Homemade firewood: rolling logs from old newspaper

Loose newspaper flares up and is gone in seconds. Soaked, rolled tight and dried, the same paper becomes a dense log that burns slowly in a stove or fireplace. For a household that still gets a paper, or neighbors who do, it is a way to stretch a woodpile through a long outage.

How to make logs from newspaper

You will need a stack of newspaper, a bucket, tub or sink, and a wooden dowel or broom handle about an inch thick.

Step 1: Soak the newspaper

Pull the paper apart into its separate sections and submerge them in water. Leave them for at least an hour, until every sheet is soaked through.

Use only plain black-and-white newsprint. Set aside glossy inserts, magazines and heavily colored advertising pages; the coatings and colored inks give off harmful fumes when burned and can damage a stove.

Step 2: Drain and lay out the paper

Lift the paper out and let it drain fully. On a flat surface, lay it out in groups of one to three sheets, each group overlapping the last like a row of toppled dominoes, so the roll picks up a fresh layer as it goes.

Step 3: Roll it around the dowel

Start at one end and roll the wet paper around the dowel, squeezing hard as you go so the layers press together and bond. Water will run out; that is expected.

Step 4: Keep rolling to the thickness you want

Continue until the log is as thick as a stove log you would normally split, typically 3 to 4 inches across. Then slide the dowel out. The hole down the middle helps the log dry and later helps it burn.

Step 5: Dry it completely

Stand the logs somewhere warm and airy for several days to a couple of weeks: a sunny spot outdoors, near a heating vent, or on a rack at a safe distance from the stove. Do not dry them on top of a hot stove or against the stovepipe; that is how paper catches fire indoors. A log is ready when it is light for its size and dry right through to the center. A damp log smolders, smokes and leaves creosote in the chimney.

Lighting your newspaper firewood

A well-made paper log is dense, and a lighter held to it will do very little. Treat it as a hardwood log. Start the fire with kindling and a little crumpled newspaper, build a bed of coals, and lay the paper logs on in pairs or alongside wood so they keep each other burning.

Paper logs produce noticeably more ash than wood, so plan to empty the firebox more often. Put ashes in a metal can with a tight lid, outdoors and away from the house, since they can hold live embers for days.

Check your stove’s manual before relying on them. Some manufacturers say to burn only seasoned wood, and burning anything else can void a warranty. The EPA’s wood-burning guidance lists newspaper as an acceptable fire starter and warns against colored inks, cardboard and trash. Burned dry, in modest amounts, rolled newsprint gives off a surprising amount of heat for something that would otherwise go in the recycling bin.