. When they shut the plant down I was working in the power house and got to shut it off. So I helped build the plant then got to shut it down.

We had a recycle system to process our waste back into usable pulp and yes we sold fine ground cellophane as filler for ice cream.

Did our careers intersect?

 

[Hondo44]

Very interesting, I like learning the source of names and products.

 

[JP@AK]

Did our careers intersect?

Probably not directly. I worked in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska all of my career. When I first came to Alaska, there were two pulp mills making dissolving pulp and several medium size sawmills. Total forest products direct employment was above 5,000 people. By the end of the Clinton years, that had fallen to fewer than 900, both pulp mills were closed and all but one of the sawmills.
Most of the commercial timber in Alaska grows on Federal land, and they refused to offer most planned timber sales. Those that were offered could not be purchased without a financial loss. National Forests, part of the Department of Agriculture, were (and are) being treated as if they belong to the National Park System in the Department of the Interior, in violation of Federal law. This happened in the PacNW as well. Hundreds of communities were devastated and thousands of families put out of work. For all intents and purposes, there is no longer a forest products industry in Alaska. A small amount of harvest on Native land and a tiny State timber sale program is enough to feed a handful of very small sawmills and that is it.
It is very sad. The government is content to let forests burn and suffer from insect infestations rather than allow a harvest that puts people to work, provides useful products for society and helps maintain healthy forests.

 

[Warren Sear]

Ah... industrial terminology from a former gig. I worked my way up in a corrugated box factory from forklift driver to machine operator to scheduler to middle management.

The terminology police were dormant but always waiting. You learned quick. Saying "cardboard box" was like blasphemy and would earn you an instant, stern and public correction.

Our product was actually "industrial corrugated containers". Brown shipping boxes. We took delivery of railcar and truck loads of roll paper, made the corrugated sheets and ran it through machines that cut, folded and glued the board into boxes.

If you cut a piece of corrugated board and look at its cross-section, you will see two flat pieces of paper and a squiggly piece of darker paper sandwiched between the two flat sides in an S shape all held together with a starch-based glue.

The two flat pieces of paper are "kraft linerboard" or "liner". Linerboard is usually made from wood pulp with a high content of virgin fibre and the squiggly corrugated piece is called "medium" and has a high content of recycled fibre. The weight (stiffness) of the kraft paper sides is what gives the corrugated box its stacking strength.

The brown paper grocery bags we rarely see anymore? Those are called "kraft bags" - also made from kraft paper of varying weights.

*sigh* It's been years since I quit that job but I can still smell the corrugator. Cooked cabbage is the best way to describe the smell.

OK, then, what is the difference between 'fibre" and "fiber"?

 

[OFT II]

Hey! I've got an idea. Let's outlaw the sale of processed, shredded cheese. Then we will make America grate again!

Jack, you are a very Krafty guy.

 

[JP@AK]

OK, then, what is the difference between 'fibre" and "fiber"?

The spelling . . .

(One is British, the other American.)

 

[Hondo44]

Not unlike calibre and caliber.

 

[SAFireman]

Hey! I've got an idea. Let's outlaw the sale of processed, shredded cheese. Then we will make America grate again!

Great, more cheesy jokes

 

[DWalt]

Not unlike calibre and caliber.

Aluminum and aluminium

 

[glowe]

I helped build the plant working as a cement finisher, hired on when it was completed in 1959.

Ah, another terminology issue. Cement is a powder made with calcined lime and clay. It is an ingredient in concrete, so you actually were a concrete finisher.

The material that goes into vintage gun boxes is pasteboard. I call these boxes pasteboard boxes, not kraft, Kraft, Craft, or craft boxes.

 

[DWalt]

Ah, another terminology issue. Cement is a powder made with calcined lime and clay. It is an ingredient in concrete, so you actually were a concrete finisher.

The material that goes into vintage gun boxes is pasteboard. I call these boxes pasteboard boxes, not kraft, Kraft, Craft, or craft boxes.

Some glues are also called cements. Generically, cement is something that bonds things together, could be Portland cement which holds sand and gravel together as concrete, or it could be about any adhesive. I once had a friend who called himself a cement finisher, even though he worked with concrete. Somehow I think cement finisher sounds better than concrete finisher. Then trucks that deliver concrete to the jobsite are often called cement mix trucks.

 

[tcon]

OK, then, what is the difference between 'fibre" and "fiber"?

Sorry... habit. Paper industry is instilled in my brain. I'm used to thinking of "fibre" when referring to the wood-based collective and using the word as a singular noun (that's still how I see it in my head). But a fiber seen by itself of if I need more fiber in my diet, I spell the right way.

 

[Absalom]

........
The material that goes into vintage gun boxes is pasteboard. I call these boxes pasteboard boxes, not kraft, Kraft, Craft, or craft boxes.

You're still not going to get around knowing the correct spelling.

According to Pate, at least the .38-200 BSR's were wrapped in kraft paper; pasteboard paper probably won't work for that.

 

[Texas Star]

OK, then, what is the difference between 'fibre" and "fiber"?

The difference in being on one side or the other of the US-Canadian border. Or, in the rest of the British Commonwealth. They spell funny.

Capitalize Kleenex. It's a proper brand of tissue paper.

After reading this topic, I may never eat ice cream again. Did some health czar decide that ice cream eaters need more fiber/fibre in their diets? Is that stuff only in cheaper brands of ice cream? Is it in sherbet or gelatos?