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

 

[rumwrks]

I think you're pushing the edge of capabilities power wise IMHO. I have the woodland mills 8" chipper and run it on a 55HP turbo with a nominal 44HP at the PTO. I can put 4-5" doug fir through it and it does decently well green, dry I need to turn the infeed speed down a bit. Dry hardwood like ash IDK.. more like 4" before I have to slow things down. The hydraulic infeed is nice for being able to control the speed. But with a tractor chipper you're not winning any speed contests I don't thing. Really handy for smaller cleanup jobs but not really industrial speed.

You're kind of pushing into the territory where a dedicated machine in the 12" range might be a better fit. I'd look hard at shopping used and see if you can find one that fits your size needs better than the tractor I think if it was me.

I mostly got the larger infeed to avoid having to trim limbs and less for the capacity though. Most things over about 3-4" end up in the firewood pile.

I'd second the comment about green fir and pine needles clogging it up and the sap build up being a bit of a problem (I think pine might be even worse for sap than fir...). I've had decent luck letting the piles age for 2-3 months then chipping them, not so much that they're "dry" but dry enough the needles blow off better and the sap isn't quite so resinous. I think that's true with most chippers to some degreee, the industrial sized ones seem to maybe clear a little better but even with them green conifer is a bit sticky.

 

[grsthegreat]

On my latest project i kept the chipper in the shed, hired a guy with an industrial root grinder and another guy with a 100 hp forestry mulcher.

The local utility company cut a swath 15’ wide x 1,280’ long along my north boarder to move power lines. They left a mess of wood and branches. Trees up to 28” and lots, i mean lots of roots. I would have spent months if not multiple seasons cleaning that mess.

It took me about 3 weeks to haul out all the wood with the grapple. The root grinder guy took about 6 hours.

The forestry mulcher guy took about 8 hours over 2 days.

I didnt have to dig out any roots and than have to haul them away. Cost a bit of scratch, but we love the results. I think this job would have taken me many, many seasons to do with a grapple, dump trailer and chipper.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have been tempted, but never acted on a 3pt chipper. The shock load it puts on your PTO can be a cause for early PTO failure.
Sticks and limbs would be fine, but logs and no feed mechanism, like a truck pulled chipper has, would be a workout for both you and the chipper.
I’d rent a big 100HP diesel chipper after you accumulate a lot of log material, then chip away. Use your tractor instead to haul the logs to the rear of the chipper.

 

[greenie]

I always found it much faster and easier to burn brush rather than chipping.

 

[grsthegreat]

I always found it much faster and easier to burn brush rather than chipping.

Not in my area. Fire season is longer than winter season lately.

 

[greenie]

Not in my area. Fire season is longer than winter season lately.

I'm fortunate to have a fire department that writes a burn permit for a year. When I burn I wait until 9AM to see the Maine Forest Service fire danger map. If my area is low or moderate I can burn without contacting the fire department. Maine is a rainy state (except for August) so it's pretty uncommon not to be able to burn.
This all can change quickly when upper management changes at the FD; then I call, the FD comes out to inspect the area and material. Depending on how busy the FD is that can be as late as 11AM and the fire must be out by dusk which in the winter is 4PM. It's wise to maintain good relations with the FD.
Some states prohibit any open burning.
In any case the volume of material I burn if chipped would create problems with what I did with the chips. Hog fuel, landscaping mulch, there's no market.

 

[oosik]

I've been thinning/chipping my stands of pines for over 35 years now. Currently I have a Wallenstein BX62S mounted on my Kubota M6040.

I've got 80 acres of Ponderosa pines. Concerns regarding wildfires is why I chip. I chip up to and including six inch butt cut pines. I chip them in the round(no limbs trimmed).

I once considered getting a larger chipper. Before you consider a bigger chipper, do this. Go out and thin one of your tree stands. Cut EVERYTHING smaller than 8 or 10 inches. It will look like a giants game of Pick-Up-Sticks and be twice as nasty to handle.

NOW - figure how you plan on dragging that 8 or 10 tree over to your chipper. I'm no weakling but - by golly - I can't lift the butt end on a 10 inch Ponderosa pine by myself- muchless, over, under and around all the other fallen trees. Be prepared to trip and fall almost continuously. By the end of the day your shins will look like raw hamburger.

I,m always thinning my stands every two or three years. A spring of thinning means I will end up chipping 800 to 1200 trees and take two and a half to three months. About 85 to 90 percent of all trees trimmed will be 3.5" or smaller on the butt cut.

 

[bob11x]

I needed (wanted) a chipper for property maintenance. Needed chips for trails and garden.
I ended up with a WoodMaxx MX-8600. At the time I had a BX25D. It did an admirable job. The hydraulic feed is mandatory in my book. Especially when using with the limited power I had.
I upgraded to a L3901 and the chipper is amazing. It was good to use before but now it is like a real machine.
It is nice to have around to be able to use as needed. There are a bunch of dead ash waiting to be dropped.

 

[BackRoad]

What do you do with that significant quantity of chips Mr. Oosik?

 

[deezler]

I also have 10 acres of all wooded land and always wanted a chipper.

But I realized some years ago that I actually never want to own one. Mainly because I simply wouldn't use it, who has time for that?

Even if you don't want to manage burn piles to get rid of all your slash - you can just bulldoze it into a pile back in the woods somewhere. Push it around a corner in your trails and find a place you wont see it. After a year, the pile will be rotting along well and you can smash it down smaller. It provides good animal habitat in the mean time.

The other key factor for me is that wood chips are abundant and free. You see a tree crew working in the area, tell 'em you can take some loads, and they will gladly not drive all the way to the composting center. Me and my closest few nieghbors always coordinate this and share/distribute access to the local tree crews.

So why spend hours and hours cutting and jamming branches into your inefficient small chipper, accumulating hours and wear on your tractor? When A) wood chips are free, and B), you can just easily hide all the brush on your many acres of property.