What's a good chipper/shredder?
- Thread starter FatTire
- Start date
I had the same issue with the height of the chute, and cut about 4" out of it so it would fit in my buildings.
I find the dolly I made to be a great help. Here's a photo:
Terry
The blades have to be very sharp to self-feed, otherwise is can quickly become work to feed them. Blades that still feel sharp to the finger aren't sharp enough.
You can use a bench grinder if you are very careful to keep them cool. I've done that. But I think I get much better results with Tormek sharpening system. It's a slow-moving water cooled stone, and has holders to keep the angle constant.
Terry
farmeratheart
Platinum Member
I've had the Wallenstein BXM chipper/shredder for a couple of years now. I shred a lot of bark that falls off of firewood to use for mulch. I would be very cautious about the stones. With your size tractor you could easily run the BXM42. Give the good folks at Woodward Crossing a call!
Frank
CalG
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Chipper blade sharpening?
With a decent 6 or 8 inch bench grinder and some sort of scabd on extension table in front of the wheel, Refining a dulled edge is about a 20 min job per blade. The "trick" to not burning the edge while grinding is to use a coarse wheel, have a water dip bucket at hand (and use it!) And befor trying to put an edge on the knife, grind the knife dead blunt back to the point you plan on restoring the keen edge. Then you are grinding into more substantial material that better carries the heat away.
A few light passes with an oil stone (water stone , stone dipped in kerosene, whatever floats your boat) and the knfe edge will be so sharp it will cut your eyeball just looking at it ;-)
I don't feel the double edge blades give any advantage, for when if you send them out for sharpening, you need to wait. And if you sharpen yourself, there is a second edge in your hand that you need to protect. If you don't sharpen yourself, get two sets of single edges!
The shredder swinging "hammers" are not typically "sharpended". but you can flip them four times to put a fresh corner to the work. I have considered a regrind when the final corner is rounded off. A "step" that gives two peaks in each corner seems to be a good plan. A full replacement set is pricey.
Regarding stones. NONE in the chipper! No roots etc. there. Don't be sloppy unless you like sharpening expensive knives.
In the shredder, they are unwelcome, but inevitable. I'm sure the biggest cause of dulling. But not a show stopper. I've run some big ones through (not intentional) One step noisey, but as mentioned, not a show stopper. MacKissic literature even mentions "processing" soil with stones.. I wouldn't do it unless it was worth a blade swap.
Bark??
The IDEAL material for the shredder. Hemlock bark comes out of the hopper in just the perfect mulch forum. I look forward to the materal, though the process can be a bit dusty. Watch the wind.
Piles and blowers?
The material builds up under this unit. It sit's on legs. But Hey! It's attached to a freak'in TRACTOR... Pick it up and move it 3 feet when the build up is bothering, You need to keep up with the brush pile anyway ;-) As far as loading a trailer, The bucket is on the other end of the same tractor, and I can't have a trailer and the chipper on the tractor at the same time.
When I do want to load my little utility trailer, The tail gate is removed, and the baffle plate on the shredder is lifted. a good percentage of the processed material is ejected from the shredder drum for a distance that fills the trailer easily. Some clearing out beneath the unit is still called for.
Screen size? I only run the largest opening. When finer material is wanted, first pass material is run through a second time. That works very quickly. Clearing blockage from the screen is the number one time killer. I believe finer screens would block more readily. Again, Colorado dry material may never show this issue.
Not much of this applies to straight chippers except the knife sharpening.
With a decent 6 or 8 inch bench grinder and some sort of scabd on extension table in front of the wheel, Refining a dulled edge is about a 20 min job per blade. The "trick" to not burning the edge while grinding is to use a coarse wheel, have a water dip bucket at hand (and use it!) And befor trying to put an edge on the knife, grind the knife dead blunt back to the point you plan on restoring the keen edge. Then you are grinding into more substantial material that better carries the heat away.
A few light passes with an oil stone (water stone , stone dipped in kerosene, whatever floats your boat) and the knfe edge will be so sharp it will cut your eyeball just looking at it ;-)
I don't feel the double edge blades give any advantage, for when if you send them out for sharpening, you need to wait. And if you sharpen yourself, there is a second edge in your hand that you need to protect. If you don't sharpen yourself, get two sets of single edges!
The shredder swinging "hammers" are not typically "sharpended". but you can flip them four times to put a fresh corner to the work. I have considered a regrind when the final corner is rounded off. A "step" that gives two peaks in each corner seems to be a good plan. A full replacement set is pricey.
Regarding stones. NONE in the chipper! No roots etc. there. Don't be sloppy unless you like sharpening expensive knives.
In the shredder, they are unwelcome, but inevitable. I'm sure the biggest cause of dulling. But not a show stopper. I've run some big ones through (not intentional) One step noisey, but as mentioned, not a show stopper. MacKissic literature even mentions "processing" soil with stones.. I wouldn't do it unless it was worth a blade swap.
Bark??
The IDEAL material for the shredder. Hemlock bark comes out of the hopper in just the perfect mulch forum. I look forward to the materal, though the process can be a bit dusty. Watch the wind.
Piles and blowers?
The material builds up under this unit. It sit's on legs. But Hey! It's attached to a freak'in TRACTOR... Pick it up and move it 3 feet when the build up is bothering, You need to keep up with the brush pile anyway ;-) As far as loading a trailer, The bucket is on the other end of the same tractor, and I can't have a trailer and the chipper on the tractor at the same time.
When I do want to load my little utility trailer, The tail gate is removed, and the baffle plate on the shredder is lifted. a good percentage of the processed material is ejected from the shredder drum for a distance that fills the trailer easily. Some clearing out beneath the unit is still called for.
Screen size? I only run the largest opening. When finer material is wanted, first pass material is run through a second time. That works very quickly. Clearing blockage from the screen is the number one time killer. I believe finer screens would block more readily. Again, Colorado dry material may never show this issue.
Not much of this applies to straight chippers except the knife sharpening.
OP
FatTire
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Thanks for the info everyone. I imagine I can avoid stones in the chipper, it is the shredder I'm worried about, but from what CalG says, sound like I shouldn't let that stop me from processing our straw. We built a straw bale house -- imagine cutting the corner off of a straw bale with an electric chain saw -- a quarter or third of a bale expands into a whole lot of loose straw, multiplied many many times. After sitting for over a year, the pile is still big. After that attack some slash piles, etc, and looks like we will be working on forest thinning pretty much forever.
oosik
Super Star Member
I've lived here 32 years and always had a chipper. At first it was a Wallenstein 42 - then two years ago I upped it to a Wally 62S. The only problem is - sometimes a 6" tree is a bit of a chore to handle. I'd say 100% of everything I chip is P. pine and I never trim the limbs off the tree. The bigger Wally handles the bigger pines very easily. I just completed chipping this years small pine thinning project - about 750 small(2" to 5") ponderosa pines. As long as I'm chipping pines(very soft wood) and mindful of any rocks, I have yet to sharpen any chipper blades. The Wally '42 went thirty years - 500 to 750 small trees/year - without requiring the blades to be sharpened or turned. Granted - it wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed when I traded it but it still did an adequate job chipping.
Timbersawz
Bronze Member
Salsco are great chippers.
Stones are terrible for chippers, but even dirt and grit that branches tend to pick up will dull your blades pretty quick. Dont move the branches around to often when its wet, they gather mud faster than your blades will appreciate. If the branches have been sitting for a while, its often best to leave the bottom layer due to dirt pick up. Being careful I can get up to 100 hours out a sharpening, not being careful and that can be minutes.
One of the easiest DIT ways to sharpen your chipper blades is to use a bench sander, takes a little time but your less likely to overheat the blades or screw up the balance. Best to do it more often and check your anvil clearances.