Pressboard Substitute for Small Form

Pressboard is the best to use, but it’s not the only thing available. Any very hard, stiff paper would work. I’ve found that the paper used in manila file folders also work well….. Cereal boxes, mat-board, and regular cardboard smash down too quickly, so I wouldn’t use them.

Winking Cat is correct in saying that the chipboard from a cereal box would not be ideal as a substitute for pressboard as it is quite compressible.

Look to your junk mail for coated card stock and use a few sheets from that for your packing. The clay coating makes the card stock a bit firmer than most, and using a couple sheets makes it possible to make adjustment in the packing to suit the paper you are printing more readily. If you subscribe to any “slick” magazines, you often find heavier inserted pages which also would serve well.

I use old litho film for packing and have found it to be very stable and a hard surface as well. A local newspaper shop (if they are still using film) would be a good source for this, as they never re-use the film once the day is done.

You can get red pressboard from NA Graphics or American Prtg Equip. But you will also find it in other colors at a good stationery store, in the form of pressboard binders and possibly file folders. One binder cut up will give you 4 pieces of 5x8 pressboard.