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I was told in the other question that cold press paper means paper having tooth.

So, I want to know - are there any levels of tooth in papers?

I have paper in the house. It is not glazed. I want to know how much tooth it has.

Google search resulted in tooth decay information.

2 Answers 2

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Yes! Different papers have different "tooth" -- this is another term for the roughness of the paper. The smoother a piece of paper feels, the less tooth; the rougher, the more tooth.

Most writing or copier/printer paper has very little tooth. It's not common for a tooth "value" to be shown on a package of paper, but different levels of tooth are sold for different purposes:

enter image description here Image from Hello Artsy: How to choose quality drawing paper

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  • What am I supposed to the tell the shopkeeper about the kind of paper that I want. I live in India, I don't think shopkeepers would know about the teeth. Jun 1, 2016 at 13:00
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    Try specifying what you want to draw with -- "a pad of drawing paper that is for graphite or colored pencils", for example. (It may also help to find that product on Amazon and bring them that description.)
    – Erica
    Jun 1, 2016 at 13:02
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    The shopkeeper might understand "roughness" or "texture" if the term "tooth" doesn't translate well.
    – rebusB
    Feb 5, 2019 at 16:26
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From DickBlick:

Manufacturers generally offer three or more finishes, usually labeled rough, cold press, not/cold press and hot press.

I have never seen "not press" as a substitute for cold press, it might be regional. So in order of rough to smooth: rough, cold press, hot press. Bond is a hot pressed paper. Plate paper is the smoothest.

Of course your best bet is to look at/feel the paper yourself, but these catagories should give you a starting point.

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