Waterproof Cutting Paper So What?

I am sure those that noticed my video a few months ago were like really?? What crazy thing will Stephen think of next? I assure you there is some legitimacy to my thinking and most of it is how can I do my job better! What can I do to take our operation up another notch? How can I improve our consistency and methods to be even better?

While sometimes I wish I could shut my mind down for just 24 hours and take a break, I haven’t seen it happen yet (ask my boss, wife and kids). I have this obsession with wanting to be better than I was yesterday, which I seem to be better at during work and not as much at home (working on it). Enough about all of that why the waterproof paper?

I was meeting with my assistant and he was taking notes and asks me to feel this paper he was writing on and says can you believe it’s waterproof? Right then a light goes off while he’s talking I am thinking (I wonder how thick it is, I wonder how it cuts, etc.) So I ask him for a sheet and go out , without saying a word, and see how it cuts on a reel and the idea was born. Now he won’t bring anything in afraid I may have another idea haha.

However, what I see with the paper is this. One of the biggest issues we have is our current paper getting wet as we generally are checking the cut on cutting units when they just get cleaned and are wet. The issue with that is that water and paper don’t mix. It changes the consistency, makes it rip and tear, and we are left either getting a new piece of paper or calling it good and moving on. In Florida it is even worse, with the humidity the paper can change as well so this fixes that issue. The other is just consistency. We are using the same paper, same thickness, every time we check cutting units and that is important. We want to set every reel the same and that’s tough to do when the tool you are using changes with the weather.

So it’s one thing to have an idea, it’s another to actually find out if it’s affordable and how to get it made. So after searching for manufacturers we located one in Taiwan where we just received the first samples of the paper in 1 1/2″ x 11″ pads of 50 sheets. Looks like right away we are going to cut it down to 1″ being 1/2″ wider was just a waste of paper. So we are sending some samples out to a few clubs around the country (a few Turfaddict.com customers) to get some feedback and then we will be placing our first bulk order of paper and make it available at Turf Addict. We are guessing that we should see that order sometime in May for sale. Pricing will be comparable to paper already sold for cutting units by a few companies. In the next few weeks as we define the price we will put up a preorder option as we have no idea how much will sell and how fast with a 2 month order window. So if you are interested in it I would certainly pre order it just in case everyone else sees the benefit that I do. The paper will come in 5 packs (approx. 250 sheets) and 20 packs (approx.. 1000 sheets) which we feel will be good options for those wanting to try it out. Check out the video and picture below.