Thread: Will bamboo chip without clogging the shoot?

I have to give a bid for a job removing a large amount of bamboo. I have never chipped bamboo and was wondering if it would chip good. I'm assuming I should have sharp knives and a closely adjusted anvil. Will bamboo chip without stopping up the chipper?

As long as your chipper is sharp and your bed knife is adjusted right, you'll have no problem as long as you don't try to feed too much too fast.

jomoco

I agree, and they make funky little chips. Be careful tearing any that aren't completely cut, they will cut quick to the quick. Wear gloves.

Can't say a thing about how it chips but it sure makes some of the best garden stakes/poles I've ever used (bottoms rot out after a couple of years, trim and replace, doesn't add anything hurtful to the soil either), ya might consider putting some bundles together for your greenthumb friends or one of your local gardening centers, shoot, we pay like 2$ apiece for 6-8ft ones. Any flute makers around would love anything over about 3/4 in diameter too. Very utile thing bamboo is, I make kites for my kid using it (split 1" into quaters) excellent flex. Cut green its pretty darned tough stringy stuff, yes yes on sharp blades for your chipper and for real watch out handling splintered pieces as it holds a pretty good edge (edit, I see I was beat on that one lol, really can cut very well, have a local here who was building in Japan for a year, job ended for him when he drunkenly drove his Jeep into a bamboo patch, 5yrs later his arm still looks like he fought with a tiger, gak!).
My 0.02$ worth.

i had some bamboo in my backayard that I removed. Chipped ok. Had to reverse wheel a few times. I took my stump grinder to the roots twice so far and it keeps growing back. Problem is that some of it is too close to some pines I dont want to damage the root system so I can not completely get rid of this invasive bamboo.


I wouldnt gaurantee that it wont grow back if I were you unless you plan on scraping the top coats of soil with a tractor. This all depends on the type of bamboo it is running (monopodial) and clumping (sympodial). Running is the nightmare.

Originally Posted by mtcates

I have to give a bid for a job removing a large amount of bamboo. I have never chipped bamboo and was wondering if it would chip good. I'm assuming I should have sharp knives and a closely adjusted anvil. Will bamboo chip without stopping up the chipper?

bamboo chips very well but is very sharp and needle like. Becarful not to handle without gloves and dont dump where childern play. Chippers made 2 chip bamboo have round shoots not rectangle or square.

Burn it...... Man what a show!

we chip bamboo all the time... use a bandit 250s... doesn't make chips,, strings like dull blades... never got cut...wear gloves all the time,,, cut it at the ground,, shove as much as we can carry into the chipper... never a problem,,, except that it makes spaggetti strings instead of chips...might clog the chute if its soaking wet... but i've had that with other trees with soaked leafs.. a drum chipper might cut a little different...

If you think its going to mess up you chipper than jut haul it in the truck. if the dump fee comes out more than if it were to be ground down to nothing than charge accordingly.
how much bambo are you talking about. If theres more than a truck losd than rent a chipper from PDQ or some local rental yard near you.

I found it chips alright ... but it is a little illusional the way it mysteriously seems to fill the dump truck so quick for what it is

Thanks for the replys guys. It sounds like I will have no problem with chipping bamboo. I will be sure to have sharp knives and a well adjusted anvil. Thanks again

If you want to get rid of a palnt, then roundup+garlon (at lable rates) no more then 20 min after cutting.

From wha I've read it gives the best kill rate on all woody and non woody plants. Heard of a field of thistle that was mowed and sprayed. One side had a noticably better control then the other. If I uderstood it right they mowed back to front, then sprayed front to back so the back had dried out some by the time the spray hit it.

I had a chip a whole heap of bamboo for the special effects department of the movie King Kong. Went through sweet, but it was bigger stuff (about 4 inches)

Originally Posted by mtcates

Thanks for the replys guys. It sounds like I will have no problem with chipping bamboo. I will be sure to have sharp knives and a well adjusted anvil. Thanks again

find a guy that buys bambo. you'll make money on both ends.