MAP PAPER: What to print on?

Back in the day the favourite material on which maps were printed was a linen-backed paper. The map sheet was literally held together by a backing “cloth” made of thin linen that was glued to the paper. It strengthened the sheet considerably and prevented cracking along the folds. It is still available – at an enormous price! – but eventually the paper disintegrates and crumbles off the linen, which is why very old maps have to be handled with great care.

In the early days we printed our maps on a glossy art paper. The maps looked good but the material was not tear resistant, nor was it waterproof, and maps would fall apart after heavy use in the field. If you wanted your map to last you had to have it laminated, at your own expense.

Back in the seventies a material known as Tyvek appeared on the market. We printed a limited number of our early hiking trail maps on this expensive material, and all the early Drakensberg maps were printed on it. It is very strong and almost impossible to tear, and is completely waterproof ...  but it has a grainy surface and it is not possible to get an absolutely crisp, clean print on it. It lasts for a very long time, but excessive sunlight will cause the print to fade and eventually the Tyvek will perish and crumble.

And then we discovered Duraflex. I’ll interrupt myself only to point out that Duraflex is imported and at the start of the Covid pandemic it became unavailable, so some of our maps had to be printed on paper encased in a strong laminate. The maps look great and are very strong, but the material is quite bulky. 

Duraflex is back on the market; it is a third of the price of Tyvek and is just as strong, and in addition delivers a beautiful crisp, clear print. We’ll be using it for the new Drakensberg series, but there are some drawbacks.

1. It is dissolved by hydrocarbons – petrol and paraffin, but also by sunblockers, so you need to handle it with clean fingers.

2. It’s completely waterproof but needs to be completely dry before being folded up, or the folded sides stick together and ruin the map, and ...

3. It has the same problem as Tyvek in that excessive sunlight and heat will cause it to perish.

But despite these problems we think it’s the best mapping material available. Besides, you need to consider that a map is like a photo of a frozen moment in time – it does not change as the Earth changes around it, and so it gradually drifts into history and goes out of date. Ideally you should replace your map every 5 to 10 years at least - before the paper cracks and crumbles!