Paper and board types affect more than printed appearance. They also need different consideration when describing cut edges and carton folds. Coated paper, coated cartonboard, kraft board and corrugated board cannot be specified by grammage alone. This guide helps prepare a steel-rule cutting die order for a chosen substrate; it is not a paper supply catalogue.
Distinguish coated paper from folding cartonboard
“Coated” describes a surface characteristic. It does not, on its own, identify thickness or suitability for a carton. Business cards, covers, hang tags and cartons can have similar white surfaces while using different substrate constructions.
Send the supplier’s product name, grammage and available data sheet. For custom business cards or invitations, show corner and hole contours. Separate a straight trimming request from a shaped cutting die requirement.
Kraft appearance does not identify the board construction
A flat kraft board and a corrugated sheet have different cross-sections. Corrugated board includes a fluted layer between its liners. Describing an artwork simply as a “kraft box” leaves this distinction unresolved.
State whether the substrate is solid board or corrugated board. For corrugated work, include flute type, overall thickness and direction from the material specification or sample. For tooling details, see our corrugated cutting die service.
Add actual caliper alongside grammage
Grammage measures mass per unit area; caliper measures sheet thickness. Two boards with the same grammage can have different calipers. Avoid specifying creasing tooling from grammage alone.
Board type, caliper and grain direction inform the combined choice of creasing rule and counter channel. Holmen Iggesund’s die-cutting and creasing guide explains these variables. For job-specific counter tooling, see our creasing counterplate service.
Identify the final surface treatment and folding direction
State whether the final product will carry film lamination, varnish or another surface treatment. Sending only the raw board specification omits part of the substrate that will reach the cutting stage.
Mark the outer face and main folding directions on the drawing. If a material changes, send its new data sheet together with the existing die information instead of assuming the previous tooling can be reused unchanged.
For paper labels, describe the liner too
In self-adhesive sheet labels, the facestock, adhesive and liner are all part of the description. Kiss cutting that preserves the liner is a different request from cutting through the complete sheet.
Use our sheet label cutting die service for this application. Include label dimensions, sheet layout and the required cut type with the enquiry.
A short material specification checklist
A sample or data sheet fills the gaps left by a commercial material name.
- Supplier and product name
- Grammage and measured caliper
- Solid or corrugated construction
- Grain/flute direction and coating
- Measured drawing, machine and sheet details
