Buying Advice Wood Chipper for 12 acres

[NickTaylor]

Howdy,

I have about 6 acres of timber (mix of hardwood and cedars) to maintain on 12 acres in central TX. Have riding trails cut throughout so I知 constantly stacking brush, small trees, etc (usually 4 or less in diameter). I had a old craftsman chipper shredder that I just sold off so I could get something real. I need to chip all of this brush for trails and landscaping. I have a Deere 770 compact tractor that I use for mowing. It痴 only 23 hp so probably underpowered to do much as far as PTO driven, plus I壇 have to take off the mower deck every time I want to chip which sounds like a pain.

My goal is to stay under $3000 (I have other toys to buy).

Recommendations on a good chipper in this price range? Stand alone or PTO?

Looking for some sage advice.

Nick

 

[Tompet]

Look at woodland mills website. They have outstanding customer service and are priced within your budget. I purchased the pto WC68 and after a minor adjustment works great and saves a lot of time.

Maybe check out Woodmaxx too.

 

[4570Man]

There’s always the free option.

 

[NickTaylor]

I was just on their website. Tractor data says my rear PTO is only 20 hp so I wonder if the WC68 would just bog down? Looks like both Woodland Mills and Woodmaxx have models designed for compact utility tractors, so those sound like great options! Anyone have experience with the WC46 or the TM-86H?

 

[rademamj1]

I have been clearing power line and waterline access, widening gravel roads and opening footpaths on our property here in Central Texas for last three years. Been mainly Cedar, mesquite, some elms and oaks and lots of brush. It's really looking very nice too. This is selective clearing, and not the typical clear cutting of every tree on the property. All of it requires a PTO Chipper for this task.

After first removing and stacking the firewood pieces that are 3" diameter or greater, we then dispose of the rest. We have done burning of these brush piles in winter and spring time. However, must do the chipping in Summer and Fall due to State of Texas mandated bans on burning in the dry months.

I recommend the Woodmax WM-8H Chipper. Extremely well made, with 8" opening and requires about 19 hp to operate at high efficiency.

8" PTO Wood Chipper Tree Chipper Brush Chipper - Hydraulic Feed

 

[Thunder chicken]

I have a woodland Mills 88. i have lots of HP but, i'd say get the biggest one for your HP. It's not all about the size of a log you can chip, it's also the size of the opening into the chipping flywheel, which the bigger, the better, as you won't have to trim as many limbs off, worry about crooked branches etc. i'm running mostly 2-4" stuff through this 8", but with all the limbs on.
This pile woulda been a good night of burning in the fall, but i'd have had to wait, work around it, then stay up 1/2 the night tending to it. In less than an hour it is turned into $100 worth of garden chips/mulch. (actually that picture was not the whole brush pile, just a portion of it.)

 

[Industrial Toys]

I bought a large 15" PTO chipper. GREAT to have, but I soon realized that some poor sucker has to get every piece of wood to and into the chipper!

Then you hear stories on here about people getting truck loads of chips for the taking, as much as they want and you wonder what you are doing. Sure, that varies by region. Still better returning Biomass to the ground then burning it if you can find the time and energy.

 

[skipperbrown]

I don't have one, but in reading about them here, you really want a power feed system.

 

[Tompet]

I don't have one, but in reading about them here, you really want a power feed system.

Good point I forgot to mention.

 

[oosik]

I started out, many years ago, with a Wallenstein BX42S - manual feed. When I upgraded to my current Kubota M6040 - I wanted a larger chipper. I looked at the Wally BX92S. Then reality hit me. There is no way in God's green earth that I could drag a 9" pine tree. The VERY BIGGEST pine I can drag is 6". I got my current chipper - Wally BX62S - manual feed.

Every spring I scurry around the property - thinning my pine stands. I will end up with 900 to 1200 small pines that need to be chipped. So it's - identify, fell, drag to a pile, chip. "Drag to a pile" is, far and away, the most difficult part of this annual project.

Been doing this for over 15 years now. I chip all the pines "in the round" - ie, no limbs removed. Butt first - away they go. With pines being 100% of what I chip - never had the need for a hydraulic in-feed system. Crooked limbs & trees - completely different story.

There is a lot of truth to what Thunder Chicken says. Larger chipper - larger in-feed chute - larger mouth at the chipping fly wheel - larger flywheel. It also means - larger $$$$.

 

[Jchonline]

I have a WC88, used it 1 season so far. Great machine. I agree with other comments it will wear you out. Also stay within your HP range. Low HP will really slow down the chipping.

 

[rademamj1]

All good points and advice from owners. I had completed selective clearing on 5 acres a few years ago. Had many piles of wood debris 10 feet high or more, intending to burn. Unfortunately being a new resident and unaware, my first burn pile brought the McLennan County Sherriff attention, and my first awareness of Texas policy on a rural burn ban in the summertime.

I rented a Vermeer 26HP chipper with Kohler engine and each burn pile was gone in 15 minutes. I purchased the Woodmax 9900 PTO Chipper, and powered by my Kioti tractor Diesel with 33Hp at the Pto, it's far more powerful than the commercial Vermeer I rented.

 

[ericm979]

I have about 70 hours on my Woodmaxx 8H, all on my Branson 3725. I had a MacKissick TH186 before, which I used on a Kubota B7100. It's a 4.5" chipper while the 8H is 8". The macKissick is a "chuck and duck" self feeding chipper. You have to tilt the material up to get it in the upwards pointing chute. Then pull your hands away quick when the chipper catches it, because it will pull it in fast. Sometimes it has to be rotated to get it to "catch".

The 8H's chute is horizontal so it's easier to get larger heavier material in it. Sometimes I lift the butt up onto the chute and then go lift the other end and push it in. But usually I cut it small enough to be readily picked up. That's still way larger than what I had to do for the MacKissick. That chipper required much more cutting to get material into it, and more careful feeding as well.

The 8H is hydraulic feed. It's much easier to get it to feed, and since the feed speed is controlled, it's also safer. At this point I would not go back to a non hydraulic feed chipper.
My tractor has 32 HP at the PTO and there's been times I could use more. We have a lot of wood so I chip stuff that other people might use for firewood.

Around here used commercial trailer type stand alone chippers are expensive. They might be cheaper where you are. There's also renting. I don't like renting because of the time it takes to pick up and drop off but maybe you're closer, and able to arrange your piles to make a rental day worth while. Renting once would also let you try out hydraulic feed to see if you like it.

 

[abunchofidiots]

Whatever you look into, look for hydraulic feed. Manual feed (self feed) requires one person to stand there and feed the entire time.

 

[Industrial Toys]

For safety, I prefer one person be in charge of the hopper or infeed.

 

[oosik]

Neither of my two manual feed Wallensteins required somebody to continuously push the material into the hopper. Once the tree makes contact with the chipper blades - the system is self feeding. It pulls & feeds so rapidly - it has often frightened the new & uninitiated helper.

That is one of the best features I've found with both Wallys. Get the tree in the chipper and it starts chipping. Now you can turn and grab the next tree to feed into the chipper.

If you have to continuously push the tree/limb into the chipper to get it to chip - something is very wrong.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Which is why it should be one persons responibility to supervise the machine. I got wacked a couple of times a few weeks ago as stuff enters violently twisting and turning.

 

[5030]

There’s always the free option. View attachment 659022

Thats me. Had a power infeed pto chipper and sold it. Much easier roasting the limbs, less aggravation, no fuel (except the accelerant to get the fire going), no piles of chips and no maintenance on yet another implement.

 

[oosik]

IT - exactly. One must alway be aware that the tree might shift/twist with a whole lot of force as it is pulled into the chipper. Getting whacked in the arm or back isn't so bad. When the @#$% tree hits me in the head and knocks my hat off............. For me, because I'm always chipping small pines( 1" to 6" on the butt ) - it's more of a shock and nuisance. If it were a large limb - a different matter.

I didn't thin/chip this spring. Resting up. Next year it will be catch up. Next year my son & his friend WILL be helping.

 

[rademamj1]

I got whacked hard last month, when a branch feeding into the chipper, rotated 180 degrees very violently and hit me. Despite me seeing it start to rotate, and trying to quickly jump away, it still hit me hard. Ouch! Happened in less than a second.

The overall Safety with these tractor PTO Chippers is still very very good. However, a lot of people are injured on the towed commercial chippers, and this usually due to a loss of focus on the job or stupidity.