Making logs for fireplace out of newspapers...NEED HELP!

OMG I wouldn't be letting an 8year old do anything with kerosene, I knew someone who used to make logs out of newspaper, they used to just compress lots of newspaper into this metal type thing and into water to make it like a brick then let them dry out....

I did once have a machine for making briquettes/logs out of old newspaper. It was a strong metal box with two handles which worked a plunger. The principle was to roughly tear the newspaper and dampen it then pack it into the box and press down the handles (not a job for an 8 year old, I imagine!). The result was a damp block of solid paper which one would stack and allow to dry out. I did try it once but I don't think I quite had the knack. The thing burnt very slowly, even on a bed of bright coals. I suspect that the paper should have been scrunched so as to leave some pockets of air in the brick. If you are rolling newspaper you would need to dampen it somewhat (not wringing wet, though) and roll it fairly tightly but so that it wasn't quite a solid block. Perhaps one way of achieving this would be to crumple every other sheet slightly. Another might be to make a sort of swiss roll with sawdust as the 'jam'. You might dampen the newspaper with a rather weak mix of wallpaper paste or a flour and water paste. I'd suggest that your 'logs' might be about 12 inches long by four or five inches in diameter. You would then stack them in a dry, airy place until they had dried out.

My husband says he knows someone who did it, and all they did is roll them up and tie them with string. They need to be rolled as tightly as possible in order to burn evenly. I think when I was a kid it was in the science books that you could soak them in different chemicals to make different colors of flames. I would not soak them in kerosene. There are commercial rollers that are hand cranked available,but basically it starts with a dowel rod on the edge, and roll tightly around it, tie it with string, then slide the dowel rod out. From having rolled papers to throw, I would say start with the paper folded in half, roll from the cut edge to the fold, and it will stay together a lot better.

I have heard that they don't conduct as much as heat as wood and that they leave a mess once they are done burning. But I found these directions that might help you: Dampen a section of newspaper with a spray bottle filled with water and start rolling it up as tightly as possible from one end. When you get it about 3/4 rolled, insert another dampened section, reversed so the fold is on the other side. Repeat these steps until you get a log as large as you want, then tie it up into a log with any thin wire such as florist's wire, etc. Set these logs aside to dry, which will take weeks to thoroughly dry. Once dry they are ready to use. Hope it helps. I probably would not burn this in my fireplace, just because I think that it would be so messy. But it would work for his school project I think. Have a great day and happy myLotting!!!