Paper briquettes for Log Burners/open fires?

shaven-monkey

A timber yard will give you the sawdust for free, they consider it a waste product and likely have to pay for its disposal much like restaurants have to pay to get rid of their used cooking oil.

Amazing the calorific value of stuff people throw away.

tarranty

This one is the same but £5.00 cheaper!

The Original Logmaker

Lakeuk

We got one for Xmas, the first attempt isn't looking too great but looking on youtube it looks likes we've not done it right and abit more effort is needed, probable be 4mths before we can see any results

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PVGUui9XdgI

beautiful_ravens

Im in two minds about these paper log makers - I got one like the one linked to above on ebay, and I soak the paper overnight, stuff it all in the brickmaker sqeezing it about 3 times til I have a full brick, then I put them somewhere in the woodshed to 'dry' haha...I found they fell apart easily, so started to line the brickmaking compartment with a couple of dry newspaper sheets first, so the end result is a neater, held-together brick. This means I can stuff anything else combustible in them aswell (tea bags, leaves etc).
Fine.

They dont dry in winter basically, so I bought a few bricks in each day to dry a little by the fire, and they were still quite damp, which is good for putting on the woodburner last thing at night to keep it in, but not so great for a 'roaring', flaming fire. OK.

Then I got to thinking that you're not supposed to burn green/unseasoned wood because it clags up the chimney - was it the same for wet paper bricks? Dont know, but the outcome is - its too cold outside for me to bear making any more right now, but once spring comes I will be out there starting next years supply, Im still quite hopeful they are good for burning and recycling (and saving all the paper for this has cut my rubbish down from 3 to 1 bin bags a week), but I would prefer that they were dry when I burn them.

uktyler

Which is more eco friendly, putting them into the recycling box and having them taken away, or turning them into logs for the fire?

We live out in the sticks, so the recycling plant is probably some distance away, so there is an energy consideration there, whereas we could turn the paper into logs to heat the house.

Which one is better for the environment?

rhiwfield

Most of the paper we use goes to light the woodburner, including confidential papers that we used to shred. This saves using firelighters and shredder

If we're not burning the paper we will user shredded papers in compost heaps.

The only paper we send to recycling is the glossy heavily inked stuff.

Mojisola

Taking into account that there's a glut of recycled paper at the moment, I would be burning it.

GPedro

Surely reusing or recycling paper yourself is far kinder to the environment than letting someone come and take it away. Imagine all the fuel/energy used by transport etc.

Keep recycling in the home, where possible.

arkonite_babe

We have a thread similar to this already, I'll add your query to it so all the replies are together. Posts are listed in date order so you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up

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busydizzy

Instead of using Zip firelighters I was thinking of making my own using melted wax and tiny 'woodscraps'/sawdust. Anyone tried this?