Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Small wood chipper recommendations?

From: Dave Cavanaugh <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2016 11:51:01 -0700

Finally something I know a little about.  I'm not an expert but I have 
had a couple of them.

I have never used an electric chipper, but I would imagine they are 
probably like an electric chainsaw- slow, frustrating and not capable of 
very much useful work.  Unless it has a 240 volt, 5 HP or bigger motor, 
I would  not even consider one.

I have used and owned a couple of 7.5 HP gas chippers.  They are big, 
noisy, dangerous and are still easily clogged up unless you're careful 
in how you feed them.  Leaves, unless they are very, very dry, are 
impossible to grind up.  Twigs and brush are not too bad, but they have 
to be fed into the hopper and forced into the chipping head and usually 
you end up having to use a fairly large branch to push stuff into the 
throat to get it to feed.  I ground up at least two rake handles before 
I started using long branches to feed the shredder hopper.  As for 
chipping, as long as the branches are green, or not too big they work 
reasonably well on stuff up to about 2 to 2.5 inches depending on the 
species; dried branches of any size take much longer.  Smaller branches 
can often be fed in bundles. Feeding in large branches is slow and hard 
on the hands and the limbs vibrate like crazy when you're forcing them 
into the cutter head.  Based on my experience, I wouldn't even consider 
any chipper under 7 HP, and 10 or more would be better.  I have always 
stored mine outdoors in the tractor shed.

Right now I own a PTO driven chipper.  Imagine the biggest homeowner 
type chipper, only with a PTO instead of a motor.  It works OK, but it's 
still relatively slow to grind up larger dried branches, like douglas 
fir or cedar branches that have dried for a year or so. It's hell on 
alder, though, and anything under 2" unless it like a hickory axe handle.

What do I do these days?  I haven't had the chipper hooked up to the 
tractor for several years.  What I do is wait until I have a decent 
sized pile of brush and small limbs to deal with, and then I run over it 
a couple of times with the brush hog.  Done.  The last couple of times I 
took an evergreen down and needed to deal with the limbs, I went to the 
rental yard and rented a big self feeding chipper.

Chippers are like wood splitters (and I have one of those, too; want to 
buy it?)  They're something you only use once or twice a year, and 
otherwise you have to maintain and store them.  They're better off 
rented unless you have a large piece of property and are dealing with a 
lot of brush and limbs.  I've been on 5 to 7 acres of Pacific northwest 
wooded property for the last 30 years and my chippers have gotten a 
reasonable amount of work, but knowing what I know now I'm not sure I 
would get one if I was starting out again.

Let me know if I missed anything or if you have more specific questions.

On 8/8/2016 7:38 AM, Jimmie Mayfield wrote:
> Tangentially shop/garage-related in that I'll have to store it in my 
> garage... :)  I'm in the market for a small wood chipper and floor 
> space in my garage is fairly limited so something with the footprint 
> of a pressure washer or small snowblower (or smaller) would be ideal.
>
>
> I'm not opposed to an electric model if they perform well but the 
> youtube videos I've seen tend to show them chewing on finger-sized 
> twigs fed one at a time.  I've also read they often clog when fed 
> green material and when the knives dull.
>
> I haven't seen many compact gas-powered chippers come across 
> Craigslist.  I'm not opposed to disassembling the chutes for storage 
> though my first choice would be to find one that doesn't have big 
> horizontal chutes to begin with.
>
> So a few questions for the group:
>
> 1) If you have an electric wood chipper, how well does it work on 
> branches up to, say, an 1-1.5 inch diameter?  I figure anything bigger 
> I'll just cut manually but if the real-world limits are 1/2-inch with 
> only an occasional branch larger than 1-inch, then perhaps I should 
> abandon the electric idea.  Are the reports of frequent clogging true?
>
> 2) If you have a small gas chipper, how big is the engine?  I've seen 
> a couple on Craigslist with smallish 3.5hp engines though most seem to 
> be in the 8-11hp range.  Roughly, what's the storage footprint?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Jimmie
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From: Brian Kemp <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2016 23:14:08 -0700

I have both gas and electric.  I started with the electric chipper - a 
previous model from a Harbor Freight parking lot sale.  It only works on 
straight branches and don't expect anything over an inch. It is also 
slow.  We have green waste collection out here and it is generally 
faster for me to cut the branches into 3' long lengths and put they in 
the collection bins.  I don't think I'll ever use the electric model again.

I have lots of hibiscus trees, which fortunately have long straight 
branches and are relatively soft.  They are also leafy.  With fresh cut 
branches, the thing clogged like crazy.  I found I had to let the 
branches sit for 3-4 days so the leaves dried out to avoid frequent 
clogs.  You don't want to wait too long or the branches get harder to chip.

A few years ago I lucked into a Craftsman 5.5hp chipper/shredder at a 
yard sale.  It didn't run, but the price was great.  I replaced the fuel 
shutoff and supply lines then rebuilt the carb and a few other things 
and now it works wonderfully.  The gas model is so much better, though 
I'd say this is the minimum hp.  It says it has a 3" capacity, but those 
have to be very straight branches.  The thing probably weighs about 70 
pounds, much of it flywheel.  With the chute, this model is about 2.5' 
high x 2' wide x 5' long.  The chute drops down to the ground so you can 
rake leaves into it.  I currently store it under a tarp in the backyard 
because my garage is up 32 stairs from the back yard and this thing is 
heavy.  This model takes up to 1" down the shredder chute, but 
practically, about 3/4" is a better limit.  Anything over 3/4" needs to 
go down the chipper chute.  It is so much better than the electric.

I have a giant bougainvillea hedge.  You can't chip those branches 
because they curve all over the place.  Those just get cut in small 
lengths and put in the green waste.  You have to take into account what 
you are cutting.

Tips:

- Let the branches with wet leaves sit a few days so the leaves dry 
out.  This isn't that important with the gas model, but is a necessity 
with the electric to avoid clogging.

- When you cut the branches, try and keep the segments straight.  If 
there is a bend, cut the branch there when you are lopping or sawing.

- Save a few of the nice straight branches to push the small bendy ones 
through the shredder.

- Don't over feed the machine.  It will just clog or jam.  Save a branch 
like a short broom stick for clearing jams.  Even with the machine off, 
you don't want to touch the blades with your fingers. You may need to 
pry the flywheel back to clear a jam, so the good branch is nice.

- Save something without leaves for the end to help clean out the machine.

- The logical way to feed is to start with the big end of the branch, 
but then if the machine isn't feeding well, you are stuck with a bunch 
of small things in the chute.  If you can stick the small end first, you 
can push the big end of the branch and send it all down the chute.

- Really hard dead branches just bounce off the blades and may be too 
much for even a 5.5hp gas chipper.

If you only have an occasion need, it might be best to just rent a 
decent chipper so you don't need to store it.  I know most of the people 
on this list want more tools, but you have to store them and lack of 
storage space is another reason the chipper/shredder lives in the 
backyard instead of the garage.  You might also be better off just 
putting all your cuttings in a pile and having someone else come and 
haul it away.  I did this shortly after moving in and doing lots of 
brush clearance.  It cost me $200 to have two guys fill a rack body 
truck of brush and haul it away.  As I get older and have more time 
demands with the family, I'm focusing more on working smarter.

Another source in addition to Craig's list are local lawn equipment 
dealers with service centers.  They might get a trade or something that 
just needed a little work to make it good.

Brian

On 8/8/2016 7:38 AM, Jimmie Mayfield wrote:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/[email-masked]
>
>

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From: Jeff Scarbrough <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2016 08:04:27 -0400

On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Jimmie Mayfield
<[email-masked]> wrote:
> 2) If you have a small gas chipper, how big is the engine?  I've seen a
> couple on Craigslist with smallish 3.5hp engines though most seem to be in
> the 8-11hp range.  Roughly, what's the storage footprint?

This is similar to the one I have:
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-leafwacker-trade-3-way-chipper-shredder-50-states/p-07177605000P

Mine doesn't have the bag for the discharge.

I have a lot of trees on my property...3 acres of oak, mostly.  When
we moved in, we spent hours every fall moving fallen leaves around -
even worse, because the previous owner apparently never owned a rake.
I thought a shredder was just what I needed...found this one at Sears.
It said it was used, but you couldn't tell the difference between it
and the new one sitting next to it, except the price was half of the
new one.

It's heavy - and I think the flywheel is heavier than the motor.  That
may be the key to a good chipper - one that has enough inertia to keep
going when it hits a hard spot.  As long as leaves are dry, it's
great.  Drop the chute, and rake the piles right into the machine and
poof! they disappear.  Small limbs are no problem, larger ones take a
little more time, but still get eaten.  And yes, I chewed up a rake
handle clearing clogs.  The major design flaw is the limb chute - it's
long and has a kink in it (probably so you don't stick an arm down it)
but that makes it difficult to put some stuff down it.  I've thought
about removing this "feature", but the safety aspect worries me.  I've
had bad experience with missing safety features...

What I found, though, is that once I dealt with the backlog of leaves,
I only run the thing three or four hours a year to keep up.  Our
county has a leaf and limb service, so what limbs we don't drag off
into the woods or grind up while I'm running the machine get put on
the curb for pickup.  Now that I've got the thing, I'll use it.  But I
don't know that I'd replace  it.

Dimension wise, it's maybe 3 to 3.5 feet wide, and 4 or 5 feet long.
Not tiny...

Jeff Scarbrough
Corrosion Acres, Ga.

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