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In the production of paper, pulp fibers are put through a refining stage. This greatly enhances the fiber characteristics and the resulting quality and properties of the paper that is being produced. This paper outlines the various detailed processes which occur during the refining stage and what the resulting effects are on paper quality. It discusses the measurements of 'freeness’ and 'drainage rate’, which are used today as the primary means of measuring the'refining effect’, and provides a brief evaluation of the effectiveness and limitations of these techniques. With the Scanning Laser Microscope, one can now observe the 'refining effect’ on a microscopic basis by analyzing the structure of individual fibers. In particular one can measure the changes in the mean fiber diameter and the amount of fines that are produced. These changes are measured on a statistically significant basis in real time and provide valuable information for control of the refining process itself. This paper reports ac...