own made fuel

[paul123456]

Hello there ,

anybody got experience with making their own papier mache brickets ?

Chopped up paper which is soaked ,pressed into a block then dried .
I saw one of these presses on the net for around 20€ ,and I have a shredder which I use in the woods
to get rid of the small branches and leaves .There was a newspaper on the ground , I put it in the shredder and
it made chipwood like bits of paper .

Maybe that the shredder would speed up the work of otherwise doing it by hand .
I remember back in the 70's of the last century these presses were also sold ,but have not seem them for a while
until this week .

So if there is anybody out there who has made these brickets ,let me know your experience .

regards

Paul

[jondy]

I got a wood burner recently and have also looked around at own made fuels. (I noticed that earlier posts here mention paper, cardboard and hedge cuttings for example ) I keep all cardboard tubes from loo rolls and paper towels etc. I stuff them with paper mache and wood chips from chainsaw useage etc. Egg boxes can also be stuffed full of wood chips,twigs and other small wood bits. If it burns stuff it into a burnable container. A handful of twigs can also be wrapped tightly with paper mache to bind them together to form a log like thing. No need to wrap all of the length.

Perhaps waste vegetable oil can be added to the mix if you have it.
I have not burnt any of these own made fuels yet. The paper briquette maker may not be that good compared to a mix of wood and paper mache.

[EmpressG]

We burn wood all winter. I fill the paper toilet tubes with dryer lint or shredded paper and then melt some old candles or crayons and spoon it over the tops. We use these to get a wood fire started and they work very well. But paper makes LOTS of ash, if you use mainly paper. I have one of those newspaper log rollers and we have had a hard time getting them to catch... also of course it leaves lots of ash, maybe ten times as much as wood. If the fuel is for house heating, paper is going to be lots of work for the heat you get. If it is for cooking, a rocket stove would be the most frugal fuel option for using up bits of paper and twigs. But if you have the stove, and just want to burn up the bits, just remember you will have to do much more filling and cleaning.

[dave45]

I bought a newspaper briquette maker off ebay and have tried the end-products in the woodburner.

1) the device is flimsy, although made of steel it bends when you stand on it.
2) you stand on it to squeeze more water out of it, otherwise it takes months to dry and isn't very solid
3) you need to dry them for months anyway
4) when dry them seem very lightweight and flimsy
5) they burn OK but leave a lot of fine ash ( no big deal)... burn time guessed comparable to a similar *weight* of wood (see 4)
6) a fair amount of effort is required for a small benefit... is it worth the effort or the money? If you don't end up making many, you'd be better of spending your money on logs ! If you want to deal with newspaper (and other paper) waste directly onsite, then it works. its just a shame that the build quality is so cheapskaty - built for profit not longevity or quality IMHO... like most things these days