Selfsufficientish.com

we make logs from shredded paper collected from my home office.. and we make logs out of confidential stuff like bank statements and i defy any would-be identity thief to pick out the details from a paper log....particularly after we have warmed our home with it....

Red

Muddypause wrote:
I'm also a bit sceptical about their heat output - if one newspaper = one log, then you are only ever going to get one newspaper's worth of heat out of it, regardless of how much hard work you put into preparing it. This could be i) a noticeable amount of heat for a short time, or ii) a barely detectable amount for ages. My experiments with them tended towards ii).

But as Red says, they're free.

but if that barely detectable heat is enough to keep a piece of wood burning for a bit longer... then surely it's got to be worth it... and the barely detectable heat will be staying put, rather than shooting up the chimney. Not based on any scientific knowledge of course... and I could be completely wrong.. just thinking out loud.

And... as Red says... they're free :D

I have been been using the brickette maker for 2 years and I am very happy with it. It takes a while to make them, but its worth it in the end. I also burn them in combination with wood, coal and sawdust brickettes. They tend to burn slow and last about an hour. My chimney sweep was quite impressed with them.

Hi folks, I'm a newbie to the site!

I'd Googled 'Paper Log Maker' and came across the forum here.

I know this an old thread, but I imagine it'll resurface now! lol

Anyway, I've been making paper briquettes since around November 2007. We'd moved house and had so many boxes plus old paper work hoarded over the years that I was reluctant to just put them in the usual recycle bin or local council skip. I bought a briquette maker of eBay and started making my own logs. I shred enough for a large rubble bucket each week. I use a mix of newspaper, cardboard and obviously mail, food packaging. If it has a burn quality, it gets shredded! lol This might sound a bit anoraky, but I find the newspaper acts like a bond and the cardboard gives it a bit of fibre, so to speak! lol I've added coal dust and dross in the past to a mix, didn't think they burned any better or worse. I leave mine to soak for around a week. The process of shredding and making in total takes me approximately 90 minutes and provides around 12-14 briquettes.

I noted someone on the thread mentioned it was difficult to get enough water out. I have a shallow 'under the bed' type storage container. I stand my briquette maker in that. That way any waste water gets caught, I then turn the briquette maker upside down and stand on it, the handles are on the basin and I stand on the base of the device. I find this gets a lot of water out and provides a well compressed briquette.

I find the water soaked briquettes burn reasonably well when dried out. But I'm thinking of buying one of the dry log makers. They're cylindrical and you wind a page of newspaper around it before putting in your waste material and compressing it dry.

Has anyone tried one of these? And if so, what success did you have?

Right, I'm off to look around the site. If anyone wants to know more about my process of making briquettes, feel free. I think I have it down to an art! lol

I would like to know more about the dry log maker please. I have a regular one, and apart from the drying problem, I think paper logs are fantastic. pbf.

I have a dry one, but I promise you, pushing bits of paper into a looroll tube would achieve the same. I just through the paper straigh on the fire now, don't bother making the logs.

Good point Ann Pan, I think I'll try that before investing in a dry one.

Affluence to effluence to ...........well, logs really! lol

Anything that saves money!!! pbf.

Messy, smelly and awkward to make but a great way to deal with confidential waste. I store the paper in a 40 gallon drum and make them once a year, early summer. Add the water about a week before making them to avoid fermentation. Paul

But do they last any longer than just burning the paper? I decided not and I just burn paper straight on the fire now.

Annpan wrote:But do they last any longer than just burning the paper? I decided not and I just burn paper straight on the fire now.

we used to use them to keep the sea coal burning overnight. We would put one on the embers then pile the seacoal up over the top and it would klinker together and the paper log kept it ticking over. Without the paper log the embers fed off the coal and the fire was out the next morning.

i know this is an old topic but i'd like to say i'm one of the people who has never found the brickette maker satisfactory; even put our solid fuel cooker out which takes some doing. i make my brickettes by hand in an old sieve, pressing the water through by hand - or rather with a plastic bottle - and leaving it in the sun over the summer to dry thoroughly. i add sawdust and coal dust too. i like the concept of stuffing loo rolls though; i usually squish two rolls into a third as part of my kindling, but i like the idea of making longer lasting burners with them being stuffed solid.

We made about 150 this year and they burn for around an hour in our open fire,they are also great for restarting a fire that has almost gone out.
I tear the newspaper into strips and put them into the large flexable buckets that we have for the garden then fill with water and leave for a day this seems to be enough,after they are made we put them in the greenhouse till dry,a bit of work but a lot of free heat and it can be done in the little bits of time between bigger jobs.

Someone kindly gave us one of these as a present,to be honest I'm not massively impressed(but I,ve enough felled timber here for three or four winters,if I wasn't so fortunate I might take it a bit more seriously).This is not a hijack......BUT.......a mate of my dad(were talking yonks ago,he must have been gone minimum 35 years) used to sweep up the coal dust left behind,and mix it with (I think)cement and make bricks which went on the fire,any body any thoughts suggestions viz recipe,technique??