How To Make Biomass Briquettes For Survival Fuel 

Thanks for the info. Good stuff to share with people. We need to learn the old ways. I have seen newspaper presses on ebay. Might try one some day just to test it out. Makes the process even faster yet.

You're welcome, though I must admit that newspaper logs were more a novelty than standard fodder for grandma's stove. She generally burned oak and black locusts in her stove.

We just used a broom handle with a layer of grease on it and rolled the paper one directly out of the bathtub. Grandma had one of those old claw foot tubs, about 5 feet long I'd guess, anyway it sat about 2 inches away from the wall so propping the stick across the tub and rolling the paper on could be done by one person. It was messy, cold, difficult and tiring, but it could be done.

I had one of those devices for making paper logs here in the UK. They were not worth the effort for the end result. The first problem I encountered was that the ripped and shredded paper saw the ink staining the bath tub I used to soak it. It took weeks to remove - the instructions said to use the bath tub for soaking by the way. I made lots of paper bricks which did indeed burn once dry - within minutes. I later experimented with a variety of substances and found cow pats to work. I collected them and mixed them up with water to a thick sludge, put in the brick press and squeezed out the water. They looked very similar to small blocks of cut peat. At the time when researching, I discovered that on any one day, 100 million people around the world cooked food and heated homes on animal dung fuel fires. They took about a month to dry in an airy outhouse. They shrank by a half. I burned mine in an open fire. The smoke was thick, white and acrid if a back draft occurred, but it wasn't unpleasant, just an inconvenience. However, the ash would not fall through the grate. I put mine on the fire at night before bed, so by the morning, it would have kept the back boiler hot all night. The down side was that the ash would be in a tower on the grate with a red hot bit at its summit. It was however easy enough to remove as it wasn't 'dusty' like other types of ash. As the ash was organic in origin, I found it easy to dispose of, simply by digging it into my vegetable patch, adding some to my compost heap and also if kept dry, my hens dust bathed in it. I later experimented successfuly with a simple small spade in a shed where cattle had stayed over winter. Their manure and straw bedding mixed was well trampled and mixed. The farmer said I could take what I wanted. I cut blocks with my spade about 12 inches long by 12 inches wide and let them dry in the same way as the cow pat blocks. They took about the same time to dry. They burned in the same manner, but for longer as the density was greater due to I think the continual trampling by the cows. I think the issue with manual brick making with any bio-mass type substance is the ability to create a dense end product. The lighter and less dense, the quicker it burns. Dried seaweeds burn well too!

I am going to get one of those paper log machines to try out. True in a grid down situation this would become part of our daily routine. Especially for people who lived in the city and had access to lots of paper.

Glad it was helpful!

Urban Garden Survival good fuel for rocket stove

Yes, you can use up to about 80% sawdust. You only need the paper for a binder. Also, You don't need a week to soak the paper. I use a paint mixer in a drill and hot water and make pulp in about 5 minutes.

Cool

How the hell much drier lint can you have?? You could also use your bellybutton lint!!

thanks

There may be better types of press but I am hoping this idea could save people in cities where there is a lot of paper but no trees.

Good tip re the holes - Would the leaves smolder? I have not used them in a briquette but when I try burning them in the incinerator they smolder - they are freshly fallen autumn (Fall) brown leaves so they may still have some moisture in them?

Leonard Hesch holes create a bond and you cant get the dry bricetts out

The slots make it easier to push out because now the pipe expanses. Look up Engineers Without Borders - paper press here on RU-vid. They're so much faster to make briskets and press them out of the mold