"Homeowner" chippers...

[J_Ashley]

Please don't laugh - Rather, hear me out as I do lawn & landscape part time, and will get cleanup jobs, and the occasional small tree a few times a season.

I see a lot of homeowner chippers for sale on the used market quite often - usually in the 5-8hp range, and between $150-$400.

Limbs are always a pain in the butt. Weather from a pruning job, or a (small) removal. Just the limbs will fill up my 6x10 trailer in a hurry, and adds a significant amount of time & cost to the job.

For example, I took down a pine tree this summer, maybe 40-feet tall, and 12" diameter trunk. The limbs were terrible to deal with. For me that is - solo guy - carrying & hand-loading all limbs onto my trailer. If I could have chipped up the smaller limbs, it would have saved me a ton of work, and probably a trip to the dump.



Would one of these homeowner grade chippers suffice for 2" & smaller limbs? I'd be fine carrying anything larger to the trailer. Even just chipping 2" & smaller limbs would be a big savings - especially when they're prunings, and the trailer is already getting full with other landscape clippings from maintenance & cleanup jobs.

Thanks

 

[Jed1124]

They are more trouble than they are worth. You would be better off renting or buying a 6” chipper. 2” limbs is asking a lot out of them.

 

[cookies]

I have used the hell out of the residential sized chippers under 10hp, 2" is beyond their reach more like 1.5 and under and if its a crooked bendy branch its not going down the narrow feed chute. Keep several sets of new main chipper blades and the "fan" blades on hand and get skilled at swapping them out quickly because you will be doing it about every 2 tanks of gas if your really working the machine. A machete and or really good pruning sheers will be needed to feed the small branches and brush into the hopper. I also remove the chip exhaust chute metal insert so bigger chips get exhausted saving wear and tear on the machine. Keep a eye on the chip bag, they work great but once they begin to tear its toast very quickly.

 

[billyboy]

I have had the urgE to get something like that but they all look like they are more trouble than the worth. They don’t usually have a blower shoot so you have to scoop it away to the trailer. They are always less capable of what they say they will handle. If they don’t have the power to shoot it into a trailer, why bother. If they do have that kind of power they are usually mounted on a trailer with a bigger engine and they cost money

 

[cookies]

Mine has a large bag the chips are captured in that holds about a wheelbarrow load. Mostly I use mine for winter clean up of my cannas, 2 weeks after the first frost I have like 200 6+ foot high dried out stalks to get rid of. Either I wheel it to the ditch or the compost pile to run the approximately 1 cubic yard of dead plants through it. I also use it pretty heavy in the spring for disposing of the trimmings from our 15 hedge bushes. Last year a neighbor had a huge hickory cut down but not hauled off. I was given all the hickory I wanted and to get to the wood I had to deal with its brush/branches. I ran that machine for 2 days using a machete, pruners and a ms290 to get it sectioned up for splitting. If your working by yourself its a good option but I wouldn't want to use it for daily work, Its too damn loud. imagine if you will, half a dozen 5 year olds hammering on a dump trailer bed using ballpein hammers after drinking 3 shots of expresso. Maintenance is required more frequently with only holding a quart of oil and being air cooled and the two main blades being approx 3" x 1.25 x 3/16" you need to resharpen or change them every two tanks of gas and change the engine oil. If your just pruning trees and landscaping bushes it should be a good fit with a 2 man crew..one person feeding and the other trimming.

 

[GenXer]

I have one here on my farm, it can handle up to 3" through the chipper but only 3/4" round through the shredder, it has an 850 series B&S gas engine on it. It has a bit of problems with the 3" but not 2" branches, I've put lots through it without any break downs. Only problem is with 1 tire that leaks air...lol

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I started with a 6x10 too. Honestly you are better off just "mulching" the trailer... load some, cut it down, load some more, cut it down... those homeowner chippers are more trouble than it's worth.

 

[TnShooter]

They are more trouble than they are worth. You would be better off renting or buying a 6” chipper. 2” limbs is asking a lot out of them.

I started with a 6x10 too. Honestly you are better off just "mulching" the trailer... load some, cut it down, load some more, cut it down... those homeowner chippers are more trouble than it's worth.

I agree with these guys. I had one. I spent as much or more time then just loading branches.

First, you have to feed the crooked stuff and remove smaller side branches.
Then you have work the chip pile. Or load the chips on the trailer. So there that much more work. I ended up doing a couple jobs by chipping on the trailer so I didn’t have to do as much clean up.
I found it wasn’t worth it. I was still dragging limbs to the trailer anyways.

 

[rabbit box]

Please don't laugh - Rather, hear me out as I do lawn & landscape part time, and will get cleanup jobs, and the occasional small tree a few times a season.

I see a lot of homeowner chippers for sale on the used market quite often - usually in the 5-8hp range, and between $150-$400.

Limbs are always a pain in the butt. Weather from a pruning job, or a (small) removal. Just the limbs will fill up my 6x10 trailer in a hurry, and adds a significant amount of time & cost to the job.

For example, I took down a pine tree this summer, maybe 40-feet tall, and 12" diameter trunk. The limbs were terrible to deal with. For me that is - solo guy - carrying & hand-loading all limbs onto my trailer. If I could have chipped up the smaller limbs, it would have saved me a ton of work, and probably a trip to the dump.



Would one of these homeowner grade chippers suffice for 2" & smaller limbs? I'd be fine carrying anything larger to the trailer. Even just chipping 2" & smaller limbs would be a big savings - especially when they're prunings, and the trailer is already getting full with other landscape clippings from maintenance & cleanup jobs.

Thanks

 

[rabbit box]

Limbs to the curb or trailer is easy. Lay down a wide tow strap or rope. Pile limbs neatly onto tow strap. Bring the strap over the pile and connect to the riding mower or ATV. Drive to the trailer. Put limbs onto the trailer neatly and off to the landfill.

 

[cookies]

Fyi i am not advocating their use for business or production only for your own yard, it would be too damn slow to use for making money and requires too many blade changes to keep it optimally chipping.

 

[ArtB]

Since I cannot refuse a 'deal', have 2 of the small chippers, 1" branches are easily handled, useless for larger.
Best use is simply taking up space in a shed <G> Use one every 2 years or so, easier to pile it all in a big compost pile.

 

[KarlP]

This homeowner's chipper is a 1998 Bandit 65. My vote is to look for an older Bandit/Morbark/Bearcat 6x12 or 6x13 hydraulic feed disc chipper.

 

[J_Ashley]

Just for context, id be using this for part-time landscape use. I don't really do ''tree work.'' I might remove 1-2 small to medium trees a year.

Im more interested in just condensing space during the cleanup process. That's why 1” limbs. It's incredible how quickly small limbs fill up a small utility trailer.

Even today I did a quick cleanup and light tree trimming. The chipper would have reduced my volume of debris

Maybe in the spring. I can look into a larger chipper, though I don't think the expense would justify such limited use.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I bought a DR chipper off Craig'sList for a one time project. 18 hp horizontal B&S. 2" max. and some things chipped very well, self feeding. Standing dead 2" stuff was really hard and Poplar was hard because the branches are stiff and radial, so very hard to jamb in shoot. I cleared about an acre for myself. Terribly slow but better than dragging and piling brush. As mentioned, no shoot on machine to direct chip output, and too old to retro fit the newer add-on shoot. No problem with blades. You could not move by hand however. I used a quad. Wish I had kept it as we have had several blow downs to clean up this past year. I would not recommend smaller. It takes hp to chip. I would think this is minimal.