Turning Wastepaper Into Fire Logs

Turning Wastepaper Into Fire Logs ENERGY Alternative Fuels A recent email offer from a book publisher described a method of turning wastepaper into fire logs A quick review of available YouTube videos websites and products suggests there are many ideas out there on the subject One of the better videos was found on the Tiny House Listing channel It has had more than 9 8 million views FARM SHOW readers can easily do it too Start with junk mail newspapers and magazines anything but FARM SHOW! You can even add leaves and other dry biomass Place in a container with lots of holes drilled through the walls A 5-gal plastic bucket is a common suggestion Slip the bucket into a second container and fill both with water Let the material soak overnight or longer Make the maceration of the wastepaper easy by attaching a rod by weld or threaded nut to an old circular saw blade and power it with a drill Once the material is broken down into a pulpy mass remove the inner container Use any of several methods to press the material Suggestions include setting a piece of wood slightly undersized to the perforated container on top of the wet mass and pressing down on it Even stomping on it with a foot will do Several YouTube videos suggested using a caulk gun to make briquettes Cut a slice down most of the length of a pvc pipe sized to fit the gun Fill the tube with wet materials slide two ring clamps over it and tighten down lightly Pump the gun and force the moisture out Regardless of how the water is forced out what is left is a cake of material or briquettes that need to be dried to roughly 20 percent moisture or less Cakes can be sliced crumbled or burned whole If plans are to burn the logs in an enclosed space consider any toxins that might be released from glossy printed material Even cardboard may be chemically treated and food packaging often contains PFAS the so-called forever chemicals Search for paper fire logs or bricks on any browser or in the search window on YouTube

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