Considering a 3 pt. wood chipper

[WVH1977]

Hello all,

I have tons of loblolly pine trees that are 25 ft, 6 to 10 inch, on my property. Currently, I am building burn piles and burning when conditions are right. Then I take the leftover and spread out on the ground.

I am pretty much done with land clearing and now planting shrubs and trees. I still will be cutting lots of trees down and am wanting to have chips for the beds. I have mulching everything currently (have access to free mulch and small dump to get it), but would like to use what is on my property.

Is it worth the money for the 3 pt. wood chippers in the 8 to 10 inch range? Will moslty be putting big branches through. Also, thinking that the hydraulic feed is the way to go.

What are you folks using? Is the wood chipper worth it?

Photos of some of the areas I am starting to fine tune after the land clearing. Have at least 10 acres of pines. Will be using for quite some time into the future.

 

[GreyhawkUSA30340]

Watching this thread - also thinking about a chipper for my tractor ...

 

[GSVette]

I have an 8” hydraulic feed PTO chipper. I like having one around to chip up limbs and such leftover from site clearing and from tree thinning. It takes longer ( and is more work ) to chip up a brush pile compared to burning but I have more freedom as to when it can do it, obviously.

It isn’t clear to me how big the items you plan to chip are but I max out my chipper at right around 6”- a limb or buck at that diameter is not easy to load in the feed chute and is a heck of a load to chip. Stuff at 3-4” goes through pretty easy.

Hydraulic feed, in my opinion, is the only way to go-makes it easy to unjam the chipper when you get the inevitable jam.

Chippers are big and bulky loads-mine can be a bit challenging to move about on slopes or on really uneven ground. I generally gather my material near a relatively flat and easy to get to area and do the chipping there-I’ll move the chips with my sxs in the dump bed to the location where I want to use them.

Just my limited experience. Your mileage may vary.

 

[oldnslo]

What size tractor will you be using on the chipper?

Like GS stated a 6” log of any length especially with branches is a handful to move around. Even more so if on a hill side, in long grass or underbrush, etc.

For that size chipper hydraulic in-feed is required.

Note: I have white pine, Norway pine and Red Cedar. They ALL want to plug a chipper from sap and white pine needles are terrible. Not sure how lob lolly compares to these.

 

[WVH1977]

What size tractor will you be using on the chipper?

Like GS stated a 6” log of any length especially with branches is a handful to move around. Even more so if on a hill side, in long grass or underbrush, etc.

For that size chipper hydraulic in-feed is required.

Note: I have white pine, Norway pine and Red Cedar. They ALL want to plug a chipper from sap and white pine needles are terrible. Not sure how lob lolly compares to these.

I have a 2860m Massey with 44 PTO Hp. The backend will handle up to 3000lbs. Should be good enough for a 8 to 10 inch chipper?

 

[Jstpssng]

How many trees do you have? Some mills would buy logs of the size you describe.
You won't get rich but limbing and selling the larger stems would be easier than chipping them... and might help offset the price of the new chipper.

 

[grsthegreat]

I have an old Chinese made 6 in belt fed roller feeder style chipper. Have had it over 20 years. Still fust keeps on going. I rotate 3 sets of knives thru it with local company sharpening them.

I have mainly pine, fir and assorted softer wood to contend with. Chipper works pretty fast cleaning up debris. Anything larger than 6” becomes firewood for me, unless its old and rotten, than its off to the dump trailer to haul away.

The chips will also contain leaves or needles, at least mine always do because i chip lots of branches. The chips are never as nice as the bagged bark my wife buys for the garden. I use my chips on the trails. They keep the grass and weeds down on the trails.

At one time i was going to upgrade to a hydraulic feed unit, but could not justify the cost. I figure as long as this one keeps going, ill just keep it. It also has alot smaller footprint while maneuvering thru the woods.

 

[oldnslo]

I have a 2860m Massey with 44 PTO Hp. The backend will handle up to 3000lbs. Should be good enough for a 8 to 10 inch chipper?

Weight wise yes power wise you might be border line for 6-8” material.

 

[grsthegreat]

Weight wise yes power wise you might be border line for 6-8” material.

Mine would only chip up to 4” when it was used on my old JD870 which had 28hp. On my Kioti DK45 it easily powers thru 6” on about 42 hp pto (i believe thats the spec). Would probably handle 8”, but i can barely physically handle 6” stuff. Just too heavy. And unless its all rotted out, i burn 6” stuff in winter fireplace.

 

[oldballs]

Regardless what chipper to buy, I'd say the basic consideration is "To burn...or ...not to burn". I'd say that burning is "easier" than chipping.....but......wind....rain....your available time....local codes are some of the major determinants.

With chipping.....one can do it whenever one feels like it. ....one doesn't have to take the limbs to the burn pile....you take the chipper to the limbs. The chips are a bonus.

Cjeers.
Mike