Wood chipper- is it best to rent, or buy?

[plowhog]

I'm having a hard time sorting out what wood chipper to buy, and whether to just rent one instead. Home Depot and other companies rent them, usually 6" chippers.

With rental, I dislike needing to prepare a huge pile of stuff in advance, just so I can play "beat the clock" and keep the expensive rented chipper busy. I'd much prefer owning a chipper, so I could clear slash for a while, then chip for a while, then do something else or maybe repeat. Without worrying about the clock. But they are quite expensive to buy. Upper end chippers in the 6" range with hydraulic feed can run $8,000 or even much more. There are lesser priced units, but none that I am considering.

For those who have used rental chippers, how did your experience turn out?

 

[stuckmotor]

Now you've got me thinking of the guy who rented a chipper to dispose of his wife's body. It didn't work out for him. He got caught.

I hope you get some good helpful advice.

 

[crazyal]

I would think investing in something that expensive would only make sense if you had lots of work or if you don't mind tying up money with the idea of selling it afterwards. I did rent one once, they almost didn't let me because they didn't like it being towed with a 1/2 ton truck. The local dump takes brush for free and then a local power company chips it up but one guy told me they only take 3 yards while another said they would take as much as I wanted to drop off. Not knowing which guy would be there and not wanting to deal with it I rented the chipper. It worked fine and I got a lot of brush chipped up in a day but it was a workout. But between the time going to get it and drop it off and having about 5 acres of cleared forest worth of brush it was easier to just burn it. Now I just drag it into the woods where it naturally decomposes and provides habitat for small animals.

 

[CADplans]

I would rent,,, then you would learn they are not all they are cracked up to be,,,

I hear about more guys wanting to sell than be completely satisfied.
The ones you can afford do not feed well,, LOTS of effort, little results,,,

 

[dragoneggs]

Now you've got me thinking of the guy who rented a chipper to dispose of his wife's body. It didn't work out for him. He got caught.

I hope you get some good helpful advice.

Maybe if he bought the chipper he wouldn't have returned the evidence?

I used to own a 8hp gas chipper for about 10 years. Handled up to 4in but comfortably 2in. I burned anything larger anyways inside or around a 'campfire' in the backyard. I have to say I didn't use it as much as I could have/should have. Honestly it was so **** loud I didn't enjoy the work and I didn't make good use of the chips.

Don't know about your situation regarding burning, composting, land size, amount of debris to dispose but those are the variables. When I moved, I sold the chipper, bought more land that needed more 'chipping' and did just fine without one. I cut firewood, burned the smaller branches, and composted the fine stuff. I had a lot of clearing to deal with... more than a half acre of small to large trees, mature bushes, vine maple, etc. I guess what I am saying if you have other means to recycle it, I would opt for that. Have you used a chipper?

 

[RoyJackson]

Chippers are handy...I use mine for that occasional (two or three times a year) property clean up. This is normally only a couple to four hours work since I do pile the downed limbs and such. I'll use the chips to mulch around trees sometimes...just let it decompose where it lies most the time.
That said, unless you get a super deal on a used chipper (I paid $1000 for a low hour Woods 5000 chipper/shredder), it's probably cheaper to rent. However, since plowhog doesn't want to pile the debris in advance, he's not going to get the most use out of a rental chipper.

 

[groundcover]

Like a lot of things, " if you're gonna have one have a big one "
Had an interest in a 3 pt 6" POS, spent more time fixing it than chipping with it. Sold it at a loss , bought a 140hp 12" Brush Bandit and couldn't be happier. Friend of mine used to say , doesn't cost anymore to go first class, just can't stay as long !

 

[SJay]

I have 30 acres and it is mostly woods. I have rented the Home Depot style and it worked OK, don't think you're going to put 6" limbs in it, you will get very frustrated. I also rented a 100hp unit - now that was a chipper. Now I own a Woods 5000 chipper - it works well for my needs. Wouldn't mind one with blower but the price was right so I can't complain.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Depends on your needs. Is it an ongoing need? How big is the need? How much brush? How often? If it's something you are going to do once, rent the biggest one you can find. As mentioned, if it's rated to 6", it's not going to make you happy chipping 6" branches.

I rented a supposed 6" two years ago when I had to drop a dozen big trees. I was planning to chip anything under 4", the rest would go in the firewood pile. But I had volunteer help, so a few bigger ones got fed in. It was very slow going on the 5" stuff. It did manage it, but it was slow. This was a self-feed unit.

If it's an ongoing need, do the math. What does it cost to rent a big enough chipper, and how often will you need it? At 8 grand, I'm guessing you are better off renting it for a week once a year to give yourself a comfortable amount of time for the job.

I just checked SunBelt Rental's site for the Sacramento area, and they want $520 per week for a 6" self-feed. That $8,000 will get you almost 16 years of chipping with no ownership headaches (maintenance, repairs).

Always, do the math, do the math.

 

[ericm979]

Running a chipper is is one of the primary uses of of my tractor. I have 20 acres of prolific trees and brush and it's impossible to get a burn permit. I had a 10hp standalone chipper/shredder. It was totally useless. The 4.5" MerryMac pto chipper stretches the limit of my tractor, and I'm stretching the limits of the chipper. I'd really like a larger chipper to handle brush and tree parts without so much prep work and careful feeding.

The stuff I'm chipping is in different places on my property. Some trees I cut down here, brush there. Owning a chipper I can cut trees or brush, make a number of small piles, then come back with the tractor and chipper and chip them. If I had to rent a chipper I'd want to spend a whole day chipping, which means I'd be leaving the piles around for a while until the next chipping day.

Then there's the hassle of renting the chipper. Going into town, renting something and hauling it back takes a minimum of 1.5 hours. That's three hours out of a day. It takes 10 minutes to walk to the barn fire up the tractor and put the chipper on it.

I want/need a larger chipper so much that it's a major motivation to getting a larger tractor. Woodmaxx and Woodland Mills make 8" power feed chippers that are reasonably priced. While they are made in China they're designed and supported in North America. I've used a lot of made in China non-tractor stuff, and having North American support is key.