Chipper clogged by pine needles

   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #11  
YUCK. I remember the days chipping my pines with the Wally BX42S. About every hour or so. Stop everything and douche out the discharge chute with shop rags soaked in diesel fuel. I found that chipping an old dry limb - every so often helped also. My problem - VERY limited supply of old dry limbs.

I've had the Wally BX62S for nine years. The original side of all the knives are still razor sharp. Chipping small, green pines( 1" to 6" on the butt ) and not dragging them thru the dirt really saves the knife blades.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles
  • Thread Starter
#12  
Thanks all. To answer some of the questions:

The chipper has just a few hours of use, no hard wood (lots of sandy soil here so mostly spruce, pine and some birch. I checked the 4 blades and they were all sharp.
The freezing rain only did damage to the pine trees, so that's all I had to chip. Couldn't mix hard wood in there, since I almost have no hard wood trees on the property.
Biggest branch was 4" diameter, but most were about 1" and lots of needles.
Feeding was fine for what I could see. Once I cleaned the chute with diesel, I was back in business.

If I ever have to chip large quantity of pine again, I guess I'll stop every hour to clean the chute of sap with diesel.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #13  
I only chip in the spring. Cooler weather. When I'm completely done - coat all the knife blades with a heavy grease. Keeps any of the blades from rusting. My chipper is one implement that I store up on a pallet and under the cover of my carport.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #14  
A short CRAZY story this morning. So yesterday - out checking my many pine stands. Seeing how much thinning/dragging/chipping needs to be done.

Brownie - my little brown Cocker Spaniel - is at the base of a very large Ponderosa pine - barking like mad. So....no coyotes, no badgers, no raccoons.

Finally - I look up. At the very top of this gigantic pine - a single porcupine. Munching on the soft bark - up there at the very top.

Two things spring to mind - he is a darn good climber - - he is a tad short in the brain pan. If he fell from that height - about 90 to 95 feet - he would land and have the same effect as a water balloon.

I hope this is the only way Brownie ever has an experience with a porcupine. When outside - I always keep Brownie close at hand.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #16  
I spend a wad of time in the shop, sharpening chipper knives for commercial tree companies. Interestingly, I'm the only shop around here that grinds them and the cost of new commercial chipper knives makes regrinding much more cost effective and the same applies to chainsaw chains, which I also do. Just ground 40 loops for a commercial operator along with his chipper knives. I charge 10 bucks a loop for grinding, no matter what the length of the loop is.

I always have a pile to sharpen and the knife edge as well as the angle of taper on the knives play an important part as to how any chipper expels chips and the velocity.

Presently, my per inch grind charge is 60 cents per lineal inch and most commercial knives are double edged plus I also square the anvils at the same cost.

Retirement is grand....not really.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #17  
You must batch the knifes because at 6.00$ for a 5 inch knife I don't see how you make any money. Do you grind them on a surface grinder with coolant. I haven't had to sharpen my knives yet on my chipper but I am probably due to flip them over.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #18  
I own a chipper knife grinder. 4 at a time... Not about making money anyway. I provide the service for commercial arborists only.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #19  
Dull knives are the leading cause of plugging, dull or incorrect angle. Could be the anvil needs ground as well.
 
   / Chipper clogged by pine needles #20  
whatever keeps you busy and you enjoy doing is great. and if it happens to help with the bills even better.
 
 
 
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