Chip quality among chippers

[Koa Man]

On another thread I mentioned how great the chips from my Gravely 395 were. This chipper is my chipper of choice if we are not cutting stuff bigger than 4 inches in diameter and this is the one I take whenever we are doing palms. I can get double the amount of palm fronds in my truck with the Gravely compared with my Woodsman. I am not putting down the Woodsman, I love that chipper for the big stuff. The pictures below are close ups from a load of coconut palm fronds chipped from a Bandit 250 and my Gravely. On woody material, if I adjust the feed roller to about 40 fpm, I can get 1/16" chips.

Palm fronds run through a C&D usually come out cut in 1 to 3 ft. lengths.

 

[Proj Eng]

KM, do you use the factory specs of .060" for knife clearance? Or are you adjusting to your desire based on previous experience?

 

[Koa Man]

I am adjusting the clearance to .015. The chips in the picture are from a dull blade. I need to change it this week. Right now you can put pressure with your bare fingers and run it back and forth and it won't cut you.

 

[Proj Eng]

I figured you had to have reduced the knife clearance a little. Especially for the chips to come out that clean with a dull knife. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future ideas.

 

[Koa Man]

Here is a photo of chips from the Gravely on woody material. The other pix is when I dumped my load of coconut chips right after a friend with a Bandit 250 dumped his. He prides himself on always having sharp knives and actually touches up his blades with the Bandit knife saver everyday. You can really see the difference side by side, and this is with my dull knives.

 

[Davidsinatree]

Kao Man,
Those gravely chips are as fine or finer than my chuck & duck throws.
You probly remember me asking you how you liked your 395. I was seriously considering buying one in tree trader, its still there $6900. 42HP yanmar. I think it has under 600hrs. I realy wanted it but would have had a payment, dont have a payment with my chuck & duck. Im always looking to up grade whenever I can though.

 

[DDM]

I Find no matter wwhich chipper i use the c-n-d or the bandit the larger the wood the better the chips. A 12" pine makes really nice chips where brnch tips come out all stringy.

 

[Yellowdog]

Yes, bigger, drier wood, better chips. I use a big drum chipper. My chips aren't of consistent quality. Some are stringy and some are excellent chips. Early morning, sharp blade chips are good. Late afternoon, duller chips are stringier. I chip soft wooded junipers most of the time. If I chip oak, I get "chunks" of wood no matter how sharp my blades are. I have found that the chips from the softer woods make an excellent landscape mulch with no further grinding. It's a cheap alternative to covering larger areas.

 

[Koa Man]

The chips from the Gravely wood chips pix is from hau bush branches about 1 to 2 in. dia.
Hau is very stringy. In fact I had two friends with Bandit 250's who had jobs clearing some hau bush and rented my Gravely because the Bandit was getting clogged. What was happening with the Bandit was the bark would peel off in long pieces (5 ft.) and plug the chute. My Woodsman will chip up hau bush with no problem, except the chips are not fine, 1 to 3 inches long with no bark peel.