Buying Advice Wood Chipper for 12 acres

[NickTaylor]

Great tips, opened my eyes to what's on the market. I've been reading all of this and watching about a thousand you tube videos, I've decided to pull the trigger on a Woodland Mills WC46 (and add the optional rear hitch & spare parts kit). Would love to have gone bigger, but my rear lift capacity on my old 770 is just too low and I don't like being a the max edge of rated lift capacity. But watching videos, I think WC46 will do what I need. Sometime in the next few years I'm planning to upgrade to a more capable SUT and will buy a larger chipper then & sell this one (maybe). I don't see any of these Woodland Mills chippers on the used market - guessing that they don't last long and hoping it will hold a lot of value as long as I don't destroy it.

I had much the same experience as others - I was torn between Woodland Mills WC-46 and Woodmaxx TM-86H, but couldn't get any straight answers or returned calls out of Woodmaxx. Plus WM has a lot of useful information on their website about the product. Night and day difference in the customer experience.

I should mention that Woodland Mills reports being behind on shipping right now. They say it will be ~six weeks before my order ships out of the warehouse. I think this is just another example of COVID collateral damage on the supply chain. My brush piles will have to wait another month or two...

Thanks to all!

 

[Gem99ultra]

Great tips, opened my eyes to what's on the market. I've been reading all of this and watching about a thousand you tube videos, I've decided to pull the trigger on a Woodland Mills WC46 (and add the optional rear hitch & spare parts kit). Would love to have gone bigger, but my rear lift capacity on my old 770 is just too low and I don't like being a the max edge of rated lift capacity. But watching videos, I think WC46 will do what I need. Sometime in the next few years I'm planning to upgrade to a more capable SUT and will buy a larger chipper then & sell this one (maybe). I don't see any of these Woodland Mills chippers on the used market - guessing that they don't last long and hoping it will hold a lot of value as long as I don't destroy it.

I had much the same experience as others - I was torn between Woodland Mills WC-46 and Woodmaxx TM-86H, but couldn't get any straight answers or returned calls out of Woodmaxx. Plus WM has a lot of useful information on their website about the product. Night and day difference in the customer experience.

I should mention that Woodland Mills reports being behind on shipping right now. They say it will be ~six weeks before my order ships out of the warehouse. I think this is just another example of COVID collateral damage on the supply chain. My brush piles will have to wait another month or two...

Thanks to all!

I think you made the 'right' choice. I also have 13 acres that I'm cleaning up. Not clear-cutting but trying to clean out the scrubs and dead stuff. I bought a Woodland Mills WC68 for my 29hp PTO tractor. Never had a problem with it choking down or anything else. I did opt for the hydraulic feed - a big labor saver in my opinion.

I had considered both Woodmax and Woodland, giving them both even marks, as well as pricing. However - I encountered the same experience with Woodmax as you did... they were unresponsive to my emails and phone calls. That made the decision easy.

Occasionally I'll need to take out a tree with a larger than 6" butt. I simply cut the butt off back to the point that it's a 5" tree, and leave the butt to go back to nature. Burning in my area is also very restricted, but even if it weren't I'd be fearful of catching the woods on fire around here. I have no open areas that would be safe to burn.

Disposing of the chips has not been a problem for me. I blow them straight into a little trailer, and spread them on trails. They make a great soft cushion for walking trails. In fact, right now I could easily find a place for another dozen trailer loads.

Good luck with your clearing and your new toy.

 

[3Ts]

Those of you that bought a Woodland Mills - how did the shipping go? They advertise that shipping costs are included, but what about customs and other fees getting them in from Canada? Any hassle with paperwork?

 

[NickTaylor]

Those of you that bought a Woodland Mills - how did the shipping go? They advertise that shipping costs are included, but what about customs and other fees getting them in from Canada? Any hassle with paperwork?

I'll let you know how it goes. But they described to me that it is being shipped from a warehouse either in Oregon or New York, so no customs fees and no additional costs. And most importantly no sales tax (which is a big deal for us here in Texas).

 

[ericm979]

I bought one of their ATV trailers. Shipping to California was no different than implements I've bought from the US- no customs anything that I could see. I think they have a facility in the US.

 

[GSVette]

Those of you that bought a Woodland Mills - how did the shipping go? They advertise that shipping costs are included, but what about customs and other fees getting them in from Canada? Any hassle with paperwork?

They don’t ship from Canada-they ship from US warehouses-no customs issues

 

[3Ts]

They don’t ship from Canada-they ship from US warehouses-no customs issues

Thanks, all I have to do now is talk the wife into one.

 

[NickTaylor]

Thanks, all I have to do now is talk the wife into one.

Tell her you'll have more time for square dancing if you get a better tool for chipping.

 

[PEJ5]

Thanks, all I have to do now is talk the wife into one.

My wife was the one convincing me. She wanted chips and did not think we should be burning for the next 5 years.

 

[oosik]

I chip because of the chance of starting a wildfire if I were to burn. I will occasionally burn the very few pines that are infected with Pine Bark beetle. But only in the winter with snow on the ground.