Core77

Simple... the face printing does not match the edge printing. Each page is identical. The side-grain is simply printed on to the block.

Are all the sheets identical? If so, you're right the lines on the sides would be vertical. They probably printed on the edges after they were bound, maybe with a roller or screen printing. It looks like each side has the same pattern (at least the two I see) in the middle pic. Just guessing.

The idea you're proposing makes no sense. If the ink were actually bleeding through enough to see on the edges you would also see it on the back side of the 'post-it', which you don't see in the first picture. This leads me to believe that the sides are probably silkscreen printed. That would also explain why the sides shown in the pictures have the same grain pattern. I think you should buy me a stack so I can give a more in depth analysis. What do you say?

Fore edge printing. Look at the second image. Both sides are identical. Also look at the first image---rings don't line up to the grain on the side.

What a great find!

I had to read this all twice to let it sink in that this is actually a stack of paper!! Honestly though, I can't think of any other way they might have made it besides what you proposed. ...which adds to the mystique of this magical little memo block.

Too bad it seems to be discontinued by online sellers :(

It does not appear that the cross sections match the sides, also the sides are repeated, so it's just a gimmick.

Could they have printed on the sides? this is fascinating... seems too good to be true

Look close at the first photo. The pattern of lines on the sides doesn't match up with the wood grain pattern on the sheets. I suspect they silk screen the sides after the stacks are built. This is common with the post-it pads you get from promotional companies. I've never seen a wood block version before though. Very cool.

It was printed on after the stack was glued together. The vertical wood grain is is identical on each face, if you look just a little bit more closely. Each note card is, in fact, identical beyond that.

That's the gist of it, not sure precisely what the industrial process it.

First time I've ever seen that done on a commercial product, but that technique is pretty common on the cheap stuff (y'know: pens, notepads, samples, trinkets, and marketing pamphlets) that every booth shoves in your hands at business and industry conferences.

"It still raises the question of how they generated a slightly different cross-section for each sheet."

It doesn't look like they have, if you look at the second picture you can see that both sides have the identical grain printed on them.

Pretty neat though, I'd buy one.

My guess would be that they have a print design that's larger than the area of a post-it note, and they move and/or rotate the position of the print design in relation to the trim area a small amount for each note.

It seems like it would be impractically expensive to have each individual page printed with a unique design.

Fantastic idea! However unfortunately it seems that they chose a somewhat less accurate way to produce the effect: on the second photo you can see that the sides are identical and not even matching the cross section... so they got along by making two scans and printing directly on the side!

You could offset the same image. As you slightly moved the image around, the edges would change.

I have one, and I can confirm that the first comment is correct. The pages are all the same and the sides are printed with a thick ink that bonds all the sheets together (making it seem block-like) and this side pattern does not match the wood on the sheet. It is still very nice though.