Safe to burn catalog print indoors?

[SADShooter]

I'm accumulating piles of catalogs, sale flyers, etc. I've unsubscribed to some, but others I actually do read and use. Is there anything toxic in the stock or ink that would make it unsafe to chuck in the fireplace? Throwing it away/recycling means both bulk and or de-identification. If I could burn it incrementally, I might keep pace.

Thanks.

SADShooter

[AJ Dual]

I wouldn't breathe it, but most of the paper industry has been forced over to non-toxic inks for a long time now.

And AFAIK, most recyclers don't want glossy full color magazine or catalog paper anyway. Only newsprint and cardboard etc.

[HankB]

I think they've removed the lead and other heavy metals from inks, so unless you're getting Chinese catalogs, you should be OK from the standpoint of toxins. (Remove plastic inserts and such.)

I don't know how the smoke from burning papers would combine with creosote/soot buildup from logs and such . . . and in some cases, the light sheets of paper might allow embers to be wafted up the chimney.

[280plus]

Stir in a healthy dose of floppy disks just to be sure.

[RoadKingLarry]

Years ago I worked with a guy that did the majority of heating his house with junk mail. During the course of a year as he accumulated junk mail and newspaper he had some kind of rolling machine that he used to roll the paper into "logs". I think he would dampen the stuff as he rolled it then let it dry for several weeks or months before he burned it.
He got on any and every junk mailing list he could find using a slightly misspelled version of his name.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Been doing it for a while, no problems thus far.

[SADShooter]

Thanks, all.

[MechAg94]

I remember one year growing up, after opening presents on Christmas, we started shoving wrapping paper into the fire place.  It very quickly started a chimney fire.  That was put out, but it was a bit sobering.  I'm sure if you are careful, you'll be okay.

[AJ Dual]

Meh... Chimney fires get all the creosote out. What's the problem?  

Oh yeah, that whole part where it's kind of like an upside down solid-rocket motor, and even fire-brick starts to glow...

My friend growing up lived up in the northwoods for the first part of his childhood, and they traded houses with other family during a vacation. The visiting family wanted the ambiance of a fire in their fireplace, but couldn't find their firewood pile.

So the visiting family was rather motivated, and self-starters, so they began cutting up a pile of discarded railroad ties that were left over from a landscaping project my friend's father had been doing.

When they got home from their vacation, every wall in their house was orange from creosote. Oops.  

[roo_ster]

Years ago I worked with a guy that did the majority of heating his house with junk mail. During the course of a year as he accumulated junk mail and newspaper he had some kind of rolling machine that he used to roll the paper into "logs". I think he would dampen the stuff as he rolled it then let it dry for several weeks or months before he burned it.
He got on any and every junk mailing list he could find using a slightly misspelled version of his name.

That is ingenious.  I bet he used a PO Ox for real mail.

[GigaBuist]

As a kid we heated the house with a cast-iron fireplace.  The closed-up kind, not the open burning sort, which is what I think you're talking about.

Anyway, we were pretty poor so the parents burned EVERYTHING they could in there.  The only thing that was a problem was a giant roll of what we call "poly tape" -- stuff used to repair the plastic on a greenhouse.  Heavy duty stuff.  House got so hot it woke me up at the age of 5 or so and this is in a room that would get so cold even after we had a proper furnace I'd wake up with blue toes in my teenage years.  I went downstairs and it was even hotter -- probably 90+ degrees in the room with the fireplace.

Dad ended up walking onto the roof and trying to pour salt into it from the furnace.  In the middle of winter.  Slipped, slid down the roof and onto the porch roof which promptly gave way and he crashed right on through.

Fun times.

[Matthew Carberry]

Had some of my Marines put white gas into our kerosene heaters on a winter op once.

I fully admit when I said "fuel the heaters" I didn't point out the kerosene in the 5 gallon cans versus the Coleman fuel in 1 gallon tins but I blame my Corporal for not catching it.

Anyway, I caught it when I went into the ROC tent and the stove was glowing red and my radio operators were flushed and groggy from monoxide poisoning.  Fortunately the teams weren't in from the field so noone died in their sleep. 

[seeker_two]

Been doing it for a while, no problems thus far.

Same here.....just use one of those creosote-burning logs from time to time, and you'll be OK....

[Firethorn]

Same here.....just use one of those creosote-burning logs from time to time, and you'll be OK....

I'd get one of those new EPA rated stoves/furnaces.  They're not only more efficient, they also tend to burn up any creosote particles before they go up the chimney...

[Harold Tuttle]

I await a news report of a innovative fuel fireplace burner,
killing all the birds at his eco friendly bird feeders.

There was a temperature inversion yesterday,
and the entire Bald Eagle Valley from Altoona to Port Matilda was hazy.

[CNYCacher]

Chimney fire. . . what's that like?

I imagine a vertical tube filled with flammable material on fire would cause a huge updraft causing a gigantic blowtorch effect at the top of the tube.

Or at least that's what my eyebrows learned once in an incident involving a heavy cardboard carpet roll tube and stuck into a campfire.

[coppertales]

As long as you are not rolling your joints with it.  Anyway, that is what chimneys are for, take the smoke out of the house.....you should be fine.......After all, I was not a smart ass until I started burning catalogs in my wood stove........chris3

[Tallpine]

In my experience the slick paper stuff doesn't burn up very well, and leaves almost as much ash as you had paper 

We could use one of them "Doc Brown logs" in our woodstove today: 5 above 

[41magsnub]

In my experience the slick paper stuff doesn't burn up very well, and leaves almost as much ash as you had paper 

We could use one of them "Doc Brown logs" in our woodstove today: 5 above 

Just don't use one of those manufactured logs in a Monarch wood stove (not the sawdust ones, but the ones that are effectively a big block of pitch).  My aunt damn near melted the stove at my cabin with one of those, the firebox went past red hot and started to turn white.