Rent or buy a chipper-- I need to decide soon

[oosik]

WoW!! Alll these years - all the hours spent chipping - WHAT have I been missing - girls in bikinis, dancing, delivering ice cold beers - whew.

I think Beltzingtons idea of rental might just be a great idea.

I take the approach to all this - - identify the tree to be cut - cut - drag out and pile - chip. With me owning a chipper - saving time is not all that critical. However, the approach I use does save time for me.

It will be important if you rent - that you are really ready to chip when you bring that chipper home. SO ------ have everything drug out - cut to chipping size and piled. This way all you will be doing is truly chipping - not fiddle-de-farting around.

 

[ericm979]

My Woodmaxx 8H needs periodic maintenance. I grease the bearings every 5 hours. I also give a quick hone to the blades then. I'm not sure that makes much difference. Blades get rotated every 20 hours. They're double sided so I get 40 hours per set before they need to be sharpened. The unit comes with an hour meter. Blade access is through small access ports. The Woodland Mills and Nova designs where the top of the rotor housing swings up and out of the way would be easier to deal with but the 8H is not bad. Adjusting the clearance between the moving knives and bed knife is a pain. I'm 6' tall and thin so I go through the chute and just reach it. The long chute is good for safety though as it keeps the operator farther away from the danger parts.

Owning a chipper is much more convenient than renting. I don't have to make the drive into town to get it and don't have to maximize my use of the chipper while I have it. I can do an hour or two after work. OTOH the PTO chipper has limited capacity. One can rent a larger unit. With 32 pto hp I have to slow the feed way down to chip stuff over 5" or so. I recommend hydraulic power feed- power feed is both safer and more effective especially with species that have irregular branches like oak and madrone. Hydraulic lets you adjust the feed speed.

I did look for used self powered chippers but like most implements in California they were either really expensive or totally beat up and expensive.

 

[plowhog]

Took this picture this am before it got very light. Maybe another later when it is more lit up.

For reference, the building in the picture has a peak height of about 16 ft. There are probably 9-10 oaks in this vicinity, and they "march" all the way up the hill. I'm only trimming the ones near structures.

The disturbed dirt in the foreground is the RV pad I am working on ... trying to level out.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Took this picture this am before it got very light. Maybe another later when it is more lit up.

For reference, the building in the picture has a peak height of about 16 ft. There are probably 9-10 oaks in this vicinity, and they "march" all the way up the hill. I'm only trimming the ones near structures.

The disturbed dirt in the foreground is the RV pad I am working on ... trying to level out.

View attachment 574604

Wow. Magnificent trees.

 

[tomplum]

I have chipped for 2 days straight with my Mac. I hate chipping. As stated, you seem to get little result for your efforts- but the resource is being used. For the most part if your life has been OK without a chipper so far, have it chipped or get a large one with the feed off the rental lot.

 

[Oldoak]

I would rent a commercial size chipper. That's what I have always done while maintaining my wood lot and apple orchard. I didn't have enough use annually to justify purchasing a chipper of the size I wanted to use. Some years I didn't even have use for a chipper.

Keep in mind, there is more to maintaining a chipper than just cleaning and lubricating, e.i, keeping the knives sharp and setting correct clearances (knives to anvil) etc. and if storing for long periods of time, coating the knives with a good rust preventative. None of which is very hard but takes a time and mechanical aptitude.

 

[crazyal]

When clearing my land to build a house I had lots of branches. I didn't have a tractor with a PTO and I wasn't about to use one of the 5hp homeowner specials. So I tried to rent a chipper and when I got there the rental place said I needed a 3/4 ton truck to tow it or the insurance company wouldn't cover any accidents. That's the story I got from another rental company so I gave up trying to rent one. I then took a truck and trailer load to the dump. They have a special area for branches because a local woodchip power plant sends a truck over to chip/ haul it off. The guy at the dump said I could only bring 3 yards worth without paying. So I left 3 yards there and drove further away from my house where they took the rest. They were the ones who told me that it doesn't cost the dump a single thing. I have burnt it but that's kind of a pain. Now I just drag it into the woods and have piles all over the place. The good is that the branches will quickly dry out, as they do it creates a nice place for smaller creatures to live and then it becomes soil. Sooner or later I'll get a PTO chipper but it will have to have hydraulic feed so I can start a branch chipping and not babysit it so I can walk to get the next branch.

 

[plowhog]

Here is a pix of one of our nicest shaped oaks. I took this standing on the 2nd story of the house. It's hard to get the full tree in the pix as they are so large.

This one is kind of by itself, but in line with the row of oaks in the earlier picture. There must be underground water flow or something to support so many large trees-- which I'm sure need a lot of water.

 

[ericm979]

Those are nice trees. Removing the appropriate branches should make them healthier and safer. When anglos started coming to California the Californios thought they were fools for camping under the big valley oaks, because the branches break off.

 

[Texasmark]

My farm is getting pretty wooded. As time passes I will use the wood for my winter heating rather than buying as is the current process.

I don't want to hire tree removal done as I don't want the liability and other things I can't control. I have been seriously thinking about a chipper and looking at them in the 4" 3 pt range....running around $1700 and all seem to be of the same design, aka same source, just different stickers, like after market power steering units and drum mowers which I have one of each.

Nearest town is 25 miles and my limited experience with rentals is you don't know what you are going to get and not knowing how to operate it is a big negative. Still thinking about it.