Most people I've talked to about chips feel that they will smother the fire , I've had my OWB going now for a couple months and I have been burning alot of bark left over in my wood hauling trailer and a huge pile from the splitting process , I just try to throw it on top after loading with regular wood or pallets and it burns fine , no sense wasting it !! Not sure if mean burning just chips , any kind of mesh is going to melt right off the bat as soon as you throw it in.