- Newspaper or Phone Book Paper (ripped from the spine)
- 5 Gallon Bucket
- Wooden Dowel
- String (optional)
- Water
When living in the city or suburban areas of the country, firewood can be hard to come by or shockingly expensive. Why not save some green and use what the city has a surplus of for your emergency heating and cooking – newspaper and phonebooks. Suburban Firewood (my nickname for Rolled Newspaper Logs) is a wonderfully inexpensive alternative as a fuel source. These babies will burn for about 15-20 minutes each, you can make them yourself and the best part is they are practically free.
Step One: Collect
Collect all the newspaper and phone books you can get your hands on. Many stores have newspaper recycling bins close by. Just make sure you talk to the manager before you go dumpster diving (no arrests here!) Become the hoarder you never thought you had inside of you! Just stash those newspapers like your life depended on it.
Step Two: Soak
Fill up a bucket with water and soak your newspaper and phonebook pages in the water for at least an hour.
Some people will tell you that you need to soak the newspaper overnight and I’ve found that to be unnecessary. It ain’t getting any wetter.
Step Three: Drain and Roll
Drain the water from the bucket and pull out the newspaper. Get a wooden rod of some sort (in my photos I’m using the handle of my mobile washer) and lay out sheets of newspaper about 6-8 sheets at a time overlaying each other. Roll them up using the dowel while pushing down firmly. Continue adding newspaper and rolling until your rolls are anywhere from 2-6 inches in diameter.
Step Four: Remove Dowel and Tie
Once you’ve reached your desired thickness, remove the dowel from the newly rolled newspaper log. If you would like you can use some sort of string to keep your rolls tight as they dry over the next several days. If not, just dry them with the seam facing down so they don’t unroll on you.
When you use your Suburban Firewood, use it as you would use a wooden log. Because it is so dense the paper won’t light up quickly on its own. You’ll still need to use a fire starter/kindling of some sort to get the fire going. If you don’t use the dowel to create the hole throughout your Suburban Firewood logs, you’ll find the logs ineffective. They will char easier and give off less heat/energy.
So no more excuses for not storing some sort of fuel based on your location. Now you can with your homemade Suburban Firewood.
when the paper log is lit, is it really smoky? or more like charcoal? thanks
I suggest as the fire starter, to dip one end, or both, into some old used wax, maybe mixed with a bit of sawdust if you have it… or chop up some of the paper maybe in your blender. You don’t need much. I also use old egg cartons and fill with a mix of old wax and sawdust or wood chips left scattered around after you’ve cut the winter stash of wood. If you’re where I am and you have some, I practically scour the ground for it. Other options to keep around are old dead bark… stop barking and start prepping!
I would like to know if the smoke from newspapers and ink is dangerous for human life. Thanks.
Nope. I will never tell you to do something if I haven’t been assured of it’s safety. :) If you still have your own reservations, however, I welcome you to do your own research and get comfortable with the idea before putting it into practice.
Ink from newspapers is fine; color ink in newspapers is ok also… Just avoid burning any magazines especially one that has color or uses a gloss or matte finish “clearcoat” – just don’t burn magazines, stick with newspaper.
also, check your local library, our local library has drop off points or recycled newspapers, phonebooks and magazines. Free newspapers for logs and our garden/compst and we get back issues of magazines for various craft projects for the kids.
I end up with handfulls of mush after even a few minutes in the water.Are our newspapers just of lesser thickness or is there a better way?
The newspapers will be “mushy”. I just made sure that they were folded instead of just stuffed in the bucket of water. That way when they were soaked I could just peel them apart in sections.
Great idea, thank you for the clear instructions, we have been saving our newspapers for this but had not figured out a way to start. One thing about phone books; we have been collecting them in case the toilet paper runs out one day :-)
Great use for phone books Jacki! Its funny what you start hoarding when you have TEOTWAWKI in mind haha