What Printers Will Print on Real Wood Paper?
We are often asked which printers we recommend for printing on Real Wood Paper sheets. We offer some basic printing information for both our Professional and DIY Printing customers on our FAQ’s Page.
While we don’t specialize in printing, and it’s impossible for us to test every inkjet and laser printer on the market, we understand the importance of recommending printers compatible with Real Wood Paper for our customers’ convenience.
For our DIY customers, using a straight-through feed laser printer is the best option. However, sourcing such printers with this feature is becoming increasingly challenging in the USA. Consequently, we’ve taken the initiative to test several reasonably priced home and office printers, for more successful DIY printing on Real Wood Veneer Paper Sheets.
Achieving impeccable prints on Real Wood Paper hinges largely on your printer’s capabilities. Although factors like wood sheet thickness and grain direction are pertinent, the printer’s ability to handle thick cardstock-type sheets is equally crucial. We recommend referring to your printer manual to review its unique specifications.
In the samples provided below, you’ll notice all prints are produced on our Short Grain 8.5″ x 11″ Real Wood Paper sheets. Are you wondering why Short Grain over Long Grain? Real Wood Paper has more flexibility when bending with the grain, facilitating smoother passage through the printer’s rollers—an essential consideration in the printing process.
*Note that the pictures below are scanned with a HP ENVY Photo 7855 printer/scanner and there has been no editing, enhancing or touching of the photos. They are exactly as scanned by the aforementioned scanner.
Credit For Images Printed:
– A.A. Milne Quote – Design by Real Wood Paper
– Lou Lou Fabulous Flamingo – Design by Streamside Studio on ETSY and Website
INKJET PRINTER – HP ENVY Photo 7855
For being a small all-in-one photo inkjet printer, it prints on Real Wood Paper like a champ! There is surprisingly minimal bleeding. Typically, inkjet inks are so wet that they will follow the grain lines causing bleeding effect before they can dry. The edges maybe aren’t as crisp as a laser printer nor are the colors as vibrant however for an inkjet, we give this one a thumbs up! Another great thing about this little printer is it is able to handle our thickest wood paper sheets without any issues, other than the Maple Wood Back Sheets. It will not pull the Maple Wood Back Sheets through. We believe the maple is just too much of a hardwood for this particular printer but you still have 5 other species to choose from. This printer does go through the ink pretty quickly so we don’t recommend for high volume printing unless ink cost is not a factor.
.010″ Thick Fleece Backed – 8.5″x11″ Short Grain
.016″ Thick Paper Backed – 8.5″x11″ Short Grain
.025″ Thick Wood Backed – 8.5″x11″ Short Grain
LASER PRINTER – Canon Color Image Class LBP622Cdw
As you can clearly see, the colors print much more vibrantly with this Canon Laser Printer vs the HP ENVY Inkjet Printer above. Because the colors are more vibrant they are also a little less translucent. Since this is a Laser Printer that uses heated toner instead of a wet ink, the lines are crisp and no bleeding whatsoever.
*These sheets (indicated with * after its name) have a slight printing issue. We aren’t sure what the correct terminology is for what is happening but the print vaguely reprints itself below or outside of the intended print area. We feel as if the original print is not completely dry when going around the rollers and that un-dry ink is then transferred onto the wood farther down as the sheet continues to roll through the rollers.
