Chipper opinions

I'd be using it to shred garden trash (corn stalks, sunflower stalks, etc.), light brush, and tree prunings for mulching and/or composting, and/or other disposal.

I've checked Sears for a starting point and they have a 7.5 hp B&S engine model for around $600 that has a 3" feed. That's within my benefactor's budget, but over my pain threshold.

Any advice? Is it unrealistic to think there might be a chipper/shredder that wouldn't be a big disappointment for my purposes at maybe half that cost?

What about used? What about electric? What about tractor PTO driven? I have a MF35 that I could use to drive one and have seen some postings regarding silage shredders, but have no idea where to look, what to look for, or cost.

I once bought a "rotary tool" at Harbor Freight for around $6-7 because I've always wanted one but could never justify a nice Dremel, and couldn't resist at that price. Well, even at that I was disappointed because it has so little power as to be useless for anything other than carving fog. In that case, I got what I deserved, and don't often do that, but I don't want that kind of mistake for several hundred bucks or more.

Sure would appreciate your opinions...am I hoping for the imposible to think I might find something useful at a few hundred bucks?

Thanks!
Chuck, WA

It's awful. It doesn't really care for any limbs or branches over 1 1/2" in diameter. The hopper does seem to work pretty good and has a suction that gulps in the leaves and trimmings when you rake towrds the opening and has an area that stops rocks and heavier stuff like that from entering the shredder chamber. But the whole housing is plastic and falling apart. In other words, the piece that connects the hopper to the shredding chamber is breaking up and there's a large gap preventing the leaves from entering the chamber.

I'm sorry to ramble, but If I had to do it again, I would probably consider spending more for a Troy-bilt or maybe a DR. They have one that work off a PTO and looks pretty nice.
My .02

Chuck (CA)

Since I posted this morning, I took a look around the net and found lots of chippers/shredders...both gas powered and PTO. Looks like anything under about $600 is going to be underpowered or poorly built. I did see the Troys and they are at $600 for the 6 hp and $900 for the 10 hp.

I guess the bottom line is that having no idea what they would cost, I'm clearly not in the ballpark at $300 for anything that would be useful.

Guess I'll either have to consider the higher priced ones, look for a used one, or give it up.

Used is a possibility, but I'd be pretty suspicious of that for a tool that gets such hard use in normal operation.

Also thought about building a PTO driven one, and will probably run it by a buddy who is pretty mechanical and a pretty fair welder. Only problem might be parts for the flails or other chopper mechanism.

Thanks again for your reply. Maybe somebody will still reply that knows of a practical alternative.

Chuck, WA

I just bought a new MTD 3" 6.5hp chipper/shredder for $499 at Lowes for the same type of use you want. MTD also builds Troy-Bilt. Yes it has the plastic hoppers but I figure that I will make new ones out of steel.

The shredder part uses a frail system with knives on the flywheel. The flywheel is center fed. I've ran wheat straw thru for my garden compost mix and it does great, about 1-1/2" long fibers or just what I was looking for.

The chipper uses knives that are mounted to the side of flywheel. The knives are nothing more than 3/8" plate sharpened to a 60� angle with the knife edge mounted outward.

I'm not impressed with chipper part. As you can see the 3" limb would have to held against the cutter for 3/8" chips to fly. This causes the limb to viberate up and down while it's being chipped and although I havn't tried a 3" limb, I would bet it takes awhile to make chips.

A chainsaw with a cage built around the bar would make a much better chipper with the correct size chips for composting. I burn wood for heat so I'm using the chips from that for compost.

To early to tell if I wasted $500 or not. Were just now puting in our winter garden so I don't have any garden scraps to deal with.

T_Bone

I quit using it after a few years. The chipper part is too slow and unpleasant to use. The chute/shredder part is fine, so long as what you want to chip fits in the chute and isn't so big (> 1 inch) that it jams the shredder wheel.

But most green tree prunings have enough side branches that they won't go into the chute easily. You can trim them to fit, but that is that much more work, and generates that many more stems and such to chip and it just plain takes too long.

Much as I hate to dirty the air, it is a lot easier to just stack the branches into a pile, and burn them in the seasons when backyard burning is allowed. My chipper has sat unused for many years now.

An "arborist grade" chipper has a much bigger engine, a better shredding wheel, and a power feed arrangement to force those Douglas fir branches through the shredder. If you can't bear to burn the wood, save up a big pile and rent a "real" chipper.

If you want to shred leaves, stalks, and other non-woody debris, the low cost chipper/shredders may be OK. But for tree branches, "ask the man who owns one".

Anything under several thousand dollars in my opinion is just above useless!!! UNLESS, you live in town, and have a little handfull of light GREEN brush to chip.

As for the shredder part, anything that has much water in it, plugs them up fairly fast!! Forget any garden waste that is still green and stringy.

Robert