# Rolling my Own - newspaper logs that is: help



## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

Just purchased the newspaper log roller from Lehman's and gave it a try. Our family has a paper route so it seemed a good idea....

When we tried to burn our first log the outside layer edge caught but quickly went out and the log just smoldered. I would light it over and over, but the only way for it to burn was for me to sit there and unwrap it as it burned. Very unsatisfactory. So I did a Google search and a search here - on newspaper logs and found all bad news! Seems they won't 'burn' on their own. They need a real-log to burn them, and then the extra ashes made from the paper can interferer with the wood coles causing the fire not to maintain it's self as well as it would without the added newspaper log - Oy!

We burn in a Fireplace for a few hours at night to help heat the main room of the house while we eat etc. I do not run a fire overnight so I don't need a slow burn. 

I haven't found anyone who has 'Mastered' the burning of these logs, taming the problems and making them worth one's time -

So I'm making a plea.... for someone with a 'good-experience' at newspaper log burning to share your tips! Or I just wasted $47, and now days that is very painful for a mother of two.

Thank you,


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## hmsteader71 (Mar 16, 2006)

What I have heard is that you need to soak the newspaper in water and then let it dry out. Then it is supposed to burn real well.


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## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

Thanks for the reply 

That was my thought at first too, but I noticed in my reading that no promise of better burning was made with regards to soaking. I read that soaking would remove some of the clay in the paper which makes it stick together and form a more solid log, and less clay helped with the smothering ash problem. But a more solid log would only increase the trouble I'm having with them not burning. I just had some wood delivered by a friend so I'll try one tonight with some already burning oak and see if what the pros and cons are.

I also read a Frugal-Forum where several said soaking made no difference on the burning. Lots of stuff out there on How-To-Do-It, but I've yet to find anyone who does it *a lot* (making and burning newspaper logs) and has some proven methods for making it work. 

So far seems people try it for a while then just give up, because of all the reasons I've mentioned here. It's one of those 'sounds good until you try it' things I guess. 

I hope this thread would bring the newspaper-log burners out in numbers to speak about their personal day-to-day experience of using these buggars :cowboy: Have you been burning these logs?

Jami


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## Clifton73 (Jun 18, 2007)

I use them to start fires. Soak em in kerosene one match one fire every time.


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## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

Hum... Kerosene. Can you please give me more information.

Such as:
1. how long do you 'soak' em?
2. how do you dry them? And how long?
3. how do you store them, or do you?
4. And how much Kerosene do they take - I mean at some point this could get expensive, the Kerosene I see for lamps is over $7 a pint (I think). Maybe your buying it in large amounts at an industrial supply place or something.

Interesting idea, fire-starters, thanks.


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## WayneR (Mar 26, 2007)

Used motor oil instead of kerosene :flame: Use regular wood also in combination, to reduce emissions :angel:

TMEN or Countryside had an article about reducing the paper to a pulp with water. The pulp was then formed into "logs" using large cans (ends removed) or pieces of pipe, allowed to set, then removed to dry. A summertime project.


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## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

Well, the Kerosene poured into the middle of the roll worked.
The log burned...from the middle, it will be expensive, but an option.

Next, I'll try lots of kindling to keep the log and wood burning - this may be a cheaper option.

I don't have any motor oil (it's a girl thing) and I would be concerned about smell and dangerous fumes (could just be another girl thing  and then there's the mess... another GT I know.

People who sell newspaper log rollers should have to put a warning label on the adds that they won't burn on their own :nono: 

Thanks for all the help!


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## comfortablynumb (Nov 18, 2003)

you mix a solution of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and water.
I do not remmeber the measure.

once they dry out they are impregnated with saltpeter and thats an oxidizer, and they burn well like a piece of wood.

I used to do this and ts the only way to make a newspaper log burn like a log.

saltpeter is cheap. the solution is pretty weak but it does the job.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Kerosene is about $3 a gallon at most gas stations. Sometimes it is called K-1 at the stations.
Get out your phone book and call around to see who carries it.
Clove


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## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

WONDERFUL !!!! Thank you very much for the info....

I can't wait to 'shop' for saltpeter and K-1 at gas stations!

Now, If only I could convince my daughter that log rolling is fun - LOL!


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

OH LORD! I am ROFLMBO now! CN, you are a sick, sick person...*I AM LOVING IT!* Can I still come by for some of that canned BBQ???

Here's MY suggestion: Return the worthless thing, and use your refund as partial payment on a load of *WOOD!*


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## CurrentWave (Apr 2, 2005)

hum... saltpeter, so I can burn paper logs and make my own weapons or fireworks - :stirpot: :stirpot: :stirpot: 

From: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia 

[or nitre also spelled saltpeter or niter] Transparent, colourless, or white powder or crystals of potassium nitrate (KNO3), found native in deposits. It is a strong oxidizing agent ( oxidation-reduction), used in fireworks, explosives, matches, fertilizers, glassmaking, steel tempering, and food curing; as a reagent; and as an oxidizer in solid rocket propellants. The term is also used for sodium nitrate (Chile saltpetre) and calcium nitrate (lime saltpetre), both of which are used in the nitric acid industry and as fertilizers, and for ammonium nitrate (Norway saltpetre), a high explosive and fertilizer.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

I used to roll newspaper logs, and I found that if I tied them with a piece of wire they wouldn't unroll as they burned and would burn better.

I can't remember if I burned them along with wood, but I assume I did.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

BUMP...OK, I know it's been 2 yrs since this thread was started (and ended) but DH is thinking about one of these. Anyone else with any more advice?? I think I already have him convinced that $40 for a new one is crazy and that auction and garage sale season is just around the corner. My purpose for the paper logs would be to get rid of the newspapers (without a trip to the recycling center) and to augment our wood, not replace it.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

We've never had any luck with the rolled newspaper logs burning very well, even with kindling and wood shoved up against it. The wood burns great, but not the newspaper logs. 

I use the old newspapers as a firestarter but I crumple up several sheets and give those a twist and stick at the base of my fire-to-be. After I stack what kindling and wood I need on top of that, I light the paper in several places. I never have any problems laying and starting a good fire.


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## Cash (Apr 24, 2007)

TMEN had an article about this back in the mid-late 1970s, and the process then was to roll a small log around a broomstick (to create an air channel), tie it with string, and soak that small log in used motor oil for a few days. Then roll more newspaper around the oil-soaked log to create a final log about four or five inches in diameter and tie the whole thing with wire. 

I actually tried this -- once. (It was the 1970s energy crisis, we were young, we were stupid, we were cold.) We burned them with wood in both a woodstove and a fireplace. The fires stank from the motor oil, the smoke coated everything in this oily black soot that seemed tailormade for future chimney fires, and we didn't notice any appreciable additional heat. We went back to wood and used the remaining newspaper logs for our New Year's Eve bonfire. We've never been tempted to return to the concept.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

I found one and brought it home, all excited to save money and effort. Not. Remarkably difficult to roll up bunches of newspaper, even more difficult to get the rod thingie out of the middle after you roll the log. Then the newspaper logs wouldn't burn worth a darn. Afterwards, I had wires in the ashes. Kept it for a while, returned it to the swap-shop where I found it.


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

CN was right. You roll the logs and soak the logs in the saltpeter for a day [if I remember right] then stand on a drain to dry. Best to drain over a bucket or such to catch the drip. I had a friend back in the 70's that burned them all the time in her fireplace. You used to be able to get the saltpeter at drug stores. They call it potassium nitrate. Good luck Sam


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## fixer1958 (Dec 12, 2005)

My dad did that in the late 70's. Didn't even have a fireplace but he said it was "in the works". They need to be soaked in water and layed out for a couple of months to dry out. Real PITB. He was from the depression era and threw Nothing away.
I took the whole lot to the recycler, A pickup full to the top of the cab stacked, plus the cab filled with as much as I could cram in there and still drive and got about $15 for all of it. I think it was over 2000#.
I came back and used the same pickup and ran over his "log" roller.
I just told him I didn't see it laying in the driveway. He didn't ask why it was in the drive.


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## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

Lehman's (which seems to be a homesteading downfall on many products) has a newspaper brick maker now. If mixed with sawdust and compressed, do you think those would burn better than just a roll of newspaper? 

I'm looking for a way to recycle, not cut down our limited wood supply and basically get free suppliment to our heating during our short winters.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Can't think of any reason a newspaper brick would burn better than a newspaper log.


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## JuliaAnn (Dec 7, 2004)

I have one of the log rollers from Lehmans!! It looks real purty sitting beside the wood stove with the cast iron humidifier pot and my little cast iron pig with wings. But that's all it's good for.


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## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

foxtrapper said:


> Can't think of any reason a newspaper brick would burn better than a newspaper log.


I can see why it MIGHT. When a newspaper log burns it would form a layer of ash along its outside which would prevent the O2 from reaching the unburned paper on the inside. To keep it burning you'd have to constantly be knocking that O2 killing ash layer. If you have ever tried to burn a stack of papers you can see this very well.

But if you changed the paper from a series of thin layers into one block it should burn w/o forming that layer of ash. 

I have often thought using crumpled newspaper in a 'Russian' or masonry fireplace/furnace would work very well.


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## AR Transplant (Mar 20, 2004)

I think we should have a challenge thing going. Surely someone can come up with a workable newspaper burner thingy. Then you can go on qvc and make a million dollars or so.

I wonder if you could layer the sheets of newspaper with sawdust or ceder shavings or shaved candles or something also that needs to be recycled.

But honestly, the reason this problem has not been solved is because we don't have to. It is way too easy to get wood and burn that.

but hey I'm always up for a challenge and summer time would be the perfect time to give this baby a go. any takers?


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## UUmom2many (Apr 21, 2009)

I'd be up for it but I'd have to order the brick thing. I have neighbors that have a wood stove, I don't have one yet, so I could probably talk them into using some but our winter doesn't start till about January down here.


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## CountryWannabe (May 31, 2004)

When I was a child we used to make fire-starters out of newspaper. We didn't have any fancy gadgets - we took 2-3 sheets (I think - it was a long time ago) then rolled them up from corner to corner, then tied the resulting rod in a plain knot. Once you are used to it, each one only takes seconds to make. I am not sure that you could use these to give heat, per se, but as starters they worked well.

Mary


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## FoghornLeghorn (Nov 13, 2008)

Forget about burning the newspaper logs, plant them instead. When you plant your watermelons bury the newspaper logs under the plants (quite a ways below) and they'll retain an even moisture level for the plants so you don't have to water as often.


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