Making Logs for Burner from Paper!!!

[AngeTheHippy]

Afternoon all,

Just discovered this excellent website. Will keep an eye on it me thinks.

OK then - We have a Multifuel Burner in the sitting room - a Clearview. It's VERY efficient, and earlier this year (August actually - too late) Pete started making paper logs for burning. They are an excellent idea, cost nothing to make (apart from acheing arms!)and burn well for between 50 mins & 1 1/4hrs. FREE FUEL!!!!!

Petes looking for an old fruit/apple press to devise his own method of making them. I mentioned we started too late - this is true, next year (although he makes about 8/day)we'll start making much more than 8/day as they'll have the summer to dry out.

Even this time of year though, as long as under cover, they do dry and take about a week to dry outdoors.

So, ask friends/neighbours for their old newspapers (cardboard, twigs, leaved - even TBags too)soaked a day is all thats needed. Oh and a bit of muscle!! How good is that??

Ange
xx

[buzfuz8149]

Hi Ange,

a warm welcome to WAB.

I always wanted a multi fuel burner - suppose we had one when we had the old cast iron range - unfortunately we are too long in the tooth to bother now, we just don another woolly jumper to avoid turning the central heating on.

Glad to see some one that will go the extra mile.

[AngeTheHippy]

Hi buzfuz8149 , Thanks for your reply! Just joined this forum this morning, had a good look around and found some interesting stuff here.

It's a shame about not having a multi fuel burner, wonderful things. If you've had a range in the past though, you'd know just how wonderful they are.

Pete's out there now actually - temperature plumetting here in rural Lincolnshire, but still he makes the logs!!

Here's a link you might find interesting,

It's Not Easy Being Green :: Index

It's a spin-off from the TV prog earlier in the year, with loads of useful tips on it.

SeeYaLater,

AngeTheHippy
x

[naturelover]

hi and welcome to the site,my mum used rolled up news paper for the fire when times were hard,thats an old trick.

[greenyonder]

Originally Posted by AngeTheHippy

Afternoon all,

Just discovered this excellent website. Will keep an eye on it me thinks.

OK then - We have a Multifuel Burner in the sitting room - a Clearview. It's VERY efficient, and earlier this year (August actually - too late) Pete started making paper logs for burning. They are an excellent idea, cost nothing to make (apart from acheing arms!)and burn well for between 50 mins & 1 1/4hrs. FREE FUEL!!!!!

Petes looking for an old fruit/apple press to devise his own method of making them. I mentioned we started too late - this is true, next year (although he makes about 8/day)we'll start making much more than 8/day as they'll have the summer to dry out.

Even this time of year though, as long as under cover, they do dry and take about a week to dry outdoors.

So, ask friends/neighbours for their old newspapers (cardboard, twigs, leaved - even TBags too)soaked a day is all thats needed. Oh and a bit of muscle!! How good is that??

Ange
xx

hi,yes its great having free fuel!,as i know how efficient log burners are,we have one to,they used to sell presses for making logs but you could only do 1 or so at a time,if you know a good welder/handyman im sure he could come up with something that makes say half a dozen at a time,or more!,good luck!,

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

I work for a company in Lincolnshire what sell stoves and cookers, unfortunatly i'm the one who has to take them about and move them

If I lived in the country i'd probably get one, you can burn alomst any wood on them but have to be careful that it's not wet or getting tarred glass is a problem. Plus it will also pretty quickly get you flue blocked up.

A few companies do processed blocks, almost like compressed sawdust although I've found they don't burn as well as properly dried wood

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, it's one of those great ideas and is okay if you have a large house (or mansion). We toyed with the idea of an AGA when we moved in here but would have needed a kitchen extension and there was no easy way to connect up with the (gas) heating system.
Mind, cooking with an AGA is a skill that is lost to most of us - I've often tried and cooked some ... interesting ... dishes, not necessarily what I intended!

Originally Posted by buzfuz8149

Hi Ange,

a warm welcome to WAB.

I always wanted a multi fuel burner - suppose we had one when we had the old cast iron range - unfortunately we are too long in the tooth to bother now, we just don another woolly jumper to avoid turning the central heating on.

Glad to see some one that will go the extra mile.

[ChrisJB]

Cheers for that Ange. I've often wondered about those paper squeezers. Do you know where I can get one? At the moment, I get through the winter with scrounging (mostly) and buying a bit of wood.

Regards, Chris

[medieval knievel]

B&Q here (dublin) do them; might be worth checking your local one. they're €26 here.
my boss has one, and he warned against me getting one, as i've no room to dry the blocks.

[AngeTheHippy]

Morning Chaps,
Crikey! Didn't expect a response like this . Pete made the 'template' - screwed 4 pieces of plywood together (brick shaped...) and cut 2 pieces, top & bottom of brick. These are slightly smaller than the side of the mold, to allow water to escape.

He packs 'em with the wet newspaper then squeezes with D-clamp thingies. It works well, but he's looking into devising a better system using less muscle.

He's looking for a cider press (to adapt) or might buy one of those bottle jacks for cars and devise something with that.

Ange
xx

[coasty]

paper logs are ok,,, But they do tend to produce much more soot so increase how often you sweep your chimney,,,
Our favourite way of getting wood for our burner is my delightful wife flirts with the council men when they have to cut trees down and they dump it outside our house,, For me to dismember with the chainsaw. That together with what I get from my angling club winter working parties keeps us cosy all winter.

[AngeTheHippy]

PS...

Will have to be careful with this though - or the Government might just slap some kind of HEATING tax on it!!!!!

Ange
xx

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by coasty

paper logs are ok,,, But they do tend to produce much more soot so increase how often you sweep your chimney,,,
Our favourite way of getting wood for our burner is my delightful wife flirts with the council men when they have to cut trees down and they dump it outside our house,, For me to dismember with the chainsaw. That together with what I get from my angling club winter working parties keeps us cosy all winter.

yes most tree surgeons I work with end up with way more wood than they can find homes for and on more than one ocassion I have been told I can have as much as I want provided I go pick it up if I'm not on their way home!

Sadly I no longer have the stove to burn it

[nightshade]

These multifuel/log burners are fine as long as wood is plentiful locally.
We have already had problems with (suprisingly wealthy) people
removing sectons of hedgerow to fuel their burners

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by nightshade

These multifuel/log burners are fine as long as wood is plentiful locally.
We have already had problems with (suprisingly wealthy) people
removing sectons of hedgerow to fuel their burners

good god.... what do people do with their brains?.....

you're right I hadn't thought about this, there's potential for removing too much deadwood from woodlands too isn't there... People thinking that deadwood isn't important to woodland ecology - probably evenb think they are doing the place a favour by tidying up......

[nightshade]

Someone I know (who sells logs) travels many miles to buy logs and mostly buys from small farms but is having to travel further and further afield to find reputable suppliers.Many of his customers admit to "thinning" local woodland and hedges most are well educated and wealthy living in luxurious cottages

[Tursiops2]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

Cheers for that Ange. I've often wondered about those paper squeezers. Do you know where I can get one? At the moment, I get through the winter with scrounging (mostly) and buying a bit of wood.

Regards, Chris

"The Guardian" has one in its Readers Offers section for thirty quid

[Linda frost]

Here in Turkey where i am most of the turkish have burners which they cook and use for heating, although they do use twigs and wood we have a protected forest which is opposite my house, there are many protected forests and new trees planted all the time.Saying that i use gas and electric!!

[Blackbrook Eye]

I note that many advocates of solid fuel burners, have complained about the amount of soot produced by the various fuels being used, if this is causing problems in the flue, what is it doing to the atmosphere outside. One of my neighbors burns logs, the stink is awful, and the smoke from his chimney has to be seen to be believed, and yes, we live in a so called 'smokeless zone' but that bit of legislation seems to have gone out of the window.

[coasty]

If there is smoke it generally means they are not buring correctly dried timber, I dont think my neighbours are even aware we use a woodburner , As they are very efficiant and burn very cleanly.

[andyw]

my neighbours actually comment on how nice it is when I am burning logs as it smells so nice.

[ChrisJB]

I was very surprised when we first had our wood-burner installed, the fact that seasoned wood produces so little, if any smoke.

I love going outside for a lovely sniff up too!

Regards, Chris

[medieval knievel]

a wood burning stove actually produces as little as one fiftieth the amount of soot an open fire would - since the firebox is enclosed, it gets much hotter, and burns all combustible matter more completely; all soot is is unburned matter.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Originally Posted by coasty

If there is smoke it generally means they are not buring correctly dried timber, I dont think my neighbours are even aware we use a woodburner , As they are very efficiant and burn very cleanly.

This is absolutly right, properly dried wood burning well will produce hardly any smoke. Where as wet wood will produce tons of smoke and the tar will eventually wreak your flue, often blocking with the possibility of flue fires

Some of the wood i've seen for sale is shockingly wet, and will need to be dried for at least a year to burn

[andyw]

some people burn sleeper logs and they stink awfull. proper logs don`t smoke much and they smell nice. does anyone know how their emissions compare to other fuels though?