Clearing a small piece of my lot, Wood Chipper questions

[RodSerling]

I want to thin out a 1/2 acre in my backyard for recreational purposes. I want to leave about 1/3 to 1/2 the trees and clear all the brush. I've took a few trees down and cleared some brush but the amount of brush and small branches left over is overwhelming. My lot is also very wet so wood chips would be nice to have to elevate walk ways and paths.

So I'm contemplating buying a wood chipper vs renting. On one hand renting is nice, no maintenance, no storing it, and I can rent a bigger machine then I could afford to buy. On the other hand I have to make time count while I'm renting and it is only me and my wife so we only go so fast. I plan on living here in the woods until I pass on so how many times would I rent one and will the rental fees be over the purchase price? I don't need a monster chipper, anything over 3"-3 1/2" I save for firewood.

Pros of buying one is the ability to use it whenever I want or need to. But I don't want to spend more than $1000 new or used. What kind of chipper can you get for that kind of money?
So what do you guys think?

Here is the piece of land I want to clear.

 

[s219]

Even used PTO chippers -- the good ones -- will go for a lot more than $1K used. I shopped around for a while, and it came down to scoring a good used one for $1800-2200 when the timing was right or buying one brand new for $2700. I finally bought brand new (Wallenstein BX-42).

I debated renting, but all the rentals were trailered models, and would not have been easy to get where I wanted. With a 3-point mounted model, it goes anywhere your 4x4 tractor will go. Plus there's no time pressure. If I want to bust it out to chip a tree this afternoon for 5 minutes, I can.

With a BX-25, how much PTO HP do you have? How big of a 3-point implement can you handle?

Finally, for thin brush, you will probably want a chipper-shredder. Straight chippers are mainly for thicker material or whatever is attached to thicker material (so it gets sucked in with the main piece). For thin stuff, a straight chipper can be frustrating unless you can pull the material in with a bigger piece.

Good luck! BTW, look for a chute model if you want to reuse the wood chips with minimal hassle -- you can either blow them where they need to go, or direct into a trailer for transport. One less step.

 

[PapaPerk]

If you don't wanna screw around with it you will need a good size chipper. And I would buy feed rollers too.

Next big question is how much HP do you have?

I burn my brush piles... Don't have the patience to feed sticks all day.

Nice property! (0:

 

[groundcover]

Been the cheap chipper route, the stingy man spends the most ! Spent more time working on it than working it. Sold it on Craig's list and never looked back. Picked up a 250XP Brush Bandit with a winch. A bit bigger than what most of the rental yars have but man what a machine ! I would rent someting rather than buying something that you may regret.

 

[newbury]

Your BX25D is on the bottom end of the power curve for a good chipper and the $1,000 is well below the average price point.

Things to consider - As you go "up" in size for chippers you basically get a bigger hole and heavier chipping wheels. But you also get a bigger opening to stuff branches in also. I've a Jinma 8" chipper I've documented on here. Now about the biggest piece of wood I've chipped is around 6" or 7" of SOLID hardwood limb.

But I also had a ton of curved branches, twisted limbs, etc. that although the diameter of the limb was only 1" I would not have been able to cram them in a 4" chipper. So getting something BIGGER doesn't mean you can't use it IF you can move it.

You've got about 18HP to run the chipper. Tractordata lists your rear lift at about 700 pounds, that may be a more limiting factor. My B7610 (18hp) can barely move my Jinma, in theory I can lift ~1,300 lbs.

Check some of the many chipper threads here. I'm sure there are oters chipping with a BX2X.

 

[justme23005]

I have a DR chipper with a 13 HP engine on it, that I would sell for $875. I'm in NY.

 

[RodSerling]

I guess I posted in the wrong forum. I didn't think I would find a PTO chipper for $1000 I was thinking more along the lines of a small Bearcat or Stanley.

 

[big lar]

Rod Serling, your real name??

 

[dave1949]

I guess I posted in the wrong forum. I didn't think I would find a PTO chipper for $1000 I was thinking more along the lines of a small Bearcat or Stanley.

I don't have any experience to share on those chippers. I have a BX62 that I think highly of.

Looking at the pic of your property and your goal of clearing 1/2 acre for recreation purposes, I wondered how or if you will deal with the stumps. Also, once you let some light in, you will have a 1/2 acre that wants to fill with something, and it doesn't look very mower friendly--no offense.

I have some much smaller areas I keep under control with a brush saw/weed whacker on steroids, a Stihl FS-250 I think it is. 1/2 acre will keep you busy for a while but it's doable. Those are not cheap either though.

 

[s219]

But I also had a ton of curved branches, twisted limbs, etc. that although the diameter of the limb was only 1" I would not have been able to cram them in a 4" chipper. So getting something BIGGER doesn't mean you can't use it IF you can move it.

Most high-end chippers have enlarged chutes to deal with situations like that. For example, my Wallenstein is rated for 4" thick material, but the feed chute has a 4"x12" opening at the throat (they claim it can swallow 2x10 lumber, but I have not tried that).

 

[J F]

Rod Serling, your real name??

 

[Code54]

I had a nice chipper for several years but found it was way more work than just burning the brush. Now I grab it with the grapple, stack it and light it on fire. Quick and easy and no extra expense.
If I only was doing ½ acre I personally would just rent a large unit for the day and knock it out. Get all the stuff to one place and have it ready to go and it should not take real long to run it through a commercial chipper.

 

[pinetree10]

I can see why you don't want to spend too much. Tough to justify spending a lot of money for 1/2 acre of trees. I had a tough time selling the idea to my wife and we have 2 1/2 acres stuffed with 80-foot pine and maple trees. The Bearcats are nice. My father has the chipper/shredder which violently and abruptly eats anything fed into the top chute. I don't know if they make Woods or Woods make theirs but they used to look identical. It has to be difficult to find a decent 3PH chipper for under $1,000. I used to rent too but at $200 each time it was adding up and I hated rushing through it after building up a huge pile for 2 or 3 years. Nothing like having the equipment on hand and taking it out when you feel like it, when the weather is nice, and when you have all day to get it done.

 

[RodSerling]

Rod Serling, your real name??

Actually it is at least on here it is

I don't have any experience to share on those chippers. I have a BX62 that I think highly of.

Looking at the pic of your property and your goal of clearing 1/2 acre for recreation purposes, I wondered how or if you will deal with the stumps. Also, once you let some light in, you will have a 1/2 acre that wants to fill with something, and it doesn't look very mower friendly--no offense.

I have some much smaller areas I keep under control with a brush saw/weed whacker on steroids, a Stihl FS-250 I think it is. 1/2 acre will keep you busy for a while but it's doable. Those are not cheap either though.

Well once I thin it out I will try and grow some kind of covering over it. And you are 100% right it is not mower friendly. Small rocks just seem to pop up all the time. No matter how many times I look for them and try to find them they just seem to keep popping up. I'm leaving the rest of my lot wooded but this one little area I wanted to thin out some and get some sun in. There is also a nice natural rock garden back in there that you can't see.

I had a nice chipper for several years but found it was way more work than just burning the brush. Now I grab it with the grapple, stack it and light it on fire. Quick and easy and no extra expense.
If I only was doing ½ acre I personally would just rent a large unit for the day and knock it out. Get all the stuff to one place and have it ready to go and it should not take real long to run it through a commercial chipper.

This is why I made the thread to get a bunch of great opinions from those that have been there, thanks everyone.

I can see why you don't want to spend too much. Tough to justify spending a lot of money for 1/2 acre of trees. I had a tough time selling the idea to my wife and we have 2 1/2 acres stuffed with 80-foot pine and maple trees. The Bearcats are nice. My father has the chipper/shredder which violently and abruptly eats anything fed into the top chute. I don't know if they make Woods or Woods make theirs but they used to look identical. It has to be difficult to find a decent 3PH chipper for under $1,000. I used to rent too but at $200 each time it was adding up and I hated rushing through it after building up a huge pile for 2 or 3 years. Nothing like having the equipment on hand and taking it out when you feel like it, when the weather is nice, and when you have all day to get it done.

That's the whole thing, I only want to clear a 1/2 acre, if I had a big piece of land I may invest more into a chipper but I only have a little over 4 acres with 3 1/2 wooded and I want to keep it mostly natural, I just want that little bit of open land to do things with.

 

[Olympus]

I cleared 3 acres on my property that was so overgrown with brush that you could not walk through it. Mostly sapling about as big around as your wrist and smaller. I took a 7 ft brush hog and just gave it ****. Worked perfectly, but the results was a ground completely covered in shredded wood.

That was a year and a half ago. Since then, I regularly use a smaller brush hog and mow about twice a month to keep it maintained. If you look at the area now, you'd never know what it was before. The shredded wood chips have pretty much all decayed and been mulched up. My neighbor rented a chipper and did what you are talking about. A little over a year later and my property looks the same as his and I did mine for a lot cheaper, free actually.

 

[CalG]

I've enjoyed the McKissic Chipper shredder combo.

When cleaning up a tree, Everything that even looks like it would fit in the wood stove gets cut . "Limb wood is the best wood" for a quick spring or autumn fire.

That puts the chipper shredder into it's own with the small diameter but bulky tops.

While using the chain saw on the tops, I try to keep the crotches and notches in mind. Feeding a chipper chute goes so easily when the stock is long and thin.. But it always amazes me how a couple of nibbles on one side then a turn in the chute to chip off a bit more of some knob or branch cluster can get a reluctant piece to feed in. Still, feeding a chipper chute is work. But, No membership fees to the gym!

The shredder and chipper come in handy all summer long too, As there seems to always be something falling out of the tree tops, or growing up between the rocks. I garden, so the compostable material is welcome. Even if The piles seem to be getting bigger every season ;-)

Any way, For "utilization" of your clean up , I go for the pto driven chipper shredder. If you just want to get it done . Hire a machine.

Oh, I paid just less than your target $ number for this "like new" machine. It did need a new drive shaft though. The original was twisted up. I think the previous owner might have got the machine caught on a mouthful, He had a 45 HP tractor, so the results may have scared him.
A new PTO shaft cured the ills. and I have been pleased with the performance.

I do need to turn the shredder hammers. After a couple years, of use, they are getting rounded off.

cheers

 

[oosik]

I used to burn wood - not any more. So I got a Wallenstein 62s and chip it all. The chipper will handle trees that REALLY tax my abilities to drag, move, grunt and lift by hand. How well I know - yesterday I finally finished chipping the last pile of young P. pines. I annually thin several stands of young pines. I originally had a Wally 42s but I wanted to chip trees just a little bigger so I traded up to the 62s. The closest rental facility is over 30 miles away so that is out. Besides it usually starts raining as soon as I hook up the chipper and I don't chip in the rain either.
Anyhow, I've had Wallenstein chipper for over 25 years and NEVER had a moments problem with them.

 

[gtrippleb]

The Bx42s is a great little chipper. It doesn't work to great with leafy stuff as the leafs just slide through so I would get one with a chipper/shredder. I've had two over the past 4 years. I bought one and used it for about 6 months and then sold it for a couple hundred less than I bought it for. Sure beats renting something that you don't know the condition of or you have to take time out of your day to go pickup and return.

I bought another one a few years ago and kept it. It takes no time at all to chip up a tree. You don't need feed rollers or hydraulic feeding unless you are inserting limbs that branch out wider than the chute and need help being fed into the chipper. I've learned over the years to just cut every branch/limb straight or at least as straight as possible with the chainsaw and throw it in the chipper. By the time I grab another limb to insert in the chute, the previous limb has been chipped up. Anything over 4" I cut up in 12" - 16" lengths and give to the neighbors as they heat with wood and I don't need it.

I recommend getting one of these to wear with your safety glasses.
Pro Forest Helmet System - Head, hearing and sight protection

 

[PAGUY]

Rod - I can't understand why you would want to work that hard to clean 1/2 acre that would still have rocks and stumps to contend with. Rent an excavator and clear up trees along with the stumps and dig up the rocks to use in your rock garden. The trees could be stacked and cleaned up at your convenience and the end result will be a nice open area that can be mowed and enjoyed for whatever your plans for it could be.

A chipper is just another machine that just sits around rusting away or in the road where ever you store it. If you don't want to clear it yourself hire a machine with operator who could knock out 1/2 acre in no time flat. It would be money well spent. Just sayin.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
That's the whole thing, I only want to clear a 1/2 acre, if I had a big piece of land I may invest more into a chipper but I only have a little over 4 acres with 3 1/2 wooded and I want to keep it mostly natural, I just want that little bit of open land to do things with.

I think many of us focused on chipper and 4 acres.

I've only got about 4 or 5 hundred acres of wood. I bought an 8hp Kemp chipper/shredder when I only had 3/4 of an acre. It was too small to do diddly-squat, even for 3/4 of an acre. IF you can run a 4" class shredder on your tractor and can use wood chips I'm sure you could make frequent use of the chipper. And a decent 6" chinese chipper like the Jinma or Wood-maxx can be had for about the same price as a Stanley 4" at HD.
/edit - 8" Jinma @ CircleG is listed for $1400 now. http://www.shop.circlegtractorparts.com/product.sc?productId=4415&categoryId=1&gclid=CPmUoI6Ewr0CFSsQ7AodMyIA9Q

But doing a 1/2 acre sounds like a one time one shot job.