Chipper Agriease WC42G Chipper Review Please

[DavesTractor]

JD,

There is a ledger plate on the WC42G, or an anvil as I call it. Look again, it is adjustable/replaceable. If yours is missing that would be very interesting and may explain why the log jammed.

 

[John Dougherty]

To follow up on the previous post I am now convinced that this is one of the reasons that I experienced a jamb; I think that the limb rotated (it did have a slight bend in the end) as it met the knife blade and the shoot housing probably flexed somewhat, absorbing some of the energy of the flywheel/knife. Maybe that was a good news/bad news thing. Clearly, more robust sheer opposition would be a desirable thing to have. This really adds to the need for the correct bolt hardness.

 

[John Dougherty]

Dave,
Sorry, I was typing when you replied. Where is it located, please?

 

[DavesTractor]

See if this picture works for you. At the left side of where the hopper is attached to the main housing. Lousy photo, but you should get the idea.

 

[John Dougherty]

So I looked at the exploded view of the chipper and discovered that there is indeed an plate opposing the blades. Is it adjustable? Probably, I didn't try to adjust it. So Dave is correct, it does have one. Dang, these dealers can be annoying at times. I had no way of checking the gap other than using two pieces of 1/8" strap. I inserted them into the space between the blade and the 'fixed' plate. One would pass and two would not. So on my machine the gap is somewhere between .125 and .250". This despells my theory that the shoot housing creates the sheer. I stand corrected. Plus I no longer believe that the gap between the flywheel and the housing creates the size of the chip. It is however, interesting that the size of the chips comes out much larger than this approximate gap size. Anyway, there is too much blood around here to keep typing as I have fallen on my review sword. Ouch!

 

[sandybeach]

My .02 worth:

My agriease chipper gets one heck of a lot of use (hours most weeks). I'm doing a pre-commercial thin in one area and clearing another area (to open an area for replanting). So .... lots of limbs. I use the chips for filling in low & wet spots on the forest roads.

First time I sheared a pin I panicked and called the dealer. He said just use ordinary hardware store bolts. Not stainless steel or hardened steel. In my tool kit I keep a box of bolts and a box of nylon-insert nuts. I gather up the threaded part of the sheared bolts - that's where the nuts are. I salvage the nuts and re-use them. The bolts cost about 15 cents. The nuts - I re-use them so many times they're practically free.

When chipping alder I never break any bolts. With Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock it chips great unless the limb (or small tree) is bigger than 4" and I try to chip through a knot. That's when the bolts start breaking. Now I can change a bolt in a couple of minutes - including a long drink of water.

It's easy to sharpen the knives. You can use a kitchen sharpener designed for scissors. Just don't grind off too much ... gentle sharpening makes it easier to keep the size of the knives even. The engineer in me says uneven knives will un-balance the flywheel and make everything too difficult - and wear out bushings/bearings prematurely. I'm probably over-thinking that.

Don't chip twigs with needles, and don't chip anything smaller diameter than a finger. They'll jam the exit chute. To clear that chute it takes a BFH and big drift pins or heavy pry bars, and a lot of wasted time. For the small stuff you need a shredder. As an aside, I've had a Troy-bilt 12 HP shredder for 15 years. The knives rarely need sharpening and I'm still using the original flails. I've had to weld some repairs and modify parts that get a lot of abuse. Still - it's better than leaving piles of branches in areas that I want to "park out."

My review: this chipper gets a best-buy rating.

 

[wawajake]

Although I appreciate the cost savings aspect (I do have a AgriEase attachment for Snow removal so I know the brand) ............but after reading this thread I am glad I spent a bit more and went with the Wallenstein chipper, I have done many a truck load or trailer load of chips for groundcover , mulch and ATV trails each year and have not had to do anything more than sharpen and adjust the blades once in three years....and everything from the trees (poplar, spruce, alder) branches and leaves all go thru, just make sure you alternate between branches and bigger stuff to keep chute clear sailing.

 

[Hilbilly]

Update.

After a lot more use I have not had any issues with this chipper, other than chips getting caught in the chute (which I still plan to fix). I haven't sharpened the knives yet and it still continues to cut great and the self feed is still working fine, most of the time. Some times the larger trees with crotch branches need a little coxing.

I've made a lot of chips for the vegetable garden and found it best to trim the small branches off the trunk before chipping because it leaves a cleaner product that is better suited for the garden. For any other uses I just feed the whole tree through, including branches, twigs and leaves.

So far I have no regrets with this purchase. As an added bonus I used some of the money I saved, over a brand name purchase, to get a tooth bucket for my skid steer / tractor.