How I heat my house for free. 

Manufactured fire logs, such as those made by Duraflame and Java Logs, are made of compressed sawdust, vegetable and plant wax, and other recycled ingredients, such as ground nutshells or coffee grounds. These ingredients are mixed together and shaped into log like shapes. And these things will burn for hours, So Pete your on to something very good here. Might want to throw in more safe flammable stuff too. Thanks for the video.

Thank-you for this video. I did purchase this and have been making these. I like using the hand drill mixer to mulsh it up more though. I'm boggled by some of the comments people leave you when you are doing nothing more then trying to educate. I am grateful, and thank you for your time. Keep on posting. Thanks

I think it's an interesting way to get rid of old newspapers and the junk mail that comes to the house. I usually burn it in a burn barrel anyways so making small logs for use in the woodstove is a bonus. A good video.

It's a little strange that so many people in the comments don't get it, the paper has to be disposed of anyway, the saw dust is free, the amount of water is negligible... Make a few bricks every month from March to November = big stack of kindling. And I like the brick maker. What the Hell is the problem??? :>0

You gotta laugh at the negativity of lazy, stoopid, and hateful people out there. Ask yourself, is this guy, who's SHARING his eco-friendly (albiet labor intensive ) idea making the world a better, - or a worse place? Anyone could take this idea and run with it. I am a high school janitor who throws out countless huge bags of shredded paper, as well as 50 gal steel drums is sawdust from the wood shop. It all goes to the landfill. If any member of the public were to come up to me and ask for it, I would give it to them. Well done Pete Prepper!

I like this idea because you not only save money, but you also recycle a useful product that would otherwise end up as landfill. There are many Amish folk livin' here in my neck o' the woods, West Central Michigan. There is an Amish sawmill where for a few bucks you can load up a pickup box of slab wood. They'd probably GIVE the sawdust away, just for the haulin' away of it.

The best method I've found is get free firewood from Craigslist and use leaves and sticks raked from the yard (and the bark that falls off the wood) as kindling. It's not totally free as you have to maintain and fuel your chainsaw and also gas for the truck but it's close. It's a lot of work but still much less work than the method described above.

This is a good idea for getting the 'thought juices' going. Whether it would work in anyone's area or not doesn't matter. The conceptual process of reusing something that is normally wasted makes this worth watching.

Could use a dipper or measuring cup to fill the molds. Less messy. Also, you maybe could strain the whole thing or parts in a colander first.

Pretty cool. This reminds me of living at home in Kansas. When I lived at home, we only used wood to heat. We spent the summer cutting up storm damaged trees around town, and always managed to get 3-4 cords for the winter that way. We would also get plenty of downed trees in the winter too, but kept them in bigger chunks in the garden until the weather was good enough to cut and split them. In the spring, we would till in all the sawdust, bark, and junk mail that accumulated, along with what was left of the previous year's vegetation.

Great video Pete, I have a single presser which I have used for the past couple of years. Your multi log maker is much more productive! I use sheets of newspaper which I screw into a ball before soaking. (They get saturated very quickly and are useable within a couple of minutes). I'm going to try your shredded paper method to see if maybe those logs will burn a little longer. Thanks again for a great video!

I have not used saw dust in making my paper bricks, but I make several during the warm months and store them for use in the winter. In the hot Texas sun, it only takes a day or two to get rid of the water inside the bricks. Unless your expecting rain, them simply lay them out onto the back patio and let the sun do the work of drying them for use. I guess it depends upon your part of the country as to how useful they are for total heating, but as a fire starter they are indeed useful and cheaper than those manufactured logs. You may be surprised as to how much paper you can go through in your weekly life if you read newspapers or if you get a lot of junk mail to use. I do not use the slicks in my slurry and I stopped shredding my paper a while back, as when it has soaked a day or two, it becomes an easy mash or slurry to work by hand. I like this video and I have a Northern Tool very close to my home here, so I may pick up the unit like you have. It is interesting that you can purchase two of the 4 brick paper brick units at NT much cheaper than you can buy their 8 brick units there. I hate to see all the negative comments on videos as this, as it is more often someone who has not worked with the process, someone who is trying to convince others that they know more than anyone or simply some jerkoff who loves to show off his 3rd grade education to the world. This process works and is not all that consuming of one's time. You can have someone offer wood pallets or even let you cut down a forest on their property, but each scenario takes effort and often has a cost associated with it. Using junk mail and newspaper at home really amounts to little cost and the sweat equity of making these is actually very minimal. There are tons of ways to create creosote and this will not be any more dangerous of doing so than burning traditional wood in your stove. A chimney should always be checked annually for build up of creosote, anyway. Thanks for sharing the info and nicely done. I may check out Northern Tools, as I needed an excuse to head over there anyway.

years ago, i took a tree down and put up on a recycle website that i had this wood if anyone wanted it. i got 100 phone calls asking me to bring it over. i had no takers and eventually loaded it on a trailer and took it to a place that pulverized it for mulch used by the city. free means free, but sometimes you have to go and get the free stuff, or else off compensation for the givers time at about 46 an hour. there is a lot of work to loading and unloading wood. this is a great video, and was well done

Any recycled materials are a good idea, love it!

Nice, Pete. We are overwhelmed with junk mail. I compost some, but this is a nice way to get rid of more. Thanks for taking the time to share.

I rented an old farmhouse for a couple of years That had an old wall heater and an old fashioned wood burning stove. The wall heater didn't work very well so we started using the wood stove. Since I was in the city, I had no source for any "free wood" and buying wood and/or logs got pretty expensive. I would have loved to know how to do this. We always had a bunch if junk mail to pick through, my husband worked for a construction co. and had access to a ton of sawdust, and I worked in an office where we had to shred documents all the time, and we had several newspapers delivered daily. All of which we paid someone to haul away and dispose of. I could have made a ton of these bricks FOR FREE. (Free as in not spending any more money than you already do.) If I made these logs weekly all spring, summer and fall, and used them during the winter, I could have possibly eliminated most or all my heating costs. As far a dry storage, I had a mud room that got very little use and had a lot of storage area for these bricks once dry. How can this be anything but a win/win?

Although I couldn't see myself relying solely on these for heat, I think this is a fantastic way to dispose of old newspapers and other papers that would normally just be tossed out anyway. Waste not, want not. Thanks for posting!

"It doesn't have to be in any particular direction" Good thing he explained that! I was sure you would have to keep your paper/wood slop facing north!! Lol Pretty cool way to heat your house - thanks for the vid.

My dad use to have paper roller little water paper, it took a lot of time for 15 minute burn. Your way is much simpler thanks for posting.

Great idea. Electricity bills are pretty high in winter. This helped.

This is a great idea! Ignore the haters, you did a great job👍

I just happened upon your video. Nice! In the comments, the first one I read said "why are people hating?". Had no idea what anyone could say bad! So, I scrolled. OMG! Hard to believe, people can be so ignorant & mean-spirited. All I wanted to say is this idea has been around a while, helps the environment & your pocket. Also, my being older than you, o'course I knew about it. It also gets you outside, busy, in the sunshine (yay!). What on Earth could be better??? Anywho, thanX for the info reminder to some of us & the time you spent helping those who didn't know. Good ideas bear repeating!!

Nice supplemental heating. My kids and I made these. Thanks for sharing

I have been using this product for about two years now. I use all the scrap news paper and fin mulched cuttings and blend them in a cement mixer. No buckets stooping bending no hand drill etc. Just put a load into the mixer blend it up until if is fine enough to be easily handled. I use a long handled ladle to remove the mix from that cement mixer and fill several of the 4 brick units at a time. I let the great grand kids do the squishing, they think it is so much fun, and then go back for a second round of mix to top off the forms. Then re-squish them. This is a summer "play time" sport the great grand children love to do. What kid doesn't like playing with cement mixers, mush and making bricks?? They make excellent small bricks for patio steel fireplaces for just fun sitting around time and such. I saw many ask what the burn time is. That is fully dependent upon what kind of paper and how compressed each log is. Loose logs are about 20 minutes as strictly starter logs. Fine ground very compact, last about an hour. Another person made the comment that most of the users of this product have a financial interest in the sales of this product. That isn't true. The are sold exclusively through Northern Tool & Equipment or their sister company Kotulas. We usually make 2000 bricks during the summer from saved up newspapers and collecting them from around town. We also use regular fire wood but now fire wood is not the primary source of heat, the news paper bricks do that instead of going into the land fill. For some reason it won't let me post the links to the websites. You can Google them.

I was thinking about it also. I saw one man who was mixing this before forming. I think we can use also small pieces of trees after cleaning garden. I love this ideas in commercial world. Great

Great idea, pvc pipe sounds great too. Thanks for your video.

Thanks for the video. I like the idea of up to 4 bricks at once. Thanks for the tip to fill- or even overfill each section to get a more compact brick.

I wish I had a wood fire now because I'd love to give this a go. I recycle a lot so would have plenty of paper. Once you've bought the press it would last year's or like you say make one of your own. I have heard about this form of heating before and its a great money saving way to heat your home. Thank you

NICELY DONE AND A GREAT IDEA...THANKS

I’ve made these and they are great, I’ve only ever used old newspapers, junk mail, egg cartons and sawdust. We go out and forage pine cones and any fallen branches, etc. I live in New Zealand, very rural and our wood burning stove is our only source of heat. Pine cones are great free fire starters.

Thanks for sharing. I have been fascinated with the idea of making these briquettes to use in my backyard chiminea. I purchased the single brick maker from the same company you mention. It seems to make pretty good bricks, but the metal on the sides bows out a bit so that the water doesn't press out as much as I'd like. My first 14 bricks are dry now and I will see if I like burning them as well as Presto Logs.

Add OATMEAL to the mix and you ll have the toughest bricks still burning just a bit slower... Great

God give the guy a break, at least Pete is doing helpful videos that could be useful unlike some of you who are criticising. If you don't have anything useful or nice to say then maybe you shouldn't say anything.

This is the video I was looking for. Thank you for sharing.

Its a great idea. You would need many to get you through the winter. I live in Gettysburg Pa.

I appreciate this. We get Barrels Of Junk Mail so I wanted to have a way to process it. This looks great. Thank You 😊

Wow. I like that idea. Those with a fireplace or contraption for heating with this method can take advantage of this. Thank you.

OMG, what a bright idea! Too bad I'm soo fricking Dumb, I didn't think of it !!! LMFAO

Great job Pete! I love people that only listen to what they want, like they don't here where the paper or saw dust comes from or your suggestions on getting it too lol! If they watched it they saw your PVC tube you used prior. Lol I would like to know drying time of bricks in your area & burn time of bricks too. Thanks look forward to more videos from you. =)

Hi Zoran, I live in a dry part of the country so I can make bricks all year long. I normally store my paper from our shredder in plastic garbage bags until a have a couple bags full. From there I fill 10 or so buckets with the paper, and sawdust and leave them all to soak for 2-3 days. Then I make all my logs at once and leave them for a week outside in the sun. Once dry I stack them in a box and use them till they are gone. I start a fire with wood, and add 5-8 logs one at a time a night.

Great! Reduces waste, saves money. Thank you!

nice Idea if your stuck for heat in an emergency to have a few of these logs dry & ready to go, but way too much work to be practical, back in the 70's my dad had one of those log rollers for newspapers, I can still remember hours of rolling logs the night before a trip to the cottage, lol

I think it's a great idea, saves money too. Fire wood is higher than a cats back and it's heavy as hell to pack an armload in from the cold. Good job!!!

Great product! Very simple. Thanks for sharing

Thank you for the video! I think this is awesome.

This is a great idea, i used to love chopping logs when i was a kid, I think i'd have really enjoyed making these brickettes just as much ,..and my parents get free child labor. win/win.

Also some good information on how long these can take to properly dry for burning can be up to 6 months depending on your environment. Just something to keep in mind for anyone wanting to try this.

Great idea, but if I can offer a suggestion for your paper bricks. When you go to the convenience store and get a drink, stock up on the cups and use them for your brick molds. Get an even amount (2,4,6,8,etc.) and drill holes in half of them, place your mixture into the 'holy' cup and then drop that cup into a regular cup, apply your water, let it soak, and use a 3rd cup to compress out the water - allowing it to drain into a regular cup. Allow the brick to dry, and reuse the water for more bricks. Great video and thanks for sharing!

Great idea. Thanks for the video.

thank you Pete, this was very useful.

I can't see this as a free way to heat, but certainly is a nice suppliment. Great way to recycle.

Jeez! I was doing this in the 1980s supplementing with sawdust from a nearby carpentry shop. Time moves on but somethings don't change LOL

This needs to be widely shared. times have changed. and we need to be self sufficient. if we are going to survive

I have one of these, originally I just use shredded paper like you, found that it left tons of ash from the appear . I added sawdust, and after many trial, my nix is about. 60% sawdust, 40% paper, also removed their levers , and now press the bricks in a home made press with a bottle jack, more compression , better burn time. Also tested with a mix of sawdust and waste motor oil, burns very hot but smoke more as well.

And we call this recycling kids. Ha. This is an awesome tool I have seen people make the paper logs before but never a bad ass tool to make them in. I will have to try this.

Nice video, great information and thanks for sharing!

Great idea, wood is very expensive, it's a good way to use old newspaper, and get free heat!

Folks, use your minds! Do you know someone who works in an office, that might give you their shredded paper? Someone who works in a saw mill, or cabinet/wood-working shop? Use your old mail. Shred it up and get to it. I buy the Sunday paper for the sales and coupons. I'd rather shred it and use it for fuel, than toss it in the trash. You can even rake leaves, and compact them for burning. I don't have the money to buy this contraption, but I can buy a length of large pvc pipe, and drill holes in it. Cap one end, then find something to press into the other end to squeeze the water out. This may not be as good as fire logs, but you can buy a cord of wood (or chop it yourself) and use this method as extras, to get you thru without having to buy more.

good job brother, blessings

How interesting. Wish I knew about this when I had a house with a fireplace in the country where you have to burn your garbage anyways. One day when escape LA & I build my dream house I will try this.

That very informative trying that in the Caribbean when I on vacation

Thank You for sharing.. best wishes from South Afrika...

Thanks! I wanted to see one of those brick makers in action. We can get out of date newspaper for free so this might be a "very good thing". :)

Haters will hate! Don't let them get to ya, you did a great job on the video!

Great idea!

This is a great video..... Thank you for sharing this great idea!

I have a brick maker too. The bricks are better as an add on to an already existing fire. They burn for about 45 minutes to an hour. I was excited when I first got mine but got disappointed after just one use. It takes less energy to look up free firewood on Craigslist.

That's so awesome I'm gonna use this

This is year 3 of doing this with a wood burning fire. My farther in-law got me doing this in buckets and I ran out of paper constantly so this year he got a big water tank with a tap on it. Now the method is.... keep paper all summer then in last month before winter put all paper in water tank fill with water leave 5 days then open tap to drain water (takes around 1/2-1 day) stuff and I mean stuff the paper into the brick maker because the more compressed the paper in the brick maker the better/longer they burn. My advice is get the fire going good before using the logs they act as heat logs so don't light easy they need a lot of heat to get going so don't throw them in as soon as you light the fire.

I'm happy to have ran across your video, I also have a 4-brick-brick-maker. However I wasn't able to return the thing, and it came without anything else but the pieces, I tried out just about every which way to put it together, and then use it. It just wasn't working for me... But now I've seen where I went wrong! I'm going to try it again.

Ok for all of you that don't live in an arid climate and want to know how to dry out your paper bricks. We used paper bricks that were 4w x 4H x 8L and in a NY summer the humidity would keep these bricks wet for MONTHS. So we took a cast iron plate that was an inch thick and put it over our propane grill. We used a grill cover from our old charcoal grill to keep the heat on them. Takes about 4 hrs to dry them out 4 at a time (depending on how hard you press the water out). Plus we found that if you turned them over and darkened 2 sides they lit much faster !!!!!!!

A time saver is to take the lid that fit the bucket and put holes in it. Then you can put it back on and then turn it all upside down then the water will leak out leaving just the wet paper mixture to deal with.

Good idea!!!!thanx 4 sharing!!

Thanks for sharing this information.

I like the brick maker that is awesome

Great idea man.. God bless you Sir.. Peace out Brother..

thanks for sharing,greath idea,and very profesional tool you made there,practical and clean. i liked it really ! its sad ,so many negative people comenting,they should go to the psyquiatrist good luck with the proyect pete

Although I heat my house with deadwood from my own woods, I always have more junk paper and cardboard around than I know what to do with, and rather than tossing it on my compost pile or my burn pile, making bricks like this might be handy. Thank you.

I'm going try it out.

great video and food for thought. It is a way of using material that get wasted alot.

Love your video much better than fire wood.

A little unrelated, I make fire starter with short crinkled paper shredding and wax. Just enough to hold them together. Best camp fire starter ever. Fist size is all you need. You would think it burns fast, but it is a slow even burn. Even starts damp wood. Used to make them out of old dried coffee grounds fashioned into hamburgers, but paper works better.

I used more saw dust in my recipe I think in was like three to one sawdust to paper I also pulped the paper with a drill mixer and then add the to together thank you for posting

Great video!

AWESOME..........THANK YOU !!!!!

I'll be using shredded paper/cardboard for my worm farm and I'll be mixing it 50/50 with local mulch made from arizona ash, cotton wood, oleander, salt cedar, fruit trees and weeds, then mixed into the desert soil and spread on top around the tree's and plants to feed them and conserve water. In my 30+ years in the desert, I've discovered that the more green that you have surrounding your home, the less that you have to worry about cooling and heating. If your smart, most of what you grow, you and your community can eat. :-)

I loved the video and that is why I cannot understand why there are so many agro people in this comment section. It is unbelievable...... here is some bigger picture perspective to help everyone chill out a bit: he is not claiming that every single person can make these for free. His point is that he did not have to use his money to go purchase anything directly to create these bricks as he was using items he already possesses and USED paper that was purchased for a different purpose and is now being *re-used* for *free*, unlike cords of wood or other store bought logs and such which you have to pay for each time you need them. He was able to make this without buying anything as he already possesses the needed tools and items. It is *blatantly* *obvious* that if you do not possess the tools and cannot gather free materials needed for this project you will either have to improvise and get creative, do some research, to keep it 'free' *or* go buy the necessary items and then from then on make the 'free' bricks from re-usable materials. If he had purchased the paper for this reason then that would not be re-using it, but he bought it for his business, *used it for his business* , and then *re-used* it for making these bricks. *facepalm emoji* This fact is so obvious I am sure he didn't even think of explaining it as it is just obvious. As is the fact that *nothing* in this world is free. We all know that. But what is implied by the title is the simple truth: once you have the tools and can source re-usable free materials (which most people can if they just tried. Is there a business operating within a reasonable distance from your home? They use boxes to receive shipments that they would most likely gladly give you, hundreds of pounds of paper you could offer to shred and take for free, etc), then making the actual bricks is now 'free', it is possible to make them without purchasing the materials each time over and over as opposed to cords of wood or pre-made logs from the market. He is doing something great here and encouraging others to do the same. Use your common sense and decency please people. I know how stressful it is to be broke and have serious finance issues and concerns, but it is no reason to expect anything to be free or handed to you. Work is what makes a way. Hard work. Ingenuity. Not sitting there with your hand out waiting for some random person to fulfill the needs that are your responsibility. It is not this guys fault that you didn't understand the obvious. Only by looking inward can we make the changed needed to be successful. If we don't understand something it isn't about finding fault, it is about having a growth mindset and saying "I don't get this *yet* but I am going to keep trying and I know I can figure it out." Not "this guy sucks because I didn't understand his message and disagree with the title of the video".

Mr. Pete I'm all for using scrap wood products for heat/energy but, nothing is "free". Some problems I see with your waste paper logs are....... 1. Few BTUs for your transportation costs. You will need semi trucks full of shredded paper and sawdust to equal a full pickup load of solid wood. 2. Sort of a waste of water (unless using used dishwater or the like) 3. Dry, inside storage of your fuel. (outside storage turns paper logs into wet goo.) My suggestions. 1. Talk to your local small landscapers. Many just burn their wood in bonfires so that they don't have to pay for disposal. (I keep a case of their favorite CERVEZA on hand as payment) It's a squeal deal for a 2 1/2 ton dump truck load of wood! They bring me pine, cherry, walnut EVERYTHING! Also a benefit if you like cooking over wood. Fruitwood smoked meat, fish and poultry, awesome! Yes, you will have to do some cutting and splitting. Trust me, splitting wood for 15-30 min two three times a week and your muscles will turn to IRON my friend. 2. Ask local self employed carpenters/woodworkers. They will gladly supply you with all the kindling you need. Don't get me wrong, I do like your idea but, on such a small scale I believe it will cost you way more than you realize.

WOW, a great share thank you!

Thank you for reply, i will consider doing this in summer, since now im not able to dry them anywhere outside.

Thank you.

These do work. We also put shredded leaves in the mix as well. Plus, you're saving all of this crap going to the landfill.

Thanks 😊

love his , thanks for sharing.

hi pete i think its amazing and clever

Thank you

Impressive!

Great idea, i burn wood as a back up, my heat pump today with temp.26 dosent work to well. I'll have to try this. I roll up news paper to start a fire.

Awesome thanks

Thanks great idea