Recycled Paper Logs
Did you hear? You can help heat your home for free? Check out how to make these recycled paper logs. You can turn your scrap paper and junk mail into a useful source for your home.
I made a YouTube tutorial on how to make them at home also. You can view it towards the end of this post.
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So, how do you make recycled paper logs?
It’s quite simple process.
So, what I did was I saved all my junk mail and scrap paper from around the house and some of the kids papers from school. (You could add some cardboard too but I didn’t add any to this batch)
I recommended doing this on a sunny dry day so you can leave the paper logs out in the sun to dry out. You can bring them in but it might take longer. It is also a messy project so making them in the back yard was a good place.
Getting started
To make your very own recycled paper logs you will need:
Paper / junk mail
4 Chamber log maker ( this is the one I used)
There also is a single chamber log maker here if you are interested in a smaller set up.
Gather all the supplies and helpers outside. I had my daughter help me.
This is the paper log maker that I used.
This is the cordless drill that I prefer and the paint mixer I attached to it to blend the paper and water into a pulp.
You also need to get a 5 gallon bucket to mix the paper and water together in .
Making the paper logs
Gather all the paper next to the bucket. Start to rip it up into smaller pieces. This will help make mixing go faster.
At this stage I had my daughter help me. It’s fun for the kids to get involved and help out. She had fun getting to help rip the paper, mix it and get messy!
Add water from the hose as you go. You want to soak the paper for a little while before mixing it. Soaking it in the water will help break it down and blend into a pulp.
Fill the bucket with paper and water about 3/4 the way full. You want to leave some room for when you use the mixer.
Mixing
Attach the paint mixer to the cordless drill and start to mix the paper and water mixture.
You want to keep mixing it until you get a pulp consistency. That way it will all stick together well in the log maker.
Prepare the log maker
Take the top piece out. You will use this after you fill up the chambers to press the water out.
This is the bottom piece that has holes in it to let the water drain out while your pressing it.
Take the pulp mixture and start to fill up the chambers in the log maker.
Here is a look inside while I was filing it up.
I decided to use a strainer to transfer the mixture into the log maker. This way I could separate the paper pulp from the water better. If you can, you want to save the water that is left over for your next batch of paper logs. The starch, glue and ink from the paper added to the water will help the paper logs stay together better in future batches.
The paper log maker is almost full. I had to make a second bucket full of the paper pulp to fill up the four chambers.
Put the top piece back onto the top of the pulp.
Pressing the paper logs
Cross the handles on the paper log maker and press really hard to squeeze as much water out as you can.
When you get done squeezing and dumping the water off. Take the top piece back off.
Pull out the bottom sleeve and reveal your paper log. At this time you can check and see if its still to wet and decide if you want to try and squeeze more water out.
Finishing
After you take all the paper logs out of the log maker I left them in my driveway to dry out in the sun. It took these paper logs about 2 to 3 days to be completely dried out in the sun. I would go out and flip them on their sides to make sure that they got even sun exposure.
Now, you can take them to add to your fire place or wood stove to help heat up the house for free!
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Thank you for stopping by Life on Leetown!
This is so neat! I have never seen anything like it before.
Thank you.
You have the coolest DIY projects. This is such a neat idea! I love learning new ways to repurpose waste. Great post!
Thank you so much! I’m happy you like them. 🙂
This is such an awesome way to use up paper recycling! Hope I can try it out some time which should be a breeze with your super detailed tutorial! Thank you!
Awesome! Have fun making them. 🙂
Never heard of this either! Fascinating! Great tutorial!