What not to feed a woodchipper

[YanmarFever]

We have a 3 point hydraulic feed chipper for the Branson 45HP.
I was chipping some oak branches when it started to rain, so I laid my new stihl 029 in the feed chute of the chipper and headed for the barn.
An hour later I started the tractor and went back to work, when I heard the awful sound of the stihl meeting the chipper !!!!
It ate the bar and chain but the engine wouldn't fit thru the final chute to the waiting blades. Needless to say we put a new bar and chain on and learned a lesson.
The chipper.... not a scratch !

 

[OldPaint]

I guess while we're telling on ourselves, I better fess up and tell how I left the catcher bag on my little MTD 3" chipper/shredder in the shredder hopper. It didn't suck the bag in until it was wound up pretty high RPM, which made it even worse. It wrapped on the chopper blade, then got stuffed into the blower housing. Fortunately I had the flail screen out (I was chipping, not mulching) so the damage to the bag was limited to a few holes, and the bag was tough enough to stall the 6.5 HP engine. Having gone in the mulcher side, it never contacted the chipper knives. The fun part was getting that bag out, which took a complete disassembly of the housing and flywheel. The housing was nice and clean inside, though. Stitched the bag up with some small nylon string and a canvas needle and still have it today. That was more than 15 years ago.

One of the things I like about my WC-68 is that the chute folds up to decrease the footprint for storage. It forces the issue of looking in the chute (while unfolding it) before using the chipper. Otherwise, if I know it's ready to run, I don't put ANYTHING in the chute except what I intend to chop up.

 

[5030]

Just did a major contribution to the burn pile with 3 dead pine trees, gonna be a nice blaze.

 

[ultrarunner]

Lost a small chipper when taking in a metal railroad spike...

Gloves... I use the cheap Harbor Freight welding gloves because I like the gauntlet style...

My preferred chips are redwood... if I see one going down I ask and almost always yes delivered to the driveway...

 

[5030]

"The only "tough" material I've ever put thru my chipper - old, age & weather hardened apple trees. It chipped them OK but it wasn't easy like the young, soft & small pines I usually chip."

Best thing to do with old hard and dead apple tree limbs is make charcoal out of them and BBQ on it.

Dead apple wood is always in great demand by people who really know what BBQ'ing is and it ain't cauterizing a good steak on a propane grill either.... YUK.

 

[arto98607]

Just did a major contribution to the burn pile with 3 dead pine trees, gonna be a nice blaze.

We have not had any measurable rain since very early June so burning is out of the question this time of year!

It's similar during most summers - burning may be OK in late November but by then it may be too wet?

 

[5030]

Dead, beetle infested pine will bur wet or dry with a little 'accelerant' (used motor oil) to get it going. Got some pretty big butts too.

 

[OldPaint]

Dead, beetle infested pine will bur wet or dry with a little 'accelerant' (used motor oil) to get it going. Got some pretty big butts too.

Got several big dead pines I gotta put down this fall/winter. Unfortunately, if I build a fire that big, it's gonna draw a LOT of unwanted attention and be a lot more expensive (fines) than if I just hügelkultur with them. Pine/conifer species are not recommended for hügelkultur, but the widow makers have gotta go and I ain't paying to haul them to a dump.

I'm waiting for cold weather to make sure woodpeckers aren't sitting a clutch (and make it a lot cooler working out there). Quite illegal to kill woodpeckers here, and I like 'em anyway. Pilliated, Red heads, red-bellies, yellowhammers, Downies, you name it, we got LOTs of woodpeckers. I hate to take down their favorite nesting trees, but I also hate for their nesting trees to drop big chunks on me, too. One of 'em is nearly 80 feet tall, despite 20 feet of top already gone, with a couple 6 inch or larger limbs still hanging on up there, which would be almost certain death to anyone or anything they fall on. That one's gonna hit the ground with a thump. Not much left of them that I can put in the chipper without splitting, but I'll chip what I can and just blow the chips out on the ground then spread 'em for ground cover/mulch. Maybe the resin in the hearts will run off a few ticks and chiggers.

 

[5030]

A good roast out here is a non issue. We live on a working farm in very rural America, aka: Flyover Country.

 

[ultrarunner]

Even a working farm here doing a burn by the book causes massive response including arial support…

Blighted trees not allowed to leave the farm and must be incinerated… we have strict requirement for the burn piles and equipment at the ready once burn day declared…

Adjoining a 100,000 acre public park is the issue…