How to Make Fireplace Logs Out of Scrap Paper
You can make scrap paper into logs, enabling them to burn longer than wadded paper. Paper logs do not ignite easily, due to the high flash point of paper, so the logs need additional treatment before and after rolling to ensure that they will light and continue to burn without liquid fuels. These logs help keep scrap paper out of local landfills. You can add the resulting ash to your compost pile. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Non-slick scrap paper
- Newspapers
- Soy wax taper candles
- Steel wire
- Pliers
- Wire cutters
- Paraffin or soy wax blocks
- Double boiler
- Sawdust
Instructions
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Use wire cutters to make lengths of steel wire. Twenty-gauge wire is easy to bend and cut, but you can use heavier wire if it is what you have on hand.
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Unfold a newspaper section to make a rectangle. Place several layers of scrap paper on top, keeping the scraps inside the outer edges of the newspaper.
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Lay an unlit soy wax taper candle at one of the short ends of the newspaper and scrap paper pile, near the corner. Roll from the candle end until you have a tight log shape.
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Twist a length of steel wire around each end of your paper log to keep it from unrolling.
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Melt paraffin or soy wax in a double boiler. Pour a layer of paraffin or soy wax onto a cookie sheet. Roll the scrap paper log in it. Lay logs on a second cookie sheet to cool. To use the logs, light the taper so that the inside of the paper log burns. The wax coating keeps the log burning long enough so that the entire log burns.
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Tips & Warnings
Paraffin is unnecessarily feared as a source of carcinogens even though its historical composition has changed. According to chemist Brett Besser of the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA, "Pure paraffin wax is widely regarded as non toxic, but may possess some carcinogenic properties. (Ref 5.3) These properties are largely believed to be due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, but most processed waxes in use in America today do not possess any measurable levels of polycyclics. (Ref 5.1)." Paper ignites at approximately 450 degrees Fahrenheit, but this depends on the fibers used in the paper-making process, according to the Handbook of Physical Testing of Paper. Scrap paper produces up to 8000 British thermal units per pound when burned.
Do not store these paper logs near your fireplace or any heat source. Paraffin ignites at 399 degrees Fahrenheit if it has no additives.
