Homemade Log-Making press tool--Log Jammer

[the artfull-codger]

I decided to try out the paper logs. Whipped this up out of "uni-strut" and some angle. Little welding and a few bolts. The only piece I had to buy was the 3.75" x .75" thick aluminum "presser puck", total cost in this baby, $3.00! Free firewood! The logs are coming out pretty nice, about 4" diameter by 12" long. Should work in my fireplace on my deck after they dry out okay. Used paper, cardboard, and some sawdust in a 5 gallon bucket, mixed with a drywall stirrer in a drill. This was the second or third log in the photo above, next ones came out even better. Probably able to make 10-20 in an hour if I had enough "mash" mixed up. Get about 4 logs from a five gallon bucket, have to leave room for mixing with drill. If you heat with wood you should definietly check this process out! It would be even better with an air cylinder to do the pressing but it does not take a lot of effort even with just a lever. My lever is giving me 4 to 1 ratio or so and compacts the log pretty good. Have not had one dry enough to burn yet but people I've talked to say they last nearly as long as a real wood log. We shall seen.
More photos here: Woodworking from DrByte and Lights from DrLyte

Usefull I like it, we do all our cooking/central heating on the rayburn,[range cooker] mainly wood but also coal & coke to bank up, the front room stoves burn wood, I've been mixing waste engine oil with dawdust from sawing wood & pressing it into cardboard tubes,toilet roll centres etc & they burn quite nicely on the front room stoves[can't be chucking usefull stuff out] little smoke & last a fair while.