In the present investigation, use has been made of a method developed previously to relate irreversibly expended work to bond breakage with a view to assessing the effect of beating and wet pressing on the bonding strength value. These tests indicate that, for some pulp qualities with a high hemicellulose content, the bonding strength rises with increases in the degree of beating and fall on the application of higher wet pressure. For bleached and unbleached pulp with a low hemicellulose content, the bonding strength is (as has been found earlier) virtually independent of both beating and wet pressing. The possible reasons for the beating and wet pressing effects are discussed and some alternatives are proposed. Although no satisfactory explanation can be found, it is believed that beating increases the possibilities of intimate contact between the surfaces and gives rise to a structure that has larger radii of curvature between the building elements. On the other hand, wet pressing may permanently damage the cell walls and result in less entangled contact zones and a structure of more angular configuration.