How to straighten paper: a review of the most effective methods
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Paper is an easily wrinkled material. At the same time, returning it to a presentable appearance is much more difficult. You can smooth out crumpled paper in a variety of ways, from using a press to professional smoothing.
How to smooth out paper using a weight or press
The easiest way to straighten a crumpled piece of paper is to use some kind of weight. Under heavy pressure, paper can be smoothed out in 12 hours. It is enough to put several thick books on top of it. You can place a cabinet, flat sports equipment, or some heavy metal object on a crumpled sheet.
How to straighten paper using steam
Hot steam effectively smoothes paper sheets. But due to its high temperature, the material may deteriorate. Moisture will also negatively affect the quality of the paper.
It is recommended to steam crumpled paper through a steam generator or iron. In both cases, it is necessary to pass the steam through a thick towel so that the document is not permanently damaged and does not become wet.
You can steam a piece of paper over boiling water in a saucepan. To do this, you need to spread a thick towel over it and put a sheet on it. You can also straighten individual wrinkled sections of a paper document by holding them over the spout of a boiling kettle.
It is important not to hold the leaf too close to the spout itself. The steam will quickly cause the document to become wet and tear. Excess moisture may cause ink to bleed on the paper. It is recommended to keep the leaf at least 10 cm from the edge of the teapot spout.
How to straighten a piece of paper with an iron
Under the influence of high temperatures, crumpled paper sheets are smoothed out much better. But the iron can damage thin paper. It can also cause the material and ink on it to fade.
To straighten a crumpled piece of paper with an iron, you must follow the following recommendations:
- First hold the sheet for several hours under a heavy object.
- Cover the paper with a clean, thick cloth.
- Turn on the iron to minimum temperature and heat it up.
- Iron the fabric underneath the paper sheet. It is enough to do this for a minute.
- If after ironing the paper remains wrinkled, then it is necessary to repeat the procedure, slightly increasing the heating temperature of the iron.
When smoothing a sheet of paper, it is recommended to choose a thick terry towel as a lining material. You should not straighten wrinkled sheets of important documents and passports using this method.
Straightening with a printer
This device can slightly smooth out wrinkled paper. However, the printer will not be able to straighten it completely. Also, the device will not remove creases from the sheet.
It is enough to pass the wrinkled paper through the printer once or several times.To do this, you need to open a blank sheet in Word format on the desktop of your laptop or computer and click on print.
Other methods using improvised means
If you don’t have an iron, steam generator or printer, you can straighten a sheet of paper using improvised means. This could be an iron mug, a damp towel, a home mattress, or a lamp. If used correctly, you can smooth out the paper sheet using a curling iron or hair curling iron.
Hot iron mug
Metal objects work well to straighten crumpled paper. If you heat them up, the effect will be even better. It is enough to fill a clean steel or enamel mug with boiling water and place it on the wrinkled area of the sheet. It is recommended to keep the container on it until the water cools completely.
Wet towel
If you moisten the paper a little, it can smooth out well. However, you should not cover it with a towel that is too wet. It is enough to use a slightly dried cotton product. The towel must be placed on a paper sheet and left for an hour or a little more.
Spray
This method is in many ways identical to the previous option with a wet towel. If you apply a little water to the sheet through a spray bottle, it will smooth it out quite nicely as it evaporates. It is important not to apply too much water to the paper, as the material may be damaged and the writing on it may smear. It is recommended to spray water only on heavily wrinkled areas of the leaf and wait until they dry completely.
Mattress
You can straighten the paper well using a mattress. It is necessary to place the crumpled sheet under it and leave it there overnight. Under strong pressure, the material will smooth out overnight. The mattress itself should press the paper sheet tightly.Otherwise, there will be no proper smoothing effect.
To prevent the paper sheet from getting dirty from the old mattress, it is recommended to put it in a document file.
Wet hand
This option is similar in effect to the method using a damp towel and spray. Only the human hand acts as a straightener. You need to wet your palm a little and apply it to the crumpled piece of paper.
Do not wet your hand too much. Excess moisture will cause the sheet to become very wet and may tear. Then an important document will be irretrievably damaged. It is recommended to lightly spray your palm with a spray bottle and apply it only to heavily wrinkled areas of the document. It is necessary to hold your hand for a while so that the paper is better saturated. After this, it is important to wait until the moisture from the surface of the paper has completely evaporated.
red-hot lamp
Using this method, you can straighten only a small piece of paper or a separate section of it. A hot lamp is not suitable for smoothing large sheets. This method is dangerous because it can cause a fire.
It is recommended to bring the crumpled piece of paper to the lamp and hold it over it for up to 20 seconds. It is important not to place the leaf too close to the light bulb. Due to the high temperature, the paper will instantly ignite and the document will be lost. Also, if you hold a sheet over a light bulb for a long time, a yellow or black spot will appear on it. It is necessary to keep the crumpled piece of paper at a distance of at least 10 cm from the hot light bulb.
Stretching
This method has several variations:
- You can first spray a small amount of water on a paper sheet and carefully begin to smooth it tightly from the middle to the edges. The sheet itself should not be completely wet.It should be slightly moist. Otherwise, the document may be torn, since wet paper tears at the slightest touch.
- You can straighten a piece of paper using a heavy object. It is necessary to press it firmly against the document and begin to rub it vigorously and under pressure from the middle to the edges.
- You can stretch the crumpled paper sheet with your hands. You need to place it between your palms and start rubbing it with pressure. You can also place the document on the table and rub it with your palm from the center to the edges.
Stretching the paper into a tube also allows you to remove some wrinkles from it. It is enough to roll the leaf into a tube and start stretching it from the inside from the center to the edges. You can pinch the document from below with the thumbs of both hands and begin to pull the sheet from the center to the sides, gradually moving upward. You can do this procedure with paper lying on the table. It is enough to simply stretch it along the entire perimeter from the center to the side edges.
Using a hair curler
If you hold the sheet in heated tongs and pass it through them, it will smooth out well. Moreover, in this way you can get rid of even deep bends and bruises.
Smoothing a document with tongs carries the risk of damaging it. Do not heat the device too much. This way you can burn the paper too much and it will eventually catch fire. It is recommended to straighten crumpled leaves with slightly heated tongs. It is better to carry out the procedure at the moment when the device is just starting to heat up. It is important to quickly pass the crumpled leaf through the tongs. If you do this slowly, there is a high chance that the paper will scorch or catch fire.
The use of tongs to straighten crumpled sheets of paper should be resorted to only in special cases when other options have not given the desired result. The device heats up to high temperatures, which is detrimental to paper documents.
Curling iron
The principle of smoothing wrinkled paper documents with a curling iron is similar to the option of using tongs. In this case, a curling iron is the more preferable method. Since the tongs have a cylindrical shape, paper can be damaged when clamping it. The sheet may become stuck or deformed in the tongs.
The curling iron has both smooth surfaces. It is good to squeeze crumpled paper sheets between them. You can also use a curling iron to precisely align the desired parts of the document, where there are especially many wrinkles and folds. But this method also risks damaging the leaf. A very hot curling iron can singe it just as much as curling irons. Therefore, it is recommended not to press the paper excessively inside the curling iron. It is important to use the device only at low temperatures. It is recommended to smooth out wrinkled sheets with a curling iron only when it begins to heat up.
This method of straightening crumpled paper should only be used as a last resort. Curling irons operate at high temperatures, from which any paper document can instantly ignite spontaneously.
Professional smoothing
To smooth out valuable documents, it is recommended to use the services of specialists. Professional straightening of wrinkled sheets includes the use of special compounds and presses. These options allow you to eliminate creases on paper. Restoring damaged documents is expensive. A specialist can charge an average of about 4,000 rubles for the service.