Newspaper bundles - trick to burning?

[j7art2]

I had a virtually unlimited supply of newspapers for a short period of time, and took home a couple truckloads. I made some pressed newspaper briquettes (soaked the shredded paper for days, pressed, let dry and burned) and those worked wonderful as shoulder wood. Unfortunately my press broke, and so I've been rolling the newspapers up in tight stacks of about 8, tying them with jute twine, and burning them, and they burn like CRAP.

Now I'm stuck with literally HALF A FACECORD of newspaper bundles that onion out and don't burn, and actually cause my fires to go out because they cause so much coaling, ash, etc.

Honestly, I just want to get rid of them now as they are taking up space. My initial thought was 'heck yeah i'll take them all, free heat!' but now I'm thinking I may be stuck with all of them.

Is there a trick to burning this stuff? I just want to be rid of it.

 

[DougA]

If it were me, I'd put them all in the recycle bin (if you have one). If you really want to burn them, do a bit at a time and it will help but it will still leave a huge mess and very little heat. Sorry.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Sounds like you have to treat them like a plain old newspaper and recycle them. Or a mighty big bonfire in the backyard.

 

[chazcarr]

I had a bunch of newspapers at one time and did the pin rolling thing and they worked pretty well.

Basically you get a rod less than an inch in diameter.
Lay out the newspaper and spray with water so they get a little damp.
Then tightly roll them around the rod as thick as you want.
Slide the roll off the rod and let them dry a few days.

(I placed mine on a drying rack in the same room as the stove, they dried really quick).

These were amazing start up logs for me. Burned quick and hot. I wouldn't use them on their own though.
I made mine about 4 inches thick.

It used up that newspaper I had in about 10 logs. Newspaper doesn't go very far.

 

[j7art2]

Ah, I see. I didn't wet mine or anything, just rolled them up into 6" logs, scrunched as tight as I could get them. I may have to try that way. They catch quick and give off an amazing initial flame, but once they start to break out, it literally looks like a giant black onion sitting in there, with nothing but flakes of unburnt carbon everywhere. It seems to just stifle everything.

There's recycling around here, but you need a special bin ($70) or to take them there. Their hours don't jive with my schedule. I've got nothing to lose right now. Lesson learned. lol

 

[mopar440_6]

I think I would rebuild or repair the press.

 

[j7art2]

I think I would rebuild or repair the press.

It was poorly made, so I sent it back and asked for a refund. The briquettes are very time consuming to make, as there is no way for me to shred or pulp massive amounts of newspaper at once. Making the actual press and pressing them is actually the easy part, shredding the paper and making it fine enough to be like pulp is the difficult part. Even with a huge 50 gallon tub using a cordless drill on a threaded rod with circular saw blade on it shredding it to bits, it still doesn't work well.

 

[j7art2]

If I had a way to pulp massive amounts of newspaper easily, forming them into briquettes would only take a few hours.

 

[JustWood]

I saw a video somewhere (likely youtube) of a paper press utilizing a wood splitter.

 

[TheRambler]

They make great sheet mulch for garden beds, around trees etc. i do it sunday edition thick and top it with straw and compost. Makes a great weed block under a "regular" mulch too.