Troy Bilt Tomahawk Chipper

[Warlord]

Thought you lot might appreciate this well kept older chipper I picked up today. I always have large brush piles around the property to burn and it takes forever so I thought a chipper would cut down on my brush problem. This one can handle 3” branches apparently and the 8hp Briggs runs beautifully. The Briggs powers a large spinning drum and flywheel via a very simplistic belt clutch. The drum is covered in flail knives and the flywheel has two chipper blades on it. Most small chippers seem to have just the flywheel with both blades on the side and knives around the outer portion of the flywheel. I think this tomahawk style with the drum and flywheel is better for feeding material down the hopper because it allows for a much larger opening for the material to drop into, causing less clogging and faster feeding.

Tomorrow I’m gonna change the oil and sharpen all the knives and blades. After that it’ll be time to vaporize some brush!

 

[Warlord]

I was reading through the manual and it turns out it’s actually a 4” chipper. Bonus! Anything that big I’ll be keeping for firewood though. I don’t imagine chipping anything much bigger than 2”.

 

[jeepman3071]

Looks to be well-kept with low use.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Nice! I could use one of those around my place. If it’s 4” it better be straight as an arrow and may take some time. 2” like you said is probably optimal.

 

[Warlord]

Seems to work.

 

[wpod]

Since the chipper works so good,, I need to borrow it for the week !

 

[jeepman3071]

Seems to work.
View attachment 79504

That would make great compost.

 

[wpod]

That would make great compost.

Or mulch.

 

[Astro_Guy]

I would like to get something like this to chop compost for the garden. I this case I want something used. My priorities would be a big hopper and a very fine chopped output. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Warlord]

I would say anything that uses a rotating drum of flails like mine works best. Echo bearcat chipper/shredders seem to often use this style. With all the flails being staggered there really is no way for material to make it through without being struck. With the large flywheel type shredders it seems like some leaves can make it through between the flails and not get touched. Just what I’ve seen from watching videos of both shredding leaves and fronds and whatnot. Mine turns anything that goes down the hopper into organic confetti.

 

[bchannell]

I had that exact same model way back when, and it's a beast. Made when TB still knew how to make equipment and hadn't been bought up by cheaper companies. I wish I still had it. As far as time, it takes longer to mess with the shredder than burning it, but it's easier to deal with the mulch, than charred earth.