small chipper

[Soundguy]

Just got the OK from the CFO to get a small chipper. so far am looking at the 2.5 hp electrical ones, and the 5.5 hp gas jobs. anyone have comments on either?

what brought this about is that yearly I clean our fence line and it usually yeilds a bunch on 1/4 to 1/2" sapplings, with an occasional 1" green weed or similar. normally I just lay them over with the machhette or swing flig and let nature take over.. however... apparrently the wife is getting tired of the couple weeks it takes for them to get flattened by the animals.

thus last week i got a walk behind string trimmer to neat up the fence line and around the buildings where the tractor can't get... and now have the 'ok' for a small light duty chipper for said small material.

( no need for limbs or anything like that.. )

any opinions?

I have power out on the farm and out on theremote farm property.. so I can use the laoder and brush tines to scoop up the clippings and take them to a spot to chip if needed.. so gas or electric will work for me..

it's so rare that I get the OK for a real tool other than a hand tool that I always like to jump on it before she changes her mind. luckilly she is much impressed with the walk behind string trimmer

soundguy

 

[jenkinsph]

Never have seen any chippers that small but I guess someone makes them.

How about buying a big garbage disposal.:confused2:

Usually I run over stuff that small with my mower a few times.

 

[bigtiller]

I just bought this one but the bad part if it is the people that built it went out of business in the 70's. After owning a Bear Cat 14 HP. model several years ago, I was very surprised how well a little 5 HP. chipper-shredder works. Craigs List has these small ones in my area almost weekly for $250 or less. So many of them in fact that I wonder how well the newer ones work and hold up. There has to be a reason so many are for sale. I don't want to scare you away from them, they have their place in the world, they are a life saver at times and a pain in the neck other times.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I bought a small gas chipper with a 7 horse motor on it. With gravity feed chute. It did fine if you had straight branches. The chute was so small it was really a pain in the posterior. I ended up selling it and getting a Vermeer. I know that isn't practical to have unless you are doing a lot of chipping which I do. You could rent one of those electric or small gas chippers to see what you think. Other wise I would suggest goats. Branches and briers in the front end of them and fertilizer comes out the exhaust.

 

[MtHam]

Having owned several small chipper/shredders in the past, I wouldn't waste my money. They all go to crap shortly. Rental yards only rent larger units because they are the only ones to hold up. A PTO driven unit such as the Wallenstein BMX32 ($2900) seems to be good reasonably priced option.

 

[jbooth]

So just lay them out and use a mower to cut them up. Mower should handle anything a string trimmer will cut. Use a mulcher blade if the mower does not cut fine enough. However, if you have the CFO on board maybe try for some kind of tool.

 

[grnspot110]

I bought a 5 HP leaf shredder w/chipper for $67 on ebay, 1-1/2" capacity was stretching it, so now I use it (with the screen out) for garden waste, green stuff. Later bought a "slightly used" 10HP Troy-built for 1/2 new price, works very good for up to 2-1/2", anything bigger makes firewood. ~~ grnspot110

 

[Code54]

I would just get a small brush hog (if you dont have one) and run them over with a pass or two and use it to cut other areas. I have a BX42 chipper and the real small stuff is almost too small to chip. 1" is fine but 1/2 is just twigs and dont chip up that hot

 

[Gittyup]

Most small ones seem to take forever. They are more work than they are worth to me. My advice, for what it's worth, is to either get a used one on the larger size (7 hp and up) that also has a shredder, or just push then into a pile and use your bush hog on them.

 

[k0ua]

Does anyone have any experience with the DR. pto driven chippers? my wife has wanted one of those for a long time. I was wondering if they were worth having.
James K0UA

 

[jenkinsph]

Does anyone have any experience with the DR. pto driven chippers? my wife has wanted one of those for a long time. I was wondering if they were worth having.
James K0UA

I have one and have used it very little, just too small and too slow. I kind of inherited it but would recomend you by a better self feed unit such as a Wallensteen.

 

[yankeerider]

Does anyone have any experience with the DR. pto driven chippers? my wife has wanted one of those for a long time. I was wondering if they were worth having.
James K0UA

I am happy with mine. Works wonderfully for my purposes, and in keeping with what I wanted to spend. It's performance varies tremendously based on type of tree. Cedars and others with right-angle "branches" feed very poorly and can be a lot of work. Birches and oaks where the branches are at a small angle to the main stick will feed quite well. Heavily leafed stuff (aok and maple downed by summer storms) require attention and may still clog the feeder. Stuff cut in the winter/spring without leaves chips very well.

Try searching for DR Chipper and you'll see a few opinions.

P.S. For Soundguy's purposes, it doesn't excel on 1/4-1/2 inch material-those small sticks like to feed through as 6 to 10 inch lengths. I might be able to improve that by adjusting the anvil.

 

[lostcause]

several years back i bought a small used pto driven chipper/shredder. it was made by kemp in the early 80's from the best i could figure out, and i believe it would have run on anything around 15hp or better. i paid $500 for it if i remember correctly. it did what it was supposed to do, but it really did leave you wanting for more. after a few years of workouts while using it, i sold it for $400 and eventually bought a wallenstein 4" pto chipper with hydraulic feed. not to say that it is perfect by any means - i often clog the chute and flywheel with pine needles or green leaves - but it is light years better than the old one. biggest difference is that it cost nearly 10x as much

moral of the story is: if you're buying your first chipper and considering a small one, buy a used one if at all possible. that way you have lots more room to move if you decide that it isn't big enough. you won't lose much (if any) money on the deal.

 

[Redgoatea]

We bought a new Troy-Built this spring. Don't remember the model or HP but if was $800 and it claims to do branches up to 3". Now maybe if it's pouring rain and you cut the branch off the tree and ran over to the chipper it might handle a 2" branch but only after complaining a lot.

That POS is exactly that. I work at a pulp mill and they take all yard clippings for free, chip them up and use them for boiler fuel. Silly me for wanting to make my own mulch.

 

[955er]

Got a match? I burn anything that small.

 

[Soundguy]

can't burn in my area real easilly..

 

[slaveToHorses]

guys, you're hijacking Soundguys thread. Heck, I have an 8" hydraulic feed, electronic feed controlled PTO chipper, but that isn't what our man is asking about.

I second the thought about just racking it out from the fence and running it over with a lawn tractor with mulching blades. That is what I do.

But the wife has given an ok for a tool, so you just have to buy a tool!

I have had bad experiences with the tiny chippers. A shreader is more appropriate for what you describe. You want a gravity feed shreader. But you won't be able to put soft viney stuff through it without choking it up.

Another option might be one of those leaf vacuum/shreader units. I have no experience with those. But given the amount of maple and alder leaves I get each fall, I wouldn't mind hearing from someone that had one!

 

[wedge40]

can't burn in my area real easilly..

Then take it to your neighbors and burn it.

Wedge

 

[Soundguy]

my neighbor.. the guy that burned down nearly everything the last time he had a fire.. yeah.. I'll take it to him..

soudnguy

 

[wedge40]

This time of year you should see tons of those little canister type chipper/shreadders at all the box stores.
I know for the size you're talking I'd just chew em up with the lawn mower.

Wedge