How to make quick and easy paper and cardboard briquettes for burning on a log fire. How to make a newspaper and cardboard fire briquette for free (paperbriquettepress.com)
This is the faster and easier way to recycle your newspaper and cardboard and create effective, long-burning paper bricks.
Here is how we make compressed paper briquettes, quickly and easily, to use in a wood-burning stove.
Using paper briquettes as free fuel in a log burning stove.
Paper briquettes are effective fire starters. Want quick and intense heat to boil water? Toss a paper brick on your fire. No wood supply burn paper/cardboard logs instead.
Compressed Paper Briquettes
You make briquettes from newspaper and cardboard to use as fuel for wood-burning stoves If you need the process to be quick and easy there is nothing better than our paper briquette maker.
You can burn split logs and fallen branches from trees locally, you can also use recycled newspaper/cardboard compressed into bricks to supplement the wood. Compressed paper logs burn hot, which is useful if we’ve been out or away long enough for the fire to die down; plus, they make extremely effective fire-starters.
Their heat is intense, which means there is no delay in generating warmth, and the flame helps even large logs ignite. If there is no dry wood on hand, paper logs can be encouraged to burn a long time. There is no need to fill the chamber of the fire with paper logs; you can burn them one at a time and still receive warmth.
So, what can you do to make your own paper briquettes?
Our quick and easy way of making paper & cardboard briquettes using our Multimate MK2 Paper Briquette Maker
I believe life is too short to waste hours shredding paper and then wait days for the paper to soak before making something that will only be tossed in the fire and burned. I want the process of making paper bricks to be quicker and easier than that.
There’s a hard way and an easy way to achieve just about every goal in life. For a tedious task like creating hand-made logs for a fire, I prefer the easier option, with our quick and easy to use briquette press.
Yes, I did follow the standard instructions on a standard briquette maker the one with the 2 handles, for creating my very first newspaper briquettes. I tore the paper into little strips and soaked it longer than I believed was necessary, then packed it into the paper brick maker and struggled to push all the water out — gripping the handles and pushing down as hard as I could. This machine does not allow you to remove enough of the water.
A few weeks later I tried out the Multimate MK2 briquette press, shredding the paper as before but this time using the free mixing paddle supplied with the briquette maker. I was able to produce a good pulp ready for compressing in the press.
I am pleased to report my efforts were successful and I discovered a quick and easy way to make my own paper bricks. If you have a brick maker (or ‘log maker’ as the people at Amazon call it), you should invest in what is probably the best and quickest briquette maker on the market.
Here is our Briquette Maker, ready for use.
This is the Multimate MK2 by papierbrikettpresse. If you want one of your own, I’ve added a link here Paperbriquettemaker
Do shred your newspaper for better results.
The single most important piece of advice I can offer anyone who wants to make their own paper briquettes from recycled newspaper, cardboard, woodchips, straw, and sawdust even adding charcoal (you should not use to much or any glossy colour printed paper). Is to shred everything into a pulp (using our free mixing paddle) this helps extract the lignin in the paper and act as the bonding agent. Flour can also be used as a bonding agent.
Step 1: Rip up your newspaper.
You can shred your paper in a shredder if you like, but the finer you have the paper in the first place the easier it will be, and the quicker it will dry out.
Step 2: Add your ripped up newspaper to a large container of water.
Using our free mixing paddle, you can now mix the paper into a pulp ready for compression in the briquette press. Use the paddle in an electric drill to breakup the paper and cardboard.
Paper briquette making technique.
Because of the strong method of making our briquette maker (out on mild steel and welded together). It is quick easy to use, and removing the finished briquette is also quick and easy.
If you do not pack enough pulp into your briquette maker, you will not be able to get the level of compression needed to expel as much water as possible.
You can continue to pack the press basket repeating with pressing until the press is almost full.
You will then be able to expel all the water using the handle provided which will automatically remove all the water, the extracted water can be collected below the press for reuse.
Step 3: How to press your wet paper pulp into a briquette.
With our press design there is little chance of injury when using the press. Simply fill the basket with the pulp, lower and align the pressure arm, and compress into a briquette as simple as that. There is no need to use any extra force as the press design will remove the maximum amount of water in one go. Our press is well designed and little or no chance of damaging or breaking the press.
The press is made from 2mm mild steel and is welded together forming a strong and reliable long lasting briquette press. There are 4 25mm legs secured to the press with a m10 locking bolt which assists in making the press level on uneven ground.
How paper briquettes should look when pressed.
Here you can see briquettes made in our Multimate MK2 press, they will take just a few weeks to dry out and then ready to use. As soon as the briquette is formed it will stay firmly compacted, that is the advantage of making the pulp as finely shredded as possible. If you don’t shred the paper small enough it wont bond together, and then fall apart.
Making Newspaper Bricks in the Winter.
You can certainly make briquettes in the winter months in fact all year round, the only thing in the winter is that the briquettes will take longer to fully dry out. We suggest that you could stack them with lots of air circulation around them somewhere inside, maybe in a boiler room or similar area.
