Finally gave in and bought a PTO chipper

[MrWhippy]

The last 18 months has seen two ice storms, one heavy snow storm and 2 heavy wind damage storms:









I've always been of the mind that "I don't want to own a chipper when I can rent it for the few times I need it" mentality. The last 18 months has convinced me otherwise. For what I've spent in chipper rental (not counting my time working or paying a helper), I could have already paid for the chipper I just bought.

WoodMaxx 8" Hydrofeed. It's mentioned a lot on here, so no need to go into details about it. I have to wait a couple weeks for it to come, but I have lots of cutting and piling to do ahead of time. I will be pushing it to the 8" limit, since I don't like to burn pine and can't use it for anything but mulching. The leftover logs will likely become inline jumps. For the price, it will pay for itself after 2 more storms like this recent one.

I'll be running it off a NH Workmaster 55 or Ford 5600, so I'm not expecting too much trouble with feeding.

 

[Sand_man]

Seems like a useful tool for you. I would like a PTO chipper sometime also. I have 5 acres that half is an overgrown scotch pine Christmas tree field. Such a mess when you start to fall those trees.

 

[MrWhippy]

Seems like a useful tool for you. I would like a PTO chipper sometime also. I have 5 acres that half is an overgrown scotch pine Christmas tree field. Such a mess when you start to fall those trees.

Yea, the person we bought the farm from had tried his hand at Christmas tree farming. It wasn't successful and we have a couple acres of straight rows of pine trees. You're right, they're a mess.

 

[The Fred]

MrWhippy,

I think you should change your mind about burning pine. I have lots and lots of pine and yes I hate it. It's sticky and makes a mess of everything that touches it until it dries a bit. During the drying months one can hear the woodpile crunching (really) as the worms eat away at your pile of heat.

We also have a Woodmaxx 8" hydraulic feed chipper. We burn about 10 cord a year to keep our fairly large home and shop warm and we have very tough Winters here. Pine, when dried burns quite well and leaves little ash. Soft Poplar leaves even less ash and burns well also, around here they both grow like weeds.

My biggest complaint with chipping Pine is that the branches get gnarly and don't feed well at the very inner end of the chipper just before they hit the blades. At the end of the day chipping Pine is far more work than most people think. Those big chippers the power company uses make it look easy. After a day of chipping your back will be smoked and your wife will be sick of rubbing your sore spots. You won't have enough beer and aspirin in the house to alleviate your pain! After 2 days of chipping the stuff you'll agree it'd be easier to cut, split and burn the bigger stuff.


I say burn more pine, it's free on your land and if you keep the chimney flue hot it will make less creosote then some people think. If you have ever been to northern Quebec there is very little hardwood and most stoves are burning softwood. It's just not the problem people think it is.

Good luck with your new chipper the folks at Woodmaxx are the best and will attend your every need.

Fred

 

[Steppenwolfe]

View attachment 382481

You will really enjoy this chipper. Two years on mine and not a complaint. Good luck.

 

[MrWhippy]

MrWhippy,

I think you should change your mind about burning pine. I have lots and lots of pine and yes I hate it. It's sticky and makes a mess of everything that touches it until it dries a bit. During the drying months one can hear the woodpile crunching (really) as the worms eat away at your pile of heat.

We also have a Woodmaxx 8" hydraulic feed chipper. We burn about 10 cord a year to keep our fairly large home and shop warm and we have very tough Winters here. Pine, when dried burns quite well and leaves little ash. Soft Poplar leaves even less ash and burns well also, around here they both grow like weeds.

My biggest complaint with chipping Pine is that the branches get gnarly and don't feed well at the very inner end of the chipper just before they hit the blades. At the end of the day chipping Pine is far more work than most people think. Those big chippers the power company uses make it look easy. After a day of chipping your back will be smoked and your wife will be sick of rubbing your sore spots. You won't have enough beer and aspirin in the house to alleviate your pain! After 2 days of chipping the stuff you'll agree it'd be easier to cut, split and burn the bigger stuff.


I say burn more pine, it's free on your land and if you keep the chimney flue hot it will make less creosote then some people think. If you have ever been to northern Quebec there is very little hardwood and most stoves are burning softwood. It's just not the problem people think it is.

Good luck with your new chipper the folks at Woodmaxx are the best and will attend your every need.

Fred

Well, 20 years ago, we had a big chimney fire on the evening before Easter. The firemen told us there's much greater creosote production out of pine, fir, spruce than hardwoods and probably was contributing to it. My 1 year old daughter (at the time) must have thought Firemen brought easter eggs.

We switched to pellet stoves and gained the benefit of not having to worry about termites in the wood pile.

Doubt we're going back to wood stoves now...

 

[s219]

I agree with Fred -- in some parts of the western US all they have to burn are conifers like pine, spruce, fir, etc, and they don't have higher instances of chimney fires than the east. You really just need to make sure it is well dried, which will cut down the creosote effect, and that's true of all wood. I recall reading that hardwoods like beech and hickory actually have higher creosote content, which is why they are so good for smoking meat. I burn both those woods in my fireplace, as well as some pine. The pine definitely takes longer to dry in my experience, maybe because it seems to be wetter to start with.

 

[LouieJunior]

Another fan of Woodmaxx WM-8H chipper here in Illinois. I chip everything from willows to walnuts. If the branches get too large for your tractor, just slow-down your feed rate a little. I plan to have my chipper chipping tomorrow!

 

[oosik]

Mr Whippy,

I've not heard any bad reports regarding Woodmax. I've got a Wallenstein BX62. The big problem that you will experience and I already have - trying to lug an 8" tree, in your case, up to the chipper. I chip 750-900 small(6" or less in diameter) trees every year while maintaining my pine forest. I do not limb the pine trees, its not a necessary task to get the trees to chip well. However, lugging a 6" pine out of the brush and up to the chipper is a real chore. Also, I do not have a hydraulic in-feed - not necessary - the chipper will grab and pull the whole tree in sooooo fast it, at first, can scare you. Hydraulic in-feed may be necessary if you chip brush - I don't know.

By your pics, you sure need something to clean up the mess after all the storms. I loose more trees, annually, to pine bark beetle than to any storm.

 

[Pontiota]

My woodmax WM8H was delivered last week, after waiting 2 months because they were on back order, and after about 2 hrs putting it together I was chipping.
First impressions were good it looked well built and all the pieces fit together very well with tight gaps
The instuctions were easy to follow.
Chipper works great and I'm glad I spent the extra money for the hydro feed it give you the ability to stop and reverse the feed reels which I have used a couple times while "testing" with large branches,