I recently learned this trick when faced with the task of burning a large bag of old financial documents. Previous tests indicated burning paper itself is time consuming, sometimes incomplete and results is lots of black carbon ash blowing around with the slightest bit of wind.
This time around I split some scrap pine to build a TP fire to burn hotter, then added paper to it, all constrained with a few old tomato cages. More effective. But the trick was to spray the paper with some denatured alcohol first. Hotter burning resulted in complete combustion, much less carbon ash and no unburned paper remaining.
Recently I thought of this while starting a charcoal fire. I pick up a few free alt--papers to use just for starting fires. Problem is their energy content is so low it takes several attempts just to get the charcoal started. It burns with a very poor flame to say the least. Newspaper isn't what it used to be, eh?
So this time I spied my squirt bottle of denat. alcohol I use for shellac. I buy it by the gallon for economy. Just a few squirts on each sheet of newspaper before crumpling makes a huge difference. First, it ignites with a FUMP. Second, ignition is immediate. Third, more btus mean charcoal starts easier. Fourth, no black carbon ash remains. Instead, it's all thin grey due to more complete combustion. Fifth, charcoal is ready to use in about half the time! Sixth, the alcohol burns very clean, no soot, and no smell. Seventh, its extremely cheap. Just a few squirts on three balls of paper....that's it. No fuss, no muss, no time wasted either on failed attempts.
I should have figured this out MUCH sooner.......
This time around I split some scrap pine to build a TP fire to burn hotter, then added paper to it, all constrained with a few old tomato cages. More effective. But the trick was to spray the paper with some denatured alcohol first. Hotter burning resulted in complete combustion, much less carbon ash and no unburned paper remaining.
Recently I thought of this while starting a charcoal fire. I pick up a few free alt--papers to use just for starting fires. Problem is their energy content is so low it takes several attempts just to get the charcoal started. It burns with a very poor flame to say the least. Newspaper isn't what it used to be, eh?
So this time I spied my squirt bottle of denat. alcohol I use for shellac. I buy it by the gallon for economy. Just a few squirts on each sheet of newspaper before crumpling makes a huge difference. First, it ignites with a FUMP. Second, ignition is immediate. Third, more btus mean charcoal starts easier. Fourth, no black carbon ash remains. Instead, it's all thin grey due to more complete combustion. Fifth, charcoal is ready to use in about half the time! Sixth, the alcohol burns very clean, no soot, and no smell. Seventh, its extremely cheap. Just a few squirts on three balls of paper....that's it. No fuss, no muss, no time wasted either on failed attempts.
I should have figured this out MUCH sooner.......
