Chipper/Shredder buying advice

I have a Murray 5.5 hp chipper/shredder and not very pleased with it. Just not enough umph to handle anything over an inch think. Shreds leaves really good!

I would love to have a DR with an 11 hp motor. I have heard good things about them.

Rent one?

Eggs Zachtly:

Smallest chipper/shredders I can rent are $200/day. Considering I could use one probably four times per year minimum, renting would be stupid.

I bought one from Home Depot about 7 years ago. 12 hp MTD brand. $799.00 I used the hell out of it for 3 days. I may have used it 3 times since. (Real pain in the ass to use; slow, debris jams, and just the whole time consuming thing.)

In hindsight, I would have paid the $200.00 and rented. (Much bigger unit, I might have finished my project in a couple of hours)

It's sitting here now if you want it. $200.00 Central Texas.

I decided that fire was much more fun.

BTW: I live on a 36 acre farm/ranch. You would have thought I needed a shredder.

when purchasing have a look at the outlet vent where the mulched material falls. My dad has a small mulcher with a nice wide oval tube and things slide out easily. I bought a small domestic unit cheap at a garage sale with a slat narrow outlet and things get jammed in that constantly.

rob

Eggs Zachtly:

I want to use it for my compost, shredding should speed the process. I can also chip/shred the unending rain of twigs and sticks that fall from the trees in our yard and spread the chips around the roots of the the Maple trees.

Missing Texas:

I grew up on a farm, we would have had no use for a shredder either.

I went through this thought process too. I ended up renting from HD for $200 total with tax and all for a day. I took down about 10 big pine trees, a big cedar tree and a juniper bush. Anything over 5 inches is out there cut and stacked drying for outdoor fires, and all thinner than that went into that 6 inch chipper. Man, that thing just chomped all the stuff I could jam in there, sounding like it was thoroughly enjoying itself. I made a mulch pile that I estimate would have cost me about $300 or so, and then used it to mulch. I went in on the deal with my neighbor who had stuff to chip as well so it only cost me half that much. Not every HD has them near here, I had to go to the right one.

If I had a smaller unit I might still be out there doing it. My strategy was to get everything done and ready to chip, all dragged into one location in the yard where I wanted the pile to end up.

I have 5 acres, half wooded, so I usually take down a few dead hard-enough wood trees per year that I burn inside over the winter. I don't chip any of that, I use every bit of the tree for the wood pile. The medium and small stuff is key for a good fire IMHO.

I am thinking that if I bought one it would not be nearly as good as the one I rented and I would be full of chagrin when I used it due to slowness and incapability. It depends on what one is planning to feed it I suppose. If I had a property full of pine that I would not burn inside perhaps I would have a different viewpoint, but my normal harvest is hard-enough wood so I just stack it all. Tomes

I had the chance to use a Kemp unit some years ago - we had brush down all over the place due to an ice storm - it tore the stuff up. Very nice unit - also a very $pendy unit.

I've now got a Craftsman (MTD) that I bought from a co-worker. 5hp Briggs. Starts and runs well, shreds leaves etc like a demon (best when dry), but as a chipper, its got a long way to go (1st use as a chipper yesterday).

Had some dry box elder and ash. It did a number on the stuff up to about a 3/4". Once it was bigger than that, especially w/ the ash, it had to work. Found that if I rotated the branches in the chipping shoot, so the material was changing angles in relation to the chipper blade it worked the best.

If I was to do it over, and had the cash - it would be a Kemp - err..... assuming I could find one - I just DAGS "Kemp Chipper Shredder" and it looks like they are out of business - that or they don't have a web presence. You might be able to find something in the used market. There is one listed in Ebay at this time - Chicago are - and no - its not mine....

Jim