How to:Paper log

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make logs for your fire out of normal reading paper, they are great to use when you are running out of logs and want to prolong your fire.

Here’s what you’ll need:
Big bucket or container


3 or 4 newspapers (make sure they can fit in your container)


Water (you could use rainwater if you collect it)


Hammer (preferably a mallet)


Long piece of dowel or wood (longer than the width of your paper like a broomstick)


First you need to fit your paper into your container as best as you can.

Then you’ll need to fill it with water until all the paper is covered.

At this point you have to play the waiting game, as it is now it will take about two days for the papers to soften enough, but if you add some washing-up liquid it should be done in one. After this time has taken place put your hand in and squeeze one of the papers, if it feels soft it will be fine to use now, if it still feels similar to how it was at the start, leave it a bit longer.

Now go outside with your container and take a paper out, hold it up to let any excess water drain off then lay it out flat on the ground.
Next take your hammer and from the top start bashing across the paper, not too hard as to break it into pieces but the aim is to merge all the pages together. Once you’ve done one side carefully lift the paper and turn it over, then repeat the bashing.

Now you’ll need to take your piece of wood and place it at the bottom of your paper, start to roll it up and as you go compress and squeeze the paper as much as you can to make a log shape.

Once you’re at the end slide the log down to one end of your wood and shape it some more tidying up the ends.



Now if it’s hot you can put your logs in the sun to dry and this should only take a day or two, if your weather isn’t usually hot you can put them on a rack of some sort or anywhere that air can reach them. If its dry outside somewhere windy would be good too, drying without a lot of heat will make them take up to a few weeks to dry so be prepared for this wait. I only used one thin paper so it would dry faster but you can have as many layers as you like to make a big thick log.



Heres what they can look like with multiple layers, courtesy of Bauble from instructables.com


Well done! You’ve now made your own paper logs and if you use them with your normal firewood it will last a lot longer. You could even put sticks inside the hole in the logs once they are dry to have something extra to heat up your fire too.

WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

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