chipper/shredders

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Sun. Mar. 22, 2020 10:06 am

I've been clearing a section of my property of mostly smallish maple, aspen and Canadian poplar trees and brush of various variety. There's lots of exposed granite ledge in this area. I plan to eventually plant some fruit trees and a variety of berries where I can. I'm paying the town $20 a load to dump what I'm clearing. I'm thinking about buying a used chipper shredder with the idea that I can recycle/compost the material instead of hauling it away. There's quite a few of these smallish (homeowner) chippers on FB mktpl. I've been looking at youtube videos to evaluate the different brands and even the ones that are rated for 3" diameter branches don't seem very robust. Can anyone recommend a decent unit? TIA.


 
NoSmoke
Member
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun. Oct. 14, 2012 7:52 pm
Location: Mid Coast Maine
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: New Yoker WC90
Baseburners & Antiques: Woods and Bishop Antique Pot Bellied Stove
Coal Size/Type: Stove/Nut/Pea Anthracite
Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 5:41 pm

My recommendation is a match.

I really am not being snide, although I might sound that way. It's because I do have a chipper, and it really is not much good. It takes an awful lot of work to end up with very few chips. It also takes a lot of effort to drag the chips to the chipper and wrestle them into the machine. Then there is the size. it says 3 inch, but really due to how the brush grows, with the "knuckles" it is more like 1-1/2 inches, so you really need a chipper twice as big as what you think you need.

The bigger units have auto feed, but of course come with a bigger price. Then there is the added effort to get bigger brush to the chipper.

When I noticed you were from Maine, I realized you can burn the piles and it might be the cheapest and easiest way. It is what I do with my brush piles.

Sorry I sound so negative on chippers, but my experience with them has been pretty much drudgery.

 
User avatar
johnjoseph
Member
Posts: 9299
Joined: Mon. Sep. 15, 2014 6:05 pm
Location: Aroostook County, Maine
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KA-6
Other Heating: pellet stove, oil boiler

Post by johnjoseph » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 6:11 pm

Will the town of Bridgwater give you a summer burn permit for free? I know Easton will.

 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25559
Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 6:35 pm

Agree that the ratings are overstated. I have a 5hp chipper/shredder rated at "up to 3 inch". I think they must have used balsa wood to get that rating. It struggles with anything bigger than the 1-1/2 that Nosmoke mentioned. And the bag doesn't hold much. About the time you get going it's time to shut it down empty the bag, which has a safety interlock to prevent running when removing the bag. Found it easier to park the thing with the discharge shute pointed toward where I wanted the chips, disable the safety and leave the bag off, … then drag all the branches to the machine.

And pull starting it takes so much umph that it just about tips the machine over.

Paul

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 6:46 pm

Evening JJ.. I own a small farm in Bridgewater (where the coal stove is) and live year round on the MidCoast. The pile of brush and small trees is down here. John Barker is/was the Bwater fire marshal. I don't know if there's a fee. I think he does a site survey before he gives you the go ahead.

NoSmoke, I live in town. The brush in the pile was cut last spring / summer and is likely dry enough to burn. There's yet a fair amount of brush still standing though. I might feel more comfortable burning in some kind of container especially as I haven't had much experience with it. I'll check with the town to see what rules I need to follow. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos and agree these don't look like robust chippers. I found a used 10hp unit for $250. Not sure ... Thanks for the suggestion.

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 6:50 pm

Evening Paul. There's quite a few out there for sale with very little use. Could be be why :)

 
KLook
Member
Posts: 5791
Joined: Sun. Feb. 17, 2008 1:08 pm
Location: Harrison, Tenn
Other Heating: Wishing it was cold enough for coal here....not really

Post by KLook » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 7:39 pm

I still have one setting in E. Machias, nice Toro unit. I used it to take down limbs from a tree for a customer once. It worked just fine. My wife inherited it and used it around our yard, but I burned everything generally. They work great if you are in no hurry and enjoy the process.....like splitting wood.....Chips don't compost down quickly.
Just my thoughts!

Kevin


 
User avatar
mntbugy
Member
Posts: 2042
Joined: Fri. Dec. 23, 2016 2:36 pm
Location: clearfield,pa
Hand Fed Coal Stove: D S 1500, Warm Moring 400
Baseburners & Antiques: Art Garland 145,GW114 ,Clarion 115, Vestal 20 Globe,New Royal22 Globe, Red Cross Oak 56,Acme Ventiduct 38,Radiant Airblast 626,Home Airblast 62,Moores #7,Moores 3way
Coal Size/Type: stove and nut and some bit
Other Heating: Propain

Post by mntbugy » Wed. Mar. 25, 2020 7:47 pm

I have a Dr. PTO driven chipper. It will chew thru a 4 1/2 inch log no trouble, with a 21 hp tractor. Even faster when I put 27 or 35hp to it. I have a discharge shute or just blown on ground.

It cuts chips 3/16 thick. Anything smaller than a pencil, it sucks. Any side branches with any size, needs lopped off. It cuts about 10 inches a second. Make branches as long as possible weight wise to feed into chute. The longer the better. You will need to kept discharge area cleared every minute or two.

The vibration is hard on your elbows the next morning.

Them little 10hp chip/shread models aren't much good for anything but twiggs and leaves.

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 5:45 am

Mornin Bugy, Pretty much everything DR makes is top shelf IMO. They have a 400 model that looks like it could do the job. Still figuring out what to do but it would be hard to pass up one of those if condition and price was right. The tractor is up north so a PTO driven chipper isn't going to work for me down here. Thanks.. hope all is well with you.

 
cabinover
Member
Posts: 2344
Joined: Wed. Feb. 04, 2009 7:13 am
Location: Fair Haven, VT
Stoker Coal Boiler: Hybrid Axeman Anderson 130
Baseburners & Antiques: Sparkle #12
Coal Size/Type: Pea, Buckwheat, Nut
Other Heating: LP Hot air. WA TX for coal use.

Post by cabinover » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 6:25 am

My experience is much like the rest here. Good for leaves and little pieces of branch only. Most are just a flail mower with blades about the same 1/8" material.

 
NoSmoke
Member
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun. Oct. 14, 2012 7:52 pm
Location: Mid Coast Maine
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: New Yoker WC90
Baseburners & Antiques: Woods and Bishop Antique Pot Bellied Stove
Coal Size/Type: Stove/Nut/Pea Anthracite
Other Heating: Munchkin LP Boiler/Englander Pellet Stove/Perkins 4.108 Cogeneration diesel

Post by NoSmoke » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 6:37 am

Back when I first started with sheep, I only had four, so I would cut down stalks of corn and run it through the chipper, and the feed it made (Corn silage) was just as good as what came out of our $250,000 corn chopper!

It also works well for blending feeds too. Like for the lambs, I would use it to mix grain with alfalfa cubes that was dumped down the shredder part. It would blast those cubes into fiber that mixed well with the grain. Toss in some mineral mix and it was a blend that really made the lambs grow!

So for me, they are worth it, just not for the purpose intended.

Like my cement mixer, I use it for just about everything except for making cement! (Hint: it mixes starting soil for garden seedlings really, really well).

 
User avatar
VigIIPeaBurner
Member
Posts: 2579
Joined: Fri. Jan. 11, 2008 10:49 am
Location: Pequest River Valley, Warren Co NJ
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker Koker(down)
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Casting Vigilant II 2310
Other Heating: #2 Oil Furnace

Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 9:21 am

I agree on the match idea. I have just about all the implements for the old school L1 and L8 Gravely including a shredder. I've used that hard over the years but you have to work at it because it doesn't have the chipping chute. I've considered looking for a pto chipper that would run off 18 hp shaft. These past few years I've had a Solo Stove fire pit. It's a lot more enjoyable feeding that then shredding but I'm not talking piles or cleaning up trees like I use to do. Now I'd say smoke'em.

Attachments

20180413_183651.jpg
.JPG | 437.3KB | 20180413_183651.jpg
Screenshot_20200320-191526_Messenger.jpg
.JPG | 218.5KB | Screenshot_20200320-191526_Messenger.jpg

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 9:31 am

NoSmoke ...like I use the food processor in the kitchen :)

 
User avatar
keegs
Member
Posts: 678
Joined: Sat. Dec. 24, 2016 7:38 pm
Location: Bridgewater, ME
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Chubby (main floor)
Coal Size/Type: nut

Post by keegs » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 9:36 am

Vigil... It's maple syrup time up here. I've got 3 taps going. I just boiled down 6 gallons of sap on the stove top.... I have a huge pile of brush and small trees, another 6 gallons of sap on the way and a noodle that's forming some ideas :)

 
User avatar
VigIIPeaBurner
Member
Posts: 2579
Joined: Fri. Jan. 11, 2008 10:49 am
Location: Pequest River Valley, Warren Co NJ
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Keystoker Koker(down)
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Vermont Casting Vigilant II 2310
Other Heating: #2 Oil Furnace

Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Thu. Mar. 26, 2020 11:06 am

Oh that damn noodle and its hair-brain ideas!! I've thought about doing syrup with the mix of maples I've got in my little woodlot. I had a 6' x14" x 18" deep 304 ss trough i used when I ran nearly 4 dozen beehives. Thought that would make a great reducing tank but I sold it before the thought got too dangerous.


Post Reply

Return to “House, Gardening & DIY Projects”