May get a new chipper

[RalphVa]

Think I have the wive talked into buying a new chipper. Read the reviews, and Woodland Mills seem to make good machines and have good service. Their website is really good with very impressive videos. I'm impressed by how easy they are to service.

Thinking the WC46 is good enough for us: a slight step up in size from the MacKissic but much better to have the self feed. She asked, "And I'd be able to use it?" I told her, yes. Gotta make sure I tell her to put stuff in the thing and GET OUT OF THE WAY because I've heard of some of you getting slapped by rotating stuff from the self feed.

Don't know whether it's worth it to step up to the 6" one, only $200 more. The 2025R would drive either one, probably without much effort.

Prolly will just put the Mac into the back of the pickup and take it to our local metal recycling place. It has had a LOT of use. The door for the chipper blade replacement is about falling apart. I have the door area taped up to keep stuff from flying out from where it's slightly warped and all. The very light weight housing has never been punctured, but it is bent all over the place. I replaced the rotating stuff, e.g. hammers and spacers a couple years ago after rotatiing the hammers those 3 times to round off all 4 corners. Belt was replaced once, and the non zerked bearing had to be reaplaced once. The keepers for the 4 rotating shafts don't stay in place. I've substituted those bendable thingies, but they keep flying apart. The thing works fine with the shafts not secured, but the head on one broke a corner off because it smacked a bolt head wrongly.

We've about 5 acres of trees down the hill behind the house where trees keep falling. The wife took out the invasives last year and cut up the downed trees, but more have come down. We hauled a bunch of the pieces she'd cut up this afternoon. I would have chipped some of the small stuff but didn't bother, just lumping with the tree pieces in the loader and hauling to one of our piles in one of our gulches.

Ralph

 

[JJT]

Take a look at the Woodmaxx, I have the WM-8M, it's a beast. 8"x8" opening and a 200 pound flywheel. I've had mine 3 years, tons of use, no issues.

 

[ericm979]

The MacKissick I have is self-feeding, at least the chipper part is. The Woodland Mills and Woodmaxx units have power feeds. They feed slower than a self feeder can when it's got sharp blades... those will whack you hard if you're in the way.

The power feeds could be dangerous because they don't stop, but all of them have big safety stop bars to stop the feed. Overall they're safer than the self feeding type.

I'd get a hydraulic power feed. That way you can change the feed speed. The mechanical ones are single speed.

I'll second the recommendation for the Woodmaxx 8H. Mine's been fine. I replaced the hydraulic feed control with one that's sized appropriately for the system but many people use them as is. The bed knife is a bit of a pain to get to but does not need attention often.

 

[oldballs]

I've had the MacKissic MightyMac SC1650 HTE (highway towable) for 12 years...a "Shredder/Chipper). It has never failed or had parts replaced. I did rotate the hammers a couple times and reset/sharpened the chipping blade. The machine and service have met my expectations. It has a lot of hours on it; but I take very good care of my equipment. I think MacKissic has been around quite awhile....stuff still made in USA. It has a 10 HP gasoline engine.

But in 2019 i bought the Woodland Mills WC68 PTO chipper to handle much longer/bigger tree work. It works well on either of my Kubotas B2620 or B2650. Along with their Stump Grinder my experience with Woodland has been outstanding both with their products (chinese built) and especially their service.

I don't think the Mac was intended to be used on large volume tree work. Yet, I still use the Mac most often doing small stuff around my 3 acres.

Both of these machines require attention to safety.....you can read about it .... but the machine will tell you about it anyway.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[oosik]

I've had two Wallensteins. First the BX42S - now the BX62S. They get excellent reviews and there is a local dealer. I've had the 62S for eight years. I chip 900-1200 small ( 1" to 6" ) pines every spring. The original side of the blades - still as sharp as a razor. That's the way it is with soft pine.

When I got the 62S I considered the 92S. However - it's all I can do to drag a 6" diameter by 30' long pine without falling. I'd never be able to move a 9" pine. The only real advantage to the 92S - a larger rotor. But with soft as butter pines - that's just not necessary.

 

[hslogger]

I am a happy woodmaxx owner. What ever you get, get HYDRAULIC FEED.

 

[oosik]

I am a happy woodmaxx owner. What ever you get, get HYDRAULIC FEED.

This is not ABSOLUTELY necessary. I've had manual feed for over 18 years and it works just great. If most everything you will chip is straight - like my pines - there is no need for hydraulic feed. The Wallys will grab and pull in so hard - it definitely frightens newcomers who will help me. I NEVER have to limb anything - butt first and start looking for your next tree.

If most everything you chip will be twisted - THEN a hydraulic feed is the way to go. Remember - you will pay MORE for hydraulic feed. Be sure you will actually need it. Be sure your tractor has rear hydraulics if you want hydraulic feed.

 

[Tomtint]

I have a Wallenstien 42, only use it a couple times a year to clean up branches after storms but it works well for what I need. Actually put it on last week and took about 2 hrs to clean up the property. A hydraulic feed would definitely be nice. Sometimes when I'm putting pieces in the feed, they will chatter and vibrate in my hand pretty hard. It hurts after a while.

 

[oosik]

Tomtint - holding on to anything I feed into my chipper, while its chipping, is definitely ill advised. Yes - vibration can/will hurt. The bark on a pine tree is just like the surface of a potato grater. I use to hang on to the tree as it fed into my Wallys. Then I realized a couple of things. I really don't need to hold on to the tree. The Wally will pull it in and chip it just fine without my help. Holding on to the tree hurt my hand/wrist and it only took one four hour session to have my new leather gloves completely ruined. The vibration and the simple act of just holding on to the tree completely ate the palm out of my right hand glove. So ..... I ended up with a new pair of leather gloves - left hand glove is pretty good, right hand glove has a hole where the palm use to be.

Besides - once the tree starts chipping - it's time to head back to the "tree pile" and get another.

 

[sea2summit]

I've got a WoodMaxx 9900, my only complaint is I wish it had two rollers instead of one as it doesn't like to feed the really small material sometimes (I have a ton of vines I'm still thinning out) other than that I'm really happy with it.