Wet broke comes from the forming and press sections, mostly during breaks and edge trimming at the couch, while dry broke covers trim, reel ends, off-spec reels and culls from finishing. It is slushed in broke pulpers and metered back into the furnish. Broke carries filler, coating, dye and brightener with it, so a high broke ratio or the wrong broke in the wrong grade can wreck shade and fluorescence.
Broke chest is full of the blue grade, so hold the white run until it's worked down.
Keep brightened broke away from OBA-free grades; it is one of the easiest ways to fail a fluorescence spec.
Related terms
Off shade
Describes paper whose color has drifted outside the tolerance of its approved standard.
Grade change
Switching a paper machine from one product to another while it keeps running.
Break
Tear of the running paper web on the machine, which sends everything to broke until the sheet is rethreaded.
Black light
Handheld or bench UV lamp used to check quickly whether a paper contains optical brightener.