Chipper Chipper Search is Over! JinMan - Please comment.

[jeffinsgf]

Well, my quest for the right chipper at the right price ended last night. Thanks to some discussions here on TBN, I was able to ferret out some information on a Bush Hog CS 100P and make the decision to snatch it up on eBay with a "Buy It Now". From the pictures, it looked like a heavy enough unit, but I was concerned about buying a machine that is no longer in production. Then I came across a TBN thread that pointed out that Goossen private labeled the CS 100P for Bush Hog and that it was identical to their unit, which I have admired for some time.

I had been hoping to find a unit with power feed, but the used ones go so high at auction that I couldn't justify used, much less new. If I wasn't going to get power feed, I definitely wanted a unit with both chipping and shredding capability, but I didn't want bottom discharge -- just too much chipping and shredding to do for that. This one has the blower unit on it and seems to be in pretty good shape. I'll know for sure Thursday night. It even happened to be not too far from where I have to make a business trip this week!

Jinman, I know this is the unit that you have. Any comments?

 

[nomad]

I have this chipper, bought from China direct. Since the quality alone (without the price) is meaninless, I can say that for that money, this Chinese is incomparable to any other chipper in the world. In last months, most of items I am buying are Chinese items and happy with them. By the way, I myself made a simpler, smaller chipper which has a changeable flywheel. When I need to shread I replace chipper flywheel by shredder flywheel.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Nomad, I think you got a little confused. We're talking about the Goossen chipper/shredder built in Harper Kansas. They private labeled it for Bush Hog a couple years ago. I considered the Jinma, but found this one used on eBay. JinMan owns one of the Bush Hog units.

I got a chance to hook my CS-100P up and chip some brush today. I am very, very pleased with the machine. The shredder section is unbelievable. Just toss the brush in the general direction of the chute and it disappears! The chipper is the best hand fed I have ever seen, but it does require some attention.

Unlike a hydraulic fed machine, you have to trim off most of the side branches on anything over 1-1/2 inches to feed the chipper. However, that shredder will rip through the 1-1/2 inch and smaller stuff in a fraction of a time a hydro feed machine will need. All in all, I think the time difference is minimal with a minor advantage in physical effort to the hydro feed machines. That advantage cannot justfiy the price difference to me...it might for someone doing this for a living.

I called Goossen and told them that I had purchased one of their machines used and asked to buy an owner's manual. They told me that they would send me one free of charge and offered to be of any assistance they could if I needed to work on the machine. I mumbled for a few moments, trying to pick my jaw up off the floor, and then thanked them for their amazing (non)customer service.

I know that several TBN'ers are happy with the Crary BearCat chipper/shredders. I would like to see the Goossen machine in use side-by-side with the Crary BearCat. I can't imagine that anything short of a 6 or 7 thousand dollar machine could outperform the Goossen. I did manage to get the blower clogged up in about an hour of chipping/shredding. I'll watch that and report if I can figure out why that happened. When I cleaned it out, it appeared that the clog started when a few small branch sections got through the screen lengthwise, then started catching some of the other debris. The other minor niggle is that the adjustable chip chute doesn't stay put once you adjust it. It vibrates out of position and if your chute is aimed at a trailer, all of the sudden, you're missing your trailer. There may be an adjustment for the tension on that -- I'll find out when the manual gets here.

So far, I couldn't be happier with my Goossen/Bush Hog. I am continuing its workout tomorrow. It has a 25 foot tall, 25 foot wide red cedar to do dispose of. I'll let you all know how it goes.