Heavy 60 lb weight gives this brown kraft paper enough substance for bold charcoal work and vigorous sketching without the delicate handling lighter papers demand. Borden & Riley manufactures #840 as an economical workhorse for temporary drawings, quick studies, and experimental pieces where you need decent tooth and body without investment-grade archival properties. The natural brown tone eliminates stark white glare during extended sessions while providing mid-value contrast that makes both light and dark marks read clearly.

Kraft's fibrous texture grabs dry media effectively, charcoal, conte, and graphite all find purchase on this surface. The weight handles moderate erasing and reworking without disintegrating, though it's designed for direct, confident mark-making rather than endless refinement. Available in 50-sheet pads for studio work or rolls for larger format pieces and classroom settings where you need quantity over longevity. Teachers appreciate the economy for daily exercises and warm-up drawings. Working artists use it for compositional thumbnails and value studies where the brown ground speeds up the process by establishing middle tones automatically.