Chipper/Shredder advice please

[silu]

Hello, I'm a little old (well getting there!) lady from Scotland. Last week we had terrible storms here when our trees were in leaf and consequently much damage was done. I have lost an enormous Beech which must have been over 200 years old with a girth over 10ft, plus a huge Ash and sizeable Whitebeam, all of which I am very sad about.
A neighbour is slowly cutting the trees up with his chainsaw but it is a mamouth task, but I intend to use the wood to keep us warm for about the next 10 years!!! I am stripping off the leaves and small branches (mindblowingly boring) and am looking for advice as to the type of shredder/chipper I should buy to deal with the "mountain" which is accumulating. I have a big garden and could have done with a shredder years ago but now I definately need 1. I could hire 1 but I feel even after the task in hand I would use 1 quite a lot. I am trying to keep the branches in the chipping pile to no bigger than about 2 inches in diameter so I don't need/can't afford a monster type 1 you professionals use. I'm sure I'll need a petrol 1 but no idea which are good/not so good makes. I have seen on the net a Camon C50 which might be the right thing to go for but hoping some kind sole can advise me. Wow do I now realise that working with trees doing most of the work by hand is hard work. I am now an expert at throwing logs into a pile which is growing daily!!! No doubt someone will suggest I burn the branches but they'd be very handy for keeping the weeds down and eventually would make good compost I hope. Thanks very much.

 

[rarefish383]

Wow, that's a hard one to answer. I've never used any of the homeowner size chippers. I could never take the time to trim the brush down that far. I've rented a small, to me, chipper that has a 25 hp air cooled diesel engine and will grind up to about 8" wood. In the Washington DC area that one rents for about $300 day. It's self feeding so all you have to do is get the limb started. Once it has the limb it will grind, pause, grind, pause, grind keeping the RPM's of the engine in the best operating range. By the time you drag the next limb up the first one is gone. I think I'd rent a small comercial unit, or hire out the job at hand, and think about a home owner size one for the smaller projects to come. Is your property big enough that you have a tractor with a 3 point hitch. I've seen farmers here with 3 point hitch chippers that do a pretty good job on limbs 3 to 4 inches. They cost $1500 to $2000 new.

Another thought. We have a Milling forum here, and a few members in Scotland. I know a few of them would love to cut some giant table planks from a Beech like that. If you could post a pic of the trees you have down you might get lucky and get some free help for a chance to mill a couple of 8 or 10 foot sections of that log. Good luck, Joe.

 

[silu]

Wow, that's a hard one to answer. I've never used any of the homeowner size chippers. I could never take the time to trim the brush down that far. I've rented a small, to me, chipper that has a 25 hp air cooled diesel engine and will grind up to about 8" wood. In the Washington DC area that one rents for about $300 day. It's self feeding so all you have to do is get the limb started. Once it has the limb it will grind, pause, grind, pause, grind keeping the RPM's of the engine in the best operating range. By the time you drag the next limb up the first one is gone. I think I'd rent a small comercial unit, or hire out the job at hand, and think about a home owner size one for the smaller projects to come. Is your property big enough that you have a tractor with a 3 point hitch. I've seen farmers here with 3 point hitch chippers that do a pretty good job on limbs 3 to 4 inches. They cost $1500 to $2000 new.

Another thought. We have a Milling forum here, and a few members in Scotland. I know a few of them would love to cut some giant table planks from a Beech like that. If you could post a pic of the trees you have down you might get lucky and get some free help for a chance to mill a couple of 8 or 10 foot sections of that log. Good luck, Joe.

Thank you so much for bothering to reply Joe, much appreciated. You advice is very sound and indeed I hadn't thought about getting my neighbour (farmer) to pull a commercial chipper to where the trees are.That is what I'm going to do but will do the actual job myself plus help from rest of the family. We can maybe have a chipping "party" but better lay off the booze as I've seen these big...well to me chippers in action..WOW!
Re milling, I had actually thought of that myself but part of the reason the tree failed is that probably about 100 years ago someone had used the tree as a fence stob/turning post and wrapped 4 strains of wire round it's trunk. The tree had "absorbed" them and I had no idea they were in the tree! (not good for the chainsaw being used). The wires had set up some rot and so parts of the trunk are not perfect anymore so I doubt a miller would be interested. Its a shame because I would have loved for someone to have used the wood as it is stunningly beautiful. I personally have never seem a tree trunk with so many rings and it's colour is stunning. Had it not been for the damage some wonderful table tops could have been made out of it...shame. Anyway off to look for a hire company not too far away and thanks again. You have been most helpful.Sue.

 

[Den69RS96]

I have one of these. Its a quality machine. While its not something the pro's would pull up to your house with, its great for homeowners with plenty of yard waste to clean up every year. The chipper takes 3.5 inch branches and the shredder takes up to 1 inch branches. The shredder hammers are reversible so they last 4 times as long.

MacKissic Inc.