Wood chipper

[Donald]

We live about 1/4 mile in a 26 acre parcel of woods except for the house area which is cleared.

As in any woods there are tons of down branches and many trees. If an effort to make the drive to the house more attractive I am considering buying a chipper/shredder and over the next year chipping everything that is close to the drive or house that is 3" or less. I'd consider renting but know I will not have the energy to do it in a day or two.

I see a lot of chipper/shredder that have 5 or 6 hp engines and then DR ones with closer to 10hp.

I am assuming for a used on with 5hp and go for a new DR one with more hp.

Never have really used a chipper/shredder before.

 

[65f100]

Are you allowed to burn where you are at? I have an 8 hp chipper and it can be a lot of work to chip very many limbs.

 

[JLTD]

This is what I thought of when I saw the title

But I'd just check the rating (or owner's manual) on the chipper itself, it depends on gearing and such as to what diameter it can handle.

 

[IndyIan]

Probably you should rent one for a day and see how you like it? I don't think even 10hp would eat up dry maple, beech, or oak very quickly, and if its not self feeding, you won't want to push hardwoods through either.
Do you have a pallet fork for your skid steer? I'd just toss the big stuff on the forks and dump it in a low spot where its hidden.

 

[JLawrence08648]

I have a 4 cylinder Asplundh, you'd be surprised how much limbs you can chip in an hour. Sometimes a whole tree worth of branches may only be minutes. You may find a small single cylinder will bog down, they are only for twigs. The length of the branch will cause it to bog.

A local tree company may rent you one by the hour. I use to rent mine at $100 per running time hour.

 

[WhyMe]

i have one of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI7prUDALMY. originally it was 5hp briggs, but that was too small for me. i found a 10 hp tecunseh and its a beast now. whats important is that its balanced and the blades are sharp. that cutter is a huge rotating mass with lots of energy.

i use it to shredd 3 inch and under.

 

[Donald]

The chippers are rated either 3" or 4". But how easily and quickly they can chip is not easy to tell unless you can try one out.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: JLTD
This is what I thought of when I saw the title

I still don't understand how I saw Steve Buscemi in more movies after that... ;^)

I was looking at renting a chipper some years ago and the owner of the store told me that I could only run green wood through it, he swore that any branches that had been sitting for long would destroy the chipper and I'd be responsible for the damages.
Sounded crazy to me and I still don't see how useful they would be with that restriction...but, I took him at his word for it and didn't rent his machine as green wood would have been a tiny portion of what I wanted to chip. Meant to look that up at the time and must have forgotten...

 

[Donald]

So if I buy one it should have a heavy knife flywheel.

I might be better piling all the branches in a few piles and renting.

 

[boraticus]

Owning a chipper will be a high maintenance machine. Especially if it's under-powered for the work. Chipper blades get dull, work gets harder and the machine becomes less efficient. It will eventually be more of a problem than an asset.

As previously mentioned, gathering, stacking and renting a big machine would be the way to go unless you can afford a large multi-cylinder engine chipper.

 

[Balrog006]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
Owning a chipper will be a high maintenance machine. Especially if it's under-powered for the work. Chipper blades get dull, work gets harder and the machine becomes less efficient. It will eventually be more of a problem than an asset.

As previously mentioned, gathering, stacking and renting a big machine would be the way to go unless you can afford a large multi-cylinder engine chipper.


I agree with this to a point, but one has to be seriously over working the machine to see such failure in it within the time periods of normal use. That said-most retail chppers are ill suit for the task of any but twigs, and mulching leaves.

Aside from renting a commercial model you have a couple options for commercial style machines that will work well for you. Tractor mounted PTO powered units are very capable but can be pricey... one non PTO powered brand I have, use extensively and can recommend is MacKissic. They make very well designed and executed machines.
MacKissic

 

[jeepman3071]

I owned an 8hp chipper, and my advice is rent a larger commercial one for the few times you need it.

1. No maintenance.
2. Don't have to store it since you will only use it a few times a year.
3. With a small chipper you will always have stuff that is too big for it.
4. The larger chippers make quick work of brush piles that would take hours with a smaller one.

 

[Mr_Joe]

I vote no on the chipper, they are a pain, most any you buy will be to small to be effective.

I consider myself almost a ‘master burner’, recently burned two different days, 6+ hours straight.

You need to check township and County regs, here it’s easy with over the phone burning permits. I don’t even call if it’s not a good day, lighter winds.

Just keep the actual fire reasonable, throw stuff on as it burns down.