I have a bunch of old magazines that I have long grown out of—mainly old issues of Maxim and their ilk. Nothing worthy of saving or giving away, in my opinion.
I could throw them away, but I had the idea that they could be rolled up, bound with twine, and used as cheap—if quick-burning, I’d guess—fuel for the wood stove. How would this work? Would I poison myself with the burning of the ink? Would the by-products of burning these magazines clog the flue?
Newspapers, yes . Slick magazines…I don’t think so. Too small, too loose. All you will get is tons of ash and floaters. Even the above site says don’t use paper in a wood stove.
If you like the idea of filling your house with the stink of burnt paper, I say go for it.
Slick magazine paper is coated with clay. Doesn’t burn real well, and the clay adds a lot a volume to the ashes. Newspaper, as noted by Silenus, works just fine; I burn lots of it.
I used to have a wood stove at my old place, and I tried burning old magazines once. Only once. The smell they made as they burned was horrible!
Ive tried this, doesnt really work very well. Basically all that happened was the surface sheets would burn, then the rest would just sort of smolder for a while till the ashes choked it up.
As mentioned, you get a LOT of ashes. Only way I could see it working is in a furnace type scenario where its REALLY hot and air gets forced into it. Otherwise, recycle em.
Another vote here for that being a terrible idea. Bound newspapers can make good burning material but slick magizines absolutely do not. It is difficult to get them to burn through at all and they just make a big mess. I have heard that some of the fumes from them are not healthy also but I don’t know if that is true.