[Goosegirl]

As I'm not bothered about their shape, what is the "recipe" used to make them? I have a cross-cut shredder for the paper and an open fire to burn the briquettes on.

[mumofstig]

Soak paper in water 'til soft - press into briquette maker to squeeze water out, turn out, leave to dry.

You can mix in sawdust, wood chips, leaves - anything you have hanging around that will burn easily 

[GrannieAnnie]

Brian bought a brick maker, and we just soaked the paper in water, but he soon got bored with that idea, so I just use my unwanted paper to light the fire in the winter!

He tried wallpaper paste too, but wasn't much different.

The trick, if you don't have a brick maker is to make the sure 'bricks' and really tightly stuffed together fr them to hold their shape, and when you are drying them out, make sure you leave breathing room around each one so they dry quicker.  I used to dry ours in the polytunnel!   

[hamstergbert]

the shreddies become sufficiently soaked faster if you make the water wetter.  Easiest way is to use water with a bit of washing up liquid in it - I use the washing up water when all I have been washing is glasses so not too many 'bits'.   Have also successfully prepared the water by chucking in the waste slivers of soap bars a week or two ahead of time and giving it a good stir so the soap will act the same as detergent and soak the paper better.  Into an old plastic tub/dustbin with loads of shreddies.  Gadget in plastic 4-tray trough for the squeeze step, expressed liquid teemed back into the tub for the next sackful so don't have top  refill too often.

I mix in any coal dust left in my bunker, ditto any sawdust.  I usually lay them out a few inches apart on the greenhouse staging and stand the 4-tray troughs on top.  Generally dry enough to use after a few summer months but it doesn't hurt to keep a few in the boiler cupboard in the winter so the waste heat keeps them fully dry.   If there are too many to lay out like that I stack them three to a layer in a vertical stack like that block removal game.....

Sometimes I 'break' them over a step or something.  The break is similar to a greenstick fracture with lots of shreddies hanging down.  Helps to light the things and get them going.  Sometimes I dismantle them into flattish chunks and use them in lieu of paper and stick to get the fire going from scratch!

Once they are dry they are very strong indeed - certainly take my weight standing on one that is upended.  A few years ago had quite a lot of them thanks to a friend/client whose business created umpteen massive sacksful of shreddies every week, and used the resulting blocks when dried to make an armchair out the back (temporarily)

[cadalot]

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