Shredder

[PeterC]

Thinking that my next toy will be a shredder (garden variety). Any views on the best type and make, please?

[Brian Gaff]

Dunno but get some good ear defenders. Brian

[Bob Eager]

And eye defenders too.

[Nightjar]

This one looks as though it could deal with most things:

Colin Bignell

[harryagain]

I have an Alko3500 shredder for four years. No problems. It has a sharpened "cog" and a plastic roller driven by a two stage planetary gearbox. It has had a lot of work. It cuts wood/twigs up into about 1" lengths, large diameter stuff is crushed too. Almost totally silent operation. Self feeding (V. important to speed up use.)

I use the shreddings on the ground under shrubs to suppress weeds. Excellent. Some goes on the compost heap too.

Best thing I ever bought, no bonfires and useful product made But not cheap, 200ish ISTR

[Bob Minchin]

+1 for the cutting /crushing types as against the flail type. Bosch do some of each type but their so called quiet ones are very good.

[Tim Watts]

Well, there are spinning blade and cog types.

The spinning blades type better for chopping small stuff.

The cog type apparently are quieter better for crunching up thicker branches.

So I think the first question is: what is your expected material?

[Tim Watts]

Matty's probably made one of those, from a solid block of iron using only a file ;->>>

[Brian Gaff]

Well that depends on if you are completely stupid, if you are spare hands would be handy too! All I know is if there is ever a quiet one of these when you put stuff in, I've never seen it. Most seem to consist of a rotating flywheel with some blades on the same shaft inside an enclosure with a hopper on the top and a chute on the side. The electric ones get bunged up every 2 minutes if you put in a half way heavy twig. Brian

[John Rumm]

The "quiet" ones are good for woody stuff and things that are not too lush and green, So for if doing pruning, its often better to leave them on the ground for a couple of days before shredding.

The impact type are noisy, but better on soft stuff.

Get the biggest and most powerful one you can find! My old quiet bosch is ok (its the rotating helix cutter rather than the cog type), but you do spend lots of time unblocking it IME.

[Biggles]

I've had a Bosch AXT 2200 for several years and have been very happy with it.

[fred]

Make sure there is easy access to clear blockages and make sure it ejects the shredded items away from the discharge chute otherwise it will keep blocking.

We have a 4 stroke one and its a bitch to start. Direct drive so no flywheel effect as one gets with a lawnmower.

Why don't they fit a direct access port to the throat of the carburettor on these engines. It would make injecting 'Easy Start' a doddle instead of having to remove either air filters or spark plug

[Reentrant]

Same here. Much better than our previous Bosch with the helical blade.

[Huge]

Have you tried the "gas" trick described on this 'froup a few weeks ago? Run an unlit gas blowtorch near the air inlet when trying to start it. This trick makes starting my b@st@rd chainsaw a doddle.

[The Natural Philosopher]

years ago I had a bstard lawnmower.

I took it in and they reground the valves. It was still a bastard.

So I stripped it a bit and then realised the choke wasn't working..cable had stretched or slipped.

Bastard lawnmower starts ever since.

[Rick Hughes]

You can have mine at 1/2 price only tried it once, would not shred what I wanted, useless on wet (green) material.

Bought a chunky steel RYOBI model rather than plastic B&Q type.

[PeterC]

I was about to say that there's only about 1m of access...!

[PeterC]

Looking on the usual sites, Bosch get very mixxed reviews.

I have twigs with leaves and thicker stuff up to about 25 - 30mm; anything too thick goes on the fire and when big enough goes for logs. I wouldn't try more than about 25 - 30mm of, say, hawthorn in a 45mm cutter but elder would be OK.

Apoligies for the source, but this gets good reviews:

and at 2.8kW is about as big as can be run. It's a good format as well, especially the transparent box.

[matthelliwell]

How much do you want to spend? I've got a 6hp Might Mac

which shreds everything you put in.

It starts easily as well. It was sat under a tarp all winter but started 2nd pull when I had it going last weekend.

Matt

[PeterC]

um, ouch! I'd like a petrol one but they're too much dosh.