Chipper Chipper vs Chipper Shredder

[cmhyland]

Looking for a new unit....

Which will be more usefull around a yard and 8 acres..

I looked at the Salsco 600 for a chipper. Should I look at a chipper shredder with similar chipping abilities?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[HomeBrew2]

After following your other thread, I thought I'd mention something that may sound obvious but it wasn't obvious to me at the time I bought my chipper. One really needs to be kindof picky about running dirty material thru a chipper unless you can find carbide blades or don't mind sharpening them quite often. That's not to say it can't be done but to have an efficient chipper, the blades need to be sharp.
So, I don't chip brush that has rolled around in the dirt and if a limb got jammed into the dirt I cut off the end or wait till the rain washes it. I thought that would slow down my operation but, like Highbeam, I find the Bushhog able to chop lighter dirty brush fast and pretty decently.
Nothing is as fast a burning but, I need the [native] mulch for my arid land and am severely limited, by law, as to when I can burn ... not just fire hazard but air quality too. I like my old Ford I6 powered Fitchburg chipper

 

[cmhyland]

Thanks Homebrew,
The pic of that pile was the first or second of some whole trees and scrub stuffed there by an excavator. What a mess it was. All the trees were whole roots and all....

I've cleaned that up and burned that stuff... I have lots of brush cleanup to do and lets face it, its ongoing for ever... We have a boat and we're gone all summer so I have real early spring, late fall and winter to clear this stuff...


Limited time means working on my schedule...

Thanks,
Chris

 

[swines]

Depends upon what you think you'll be chipping. If it's only tree limbs, the chipper will be fine. If you're going to be doing a brush or small things the shredder really helps.

I have a chipper / shredder and probably use the shredder more than the chipper because I clear brush and trim a lot of shrubs and small trees. The chipper is used probably 30% and the shredder 70% of the time.

 

[RalphVa]

A guy bought my MacKissic that went on my Gravely to shred his raspberry canes because his DR chipper-only wouldn't do them well. Strangely, that MacKissic, very much like the TPH-122 one I have now for the PTO on the JD, didn't have a chipper blade.

I mainly use the shredder part of my TPH-122 except for bigger, mostly limb stuff. I, like the other poster, probably use the chipper about 30% of the time and the shredder 70%. Of course, for doing leaves, they're 100% shredding. Best thing for leaves is one of those vacuum-them-up shredders. A friend of mine has one of those. However, the TPH-122 (and was identical on the Gravely-mount MacKissic I had) has a 2 part hopper that'll open wide to make dribbling things like leaves into it.

A fellow master gardener has a chipper only machine. He said the cost of getting the chipper blades reground is quite expensive on it. On my TPH-122, it was $5. A new (single) blade for it is $57. I just swapped the new blade, which is in need of a regrind now, for the reground blade. It's a very easy operation. Think the process of changing out the blades on a chipper only machine would be more like the process of changing out or rotating the hammers on a shredder: a little bit more involved. Hammers on my MacKissic seem to be hardly wearing; whereas, the chipper blade doesn't last that long before needing regrinding. Bet it's not much longer for the blades on a chipper only machine.

Ralph

 

[Turnpikeenterprise]

I have a chipper/shredder. It works great with the smaller brush material. If you have mostly chipping to do and want to put it into a trailer or pile it high, then the chipper is a better choice. The unit I have came from DR in VT and the only complaint is cleaning out under it where the chips/shreds are deposited. I use a hoe to do this.

Mike

 

[Tom_H]

I just bought the DR chipper because I have mostly small limbs and very few leaves to deal with. As I'm already in my 50's and look towards the future, getting a 185 lb. "chipper only" moved to the 3ph and hooked up seems much preferable to a 650 lb. "chipper/shredder combo". The statements above regarding small branches going through the shredder better than the chipper makes me hope that I haven't made the wrong choice. So, this leads to my question, does anybody know of a "shredder only" machine that might be smaller and lighter than the 650 lb. Salsco, MacKissick, Bear Cat models? I've searched a lot and have never seen one.

I realize that a combo makes more sense in terms of price and storage space, but at this point in my life, two separate lighter weight units dedicated to different tasks would be a whole lot easier on my back.

Also, does anyone know where you can purchase carbide blades that would fit the DR?

 

[kossetx]

I'm Trying to make this same decision and have lots of questions. While it appears that a combo unit will be superior to a chipper only I wonder if it is worth the extra cost. I don't know how many leaves and debries I would be shredding. You all who shread, what are you shredding? I mostly trim trees and cut out saplings from oak mesquite, ceder, youpon and elm. They mostly are 1/2-3"'s in diameter, but many oak limbs can be 4"+. Would the chipper make the smaller stuff look like mulch or is a shredder better for that. A 6"jimna chipper is 1500.00 locally and a 4.5" chipper shredder is 2900+ shipping, so 2X the cost.

I hate burning and could use the natural vegitation to make mulch piles, but would also like to do it as cheaply as possible. Any advice? MP

 

[dillo99]

I really think this depends a lot on your situation (chipper or chipper/shreader). I purchased only a chipper but most of what I am doing is getting rid of small trees out in the woods when I make paths. I use the resulting chips on the trails. For the most part, my dr. easily takes and chips the entire tree - including the top branches. A shreader would probably do that part a little better, but not a necessity. If I was doing more "on lawn" type work where I was clipping bushes and stuff I would probably have wanted a shreader on the chipper.

 

[RalphVa]

The Mac TPH-122 is only 160#. It's a chipper/shredder.

It's essentially the same machine as the shredder-only version that I had for my Gravely. It was a MacKissic, too. Missed having the chipper on it. Never could understand why none was provided.

The old TroyBilt Tomahawk and the 2 Macs that I've owned, including a tiny motor-driven Black and Decker, all had to have the shredding/chippings scooped out of the way. I have a big scoop for doing this, after 2 to 3 bags of leaves, generally.

Ralph

 

[Tom_H]

Ralph,

True, The the Mac TPH-122is lower weight. The reason I chose the DR over the 122 is that it doesn't take as large dia. material as the DR.

What was the model of Mac that you had that was shredder only? I don't see a shredder only model in their lineup??

 

[swines]

I'm Trying to make this same decision and have lots of questions. While it appears that a combo unit will be superior to a chipper only I wonder if it is worth the extra cost. I don't know how many leaves and debries I would be shredding. You all who shread, what are you shredding? I mostly trim trees and cut out saplings from oak mesquite, ceder, youpon and elm. They mostly are 1/2-3"'s in diameter, but many oak limbs can be 4"+. Would the chipper make the smaller stuff look like mulch or is a shredder better for that. A 6"jimna chipper is 1500.00 locally and a 4.5" chipper shredder is 2900+ shipping, so 2X the cost.

I hate burning and could use the natural vegitation to make mulch piles, but would also like to do it as cheaply as possible. Any advice? MP

I live in New Mexico. We have a lot of four-wing salt bush that spontaneously grows everywhere and takes over. You bust them out using the FEL bucket and haul them to the chipper area. The bush may be anywhere from 4-6 feet high, and is made up of many multiple branches. However, none of the branches will be more than 1-inch in diameter.

Trying to feed that through the chipper is waaay time consuming. If you chop the stems apart, you can get clumps that feed in large gulps right through the shredder. Takes maybe 10 minutes per bush. If you tried to feed that through the chipper it would take forever because the branched ends of the stems would have to be small enough to feed down the chipper chute.

We use the shredder for everything up to 1-inch in diameter. Things larger than 1-inch get fed through the chipper. The shredder makes chips (just smaller) like the chipper. We use the chips for both compost and ground cover around trees.

My wife feeds all of the leaves through the shredder first and then into the compost pile. The leaves breakdown about 2-3x faster after being shredded.

 

[RalphVa]

I don't recall what the MacKissic model was that I sold for Gravely mount. I let it go with the manual. It was probably a very old one. Nevertheless, the hammers were in perfect condition. Don't think it was used much.

Ralph

 

[pennwalk]

I have a Bearcat chipper/shredder. It is a great machine but there are times that I want a real chipper. By that I mean a machine that will self feed branches and deposit the chips where I want them. Manually feeding branches is hard work. With my machine it is necessary to trim down the branches to get them in the hopper. What the Bearcat is great at is reducing the stuff you rake up from the lawn. That mixed stuff part sticks, part leaves, maybe garden waste, acorns. It will chip branches but it is harder and slower that a chipper. When chipping with my Bearcat I have to stop periodically to either move the machine or rake the chips out from under it. Any of you guys from OSHA stop reading now. I have operate the chipper/ shredder without the screen and guard and it will throw the chips quite a way but you couldn't do it if there were any people around. Works great out in the fields. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that a chipper and a chipper/shredder are two different tools and they do different jobs and you may not be happy if you get the wrong one.

Chris

 

[pennwalk]

Homebrew is so right about dirt. Chipper blades are called knives and the need to be sharp. I've got two sets of knives. I start to think about putting sharp knives on after 10 hours but if I get some dirt in there They might only last an hour. I don't even try to sharpen mine myself because I couldn't do the kind of job I want on the grinder. I take them to the sharpening shop for something like $15 they come back beautiful. Never burned. The guy always wants to show me how they will shave the hair off his arm.

Chris

 

[cmhyland]

Sharp chipper knives would seem to put far less stress on the equipment and make things work smoother and easier. So it would seem a good investment in time, money, and labor to keep the knives sharp.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Mgray]

That's not to say it can't be done but to have an efficient chipper, the blades need to be sharp.

I was going to post a question but I did a search on the subject first. I just came in from using my Bearcat 554 Chipper/Shredder for the first time. I didn't actually chip everything that I thought I was going to, and the pile is still there for the most part. The chipper just wouldn't handle the big stuff. Anything over 1.5" diameter just about vibrated my hands off. I looked at the Bearcat website and it said that it would handle up to 5" so I knew something was wrong. I suspected that the blades might need to be sharpened. I looked at the blades and I could see that they were a little dinged up in a few places but I didn't really know if that would make a difference. I don't really mind sharpening the chipper blades so much as I do thinking about the shredder blades. There are so many more of those and they have a contour that I expect will make the task much more time consuming. I should be able to do the chipper blades on the bench grinder but the shredder blades look like I'll have to use a Dremel for that job. Well, at least I know what I have to do now.

Thanks
Mark