Temperate Forest Foundation: Step-by-step in a Sawmill

Below is a general outline of the steps that go into kraft pulp and paper products.

Pulping

Pulpwood is chipped
Wood chips are fed into digester where they are mixed with chemicals to soften the lignin bond that holds the wood fibers together.
Cellulose fibers are separated/chemicals used in pulping are recycled/by-products like turpentine and tall oil are separated out and sold.
Cellulose is washed, screened, cleaned, and bleached.

Papermaking

Cellulose fibers are mixed with water, pigments, dyes in the paper machine's headbox.
The cellulose mixture consisting of 99% water and 1% fiber/solids is poured onto a moving mat or web which allows the water to drain forming a continuous sheet of paper.
This web of paper continues through heavy rollers that press the residual moisture from the sheet.
The web then proceeds over steam heated rollers to finish drying through evaporation.
The dried paper is then wound onto a reel.
From here paper can be cut into smaller rolls or converted into sheets.