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| I need a good wood chipper for at least 1 1/2 to 2 inch wide branches, and reasonable cost. I think it was Jon Hughes that bought one at FR Har Tools, John or anyone else that has one and has used it for wood. Does it do okay for branches this size or less? I mean the $300.00 dollar range chipper.I bought one of the $119.00 one and it's a joke. It says it chips 1 1/4 inch branches and it locks up the blades with 1/4 inch twigs, and won't even shred leaves it spits them out nearly whole. Anyway, sorry to ramble, are there any $200=$300 range good for wood, chippers? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Sun, Feb 6, 11 at 17:01
| Hi Guys, My Opinion , based on actually owning and using these two "chippers" Disclaimer: The less expensive one: Works Fantastic for anything 1 1/4" branches with leaves, sucks them down like a hot knife through butter, but the blue plastic handle/top is removed to allow more full (leafed) branches access to the chipper blades., Works fantastic....for branches (full of leaves)...not for raked up piles of leaves.
The more expensive "chipper" is absolutely dynamite for "wet piles of leaves" (normally hardest to deal with) and grinds them instantly to mulch (oatmeal consistency), totally awesome. but even with the safety flaps removed, the portal to the chipping blades is so small (designed as such, so you don't overload it), that if you want to chip branches you would have to de-branch all the big limbs... totally sucks.. It would be like having to strip all branches until they resembled broom sticks, and then stink them in the branch chipper, wayyyyy too much work... for me anyways ;-)
So, I use the cheaper one for branches (with leaves), sucks them right down when sharp, and the more expensive one for wet leaves (and it works fantastic for that)...
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Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf Shreader in action
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| How do they get 2 1/2 HP out of 120V 15A? |
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- Posted by tmacmillan 4b (My Page) on Mon, Feb 7, 11 at 10:16
| By rounding up? |
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| I own the cheap one, how do you get it to chip wood? I tried it on some small branches when I first got it and it jammed up right away to where the blades wouldn't go around until you open the door and cleared it, and I couldn't get it to chip one whole branch yet alone a whole pile.And how do you sharpen the blades? do you use a wetstone? Does taking off the top help to clear it when it jams? |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Mon, Feb 7, 11 at 21:43
| Yes Poaky, to everything ;-) I sharpen mine with a bench top grinder
a couple of allen wrench screws and a quick sharpen and you are good to go. but they are reversible and so you only have to turn them around and you are ready to rock right now. Take off that safety top, and chuck it.. and then just use your brain, don't stick your head or your hand down into the blades, |
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| As mentioned in an earlier thread, you can still get real chippers from the early days of Troy-Bilt (Super Tomahawk) for bargain prices. They work as well as the still USA made Mighty Mac. These machines will haul the freight. If I want chop sticks I will buy Chinese. I don't doubt for a minute that that gas machine from Horrible Fright that Jon bought does a good job for what he wants done though. Just figure out what you need from a gizmo and go from there. |
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| You need to sharpen those blades with water cooling or you will ruin them. The temper will be destroyed if you let them heat. |
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| I have an old machine like that,( the sharpener) it doesn.t work anymore, it was my grandpaps. Can I get good results manually? If I try that and dip in water when it gets warm, do I go in 1 direction only, with the stone? I have info on how to get new blades written somewhere too, but if I fail at sharpening myself there must be someone local I can give a few bucks to, that will do it. I still can't fathom that machine going through branches very good, maybe mine had dull blades from the start, it sounded like an unbalanced washing machine or worse with a 1/4 inch branch and buzzed when it clogged almost immediately with that small branch.I'll get it sharpened and hope that does the trick. |
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- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Tue, Feb 8, 11 at 20:47
| I'm super lazy, if it isn't a "power" tool, I would take a pass ;-) But people have been sharpening blades "manually" for a long time, so it can definitely be done that way, if you got the gumption. As far as 1/4" whip/branch, I could see that happening if I put in a 1/4" vine ,it might get wrapped around the blades and be flexible enough to not cut. before you sharpen them, try a 3/4" limb, and see if that works , plus, as I said before, take the blades off and turn them around, they are two sided and so you get two runs at it before you need to sharpen. |
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- Posted by piedmontnc 7b-8 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 9, 11 at 8:26
| Shorter Jon Hughes: "They work great if you completely rebuild them from the ground up". I can just see you tearing those things apart, "well that's gotta go, this needs replaced" |
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| It's a long slow job sharpening a chipper blade by hand but certainly it can be done. If you have a quality blade it will be made of high carbon steel which is very hard. Hard steel is hard to sharpen but the edge will last well. However you do it you must be sure that you don't let it heat up or the temper will be lost and the blade will be junk. Most mower shops have a guy who sharpens blades for a few bucks. If you take it to one of those you still need to make sure they have a water cooled sharpening rig and aren't just slapping them to a grinder. |
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| Thanks for the advice guys. When I try to chip I am gonna remove the handle and try as is on wood pallet wood,which splits easy,if that fails I will try the other side of the blades.I will try the bigger branch again. If blades look dull I'll take them to get sharpened and tell them about the water cooling needed. |
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