Chipper PTO Chipper - Useful or misplaced?

drcollie · Oct 19, 2003

Just an update on my Woods 5000. I spent most the day chipping and my property (5 acres) is 90% poplar.....the Woods eats that poplar like nobody's business.

Then I got into the oaks on another section for the first time. Ruh-Roh! Not so easy now! The nice, almost-self-feed feature doesn't work on the hardwoods as well and you need to lay into the branches some....NOW I can see the need for the hydraulic feeds such as on the Salsco 824. That's very tiring feeding in some particular woods to the machine.

So ultimately it depends on what you are chipping. Some woods go in like a breeze and some don't. If I had primarily tough hardwoods, I'd be wanting that hydro-feed for sure. Yes, they're expensive......

BTW, that shedder feature really comes in nice on the Woods Chipper. You can stick a lot of bushy branches in there that you would otherwise have to trim to go into the chipper. Saves a lot of time but always wear long sleeves, gloves and my chainsaw helmet with earmuffs and face screen is well-suited to chipped duty. Had one good chunk bounce off the helmet today and the noise protection is a must-have.

Duane C.

Junkman · Oct 19, 2003

thanks... your report about the oaks had put a damper on it for me...... my lot is 90% oak and other hardwood... back to the hunt for a chipper......

BigDave · Oct 19, 2003

I posted this a while back on my chipper performance, but when it comes to hardwood, especially dried-out hardwood - the chipper will stall out my tractor running at 2800rpm if the log is greater the 4" and I let it gravity feed at it's own speed. If I'm cutting that type of wood, I usually let it cut only a foot at a time. Anything else isn't a problem.

GregJ · Oct 20, 2003

Duane,
One thing to consider is how sharp your blades are. I found that my chipper was working me harder and harder and realized that I had chipped for about 20 hours without sharpening the blades. I flipped the blades over and what a difference. The blades are fairly easy to get to. The manual recommends changing at least every 10 hours. Sharp blades will pull the wood in a lot better. The blades are about $150 a set, and would have cost me about $60 to be sharpened. So that cost justified a wet grinder. I just sharpened them myself and they work great.

Greg

GareyD · Oct 20, 2003

I have the DR PTO chipper (or should I say my wife does) that she works behind my old Massey TO30 and chips everything that she can get her hands on...she filled the one ton dump truck about half full yesterday with Sweet Gums that were up to 4 inch diameter and 12 to 16 foot long.

The reason she uses the TO30 is because I'm using the L3430 with the brush grapple to haul the brush up to the "Logging Yard" where we are cutting firewood and chipping the brush from the 10 acres that we are currently in the process of clearing for pasture.

I have run the DR behind the GL3430 and not had a minutes problem...don't know if I would want to do it for a living though!!

Do get at least one set of extra blades (I got 2 sets) and keep them sharp....chipping hardwood will dull them pretty quick....I change 'em out about every 8-10 hour or first thing in the morning...

Yep, I can say that I love my DR chipper ('specially since the Mrs. does most of the work!!)

pekabu · Oct 20, 2003

Just saw a Valby model in NY for sale on eBay. Thought I would shoot a heads up here.

Valby eBay Chipper

cisco · Oct 20, 2003

Whoa - GareyD - you get your wife to chip, and like it??? OK, I've apparantly got far bigger issues than what chipper I purchase, that being to "train" my wife to like using it. This may take a while ..........
Anyhow, thanks for the feedback on the DR unit. Seems that if one has sufficient pto power, it'll work just fine for what I need (pine and oak, mostly 4" branches or less). I've a stump pile for the heavy stuff that I can periodically burn(moved a 4 foot oak stump last weekend that had been hanging around since hurricane HUGO in 1989 - I got the property in 2000 - couldn't pick the stump up with the FEL, so just rolled it about 50 yards to the brush pile, a few feet at a time, with the FEL).

ineedanewtoy · Oct 20, 2003

Hey, thanks for giving the world a heads-up on that chipper! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I've had my eye on it since it was listed. Now you've probably blown my chance to get a deal!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

GDB

GareyD · Oct 21, 2003

In my case, no trainin' was involved..she decided she wanted the chipper to clean out the woodlot behind the house and around the yard, so the grandbabies wouldn't get snake bit. Never seen a snake, except Ralph (a 6 foot black snake we inherited with the property) on the place since we bought it 10 years ago, but you know how Granny's are...

My neighbor borrowed the chipper yesterday and ran it behind his little chinese tractor (about 17 hp at the pto), cleaned up the tops from some huge hickory trees that we cut down to make room for his new shop/garage...3 to 4 inch limbs, 10 to 15 foot long...that little chipper was eating them as fast as we could stick them in!!!