Who's got one they like? What should I know about maintenance, etc.? How often do you switch blades, blah blah blah? I live on an acre with tons of trees on the perimeter of the property as well as some overgrown parts where I abut a park. The goal is to use the clippings/chips to turn into compost and possibly use as mulch in certain areas of my property. I'm thinking something like this would work - anyone have any experience with DR equipment? I'd probably use it 2-3 times a year once I get a proper pile setup. https://www.drpower.com/power-equipment/chippers/chipper-shredders/prompt-for-11-5-cs3-new.axd On a related note, looking to do "some" (TBD on the extent of it) composting - anyone have any success or horror stories to share? This unit gets great reviews on Amazon but certainly isn't the cheapest. https://www.amazon.com/Envirocycle-...y&sprefix=compost,aps,131&sr=8-19-spons&psc=1 Thanks.
Seriously though, I made a nice compost tumbler out of a food grade barrel and some scrap lumber. I probably have less than $20 in it. There’s no need to spend $259.
It's got a Briggs motor...so that's about all you need to know...pretty solid. I have had two. Oil changes were all I ever did do them. Never changed blades or anything...just oil. They just keep on going. My current chipper is a Troy-Bilt I got from Lowes. I use mine about twice a year to turn leaves and branches into pretty much dust.
I never use the "n" word when talking about my purchases. How's the Troy Bilt compare to the DR stuff? Your usage is similar to what mine will be - turn that and weeds into dust and then (hopefully) turn that into compost.
I bought a used Bearcat (Echo now owns them) nearly 5 yrs ago, seems to do a decent job with brush and up to 2-3" limbs. I don't recall how old it was when I bought it but I've yet to sharpen the blades still seems to do it's job. Only thing, altho it does mulch decently, I don't think it's quite the same quality as store bought mulch.
The DR's a more heavy duty model that will shred bigger branches than my Troy-Bilt. My TB is a homeowner's special from Lowes. Mine's good for leaves and branches up to maybe two inches in diamater. It also cost about half of the DR's current sale price shown on your posted web site. It does 90% of what I need it to do..every once in a while I wish it would shred up a slightly larger branch, but those go into my "Free Firewood" pile I stack in front of my house on occasion and they disappear that way, too. I have a pellet stove in my house, so I cannot burn them in the winter. But, I hate throwing away good firewood. Just seems like a damned waste.
I keep thinking about one to chip/shred oak and what drops off an apple tree we have for the smoker. Sadly can't use disposing of branches as the excuse, those just get tossed into the woods.
I have a wood stove (fireplace insert, to be specific) so any branches larger than 4" I'd just chainsaw into pieces that could fit into that. Thanks for your input - I'm going to pull the trigger on the DR now. [EDIT: well that was god damn annoying. Had to pay an extra $150 to get it delivered. Fucking ridiculous that it was $100 to get it delivered, but it was my job to get it off the fucking semi so paid another $50 to not have to deal with that bullshit.]
I've got a troy built tomahawk. It's old, it's rough, it works. I generate a lot of brush and limbs every year, and find it's just quicker to burn it than to feed it through the chipper. My dad and buddies borrow my chipper more than I use it. What I DO use it for and it works great for is all the bark and leftovers from cutting/splitting wood. I just rake it all up, and dump it down the hopper (dirt and all), then spread it in the garden. I found mine in the woods when I bought my house. Needed all new bearings, belt, carb rebuild, gas line and knife sharpening. It was in pretty rough shape, but still works great for what it was designed for. 1-1.5" branches and under are what it's ideally suited for IMO. A tractor driven chipper (or bigger) would be better for my needs, but I haven't found a used one in my price range yet. They seem to hold their value around here. I just prefer stacking it all up and having a big fire in the fall. I can drink a beer while tending a fire, but it's pretty hard to while stuffing a chipper
How big of shit are we talking? Just twigs and stuff like that? That little thing will probably do fine, throw the shit in and get away from it. We had a larger gravity feed and that thing was dangerous as all hell with larger branches. My dad got a little larger one that had a self feeder and it's leaps and bounds better, but likely overkill for what your needs are it sounds like. Or you can get the big boys and feed whole trees in, no need to remove the limbs, cut the fucker down and shove it in and let'er eat, literally. Cool to watch, saves an assload of work too.
I bought a used one ( Sears with 10hp Briggs & Stratton) because I wanted to make wood chips to cover a path in the woods on my 10 & 1/2 acres in Michigan. The problem I had with mine was the chips were way to small , almost dust really. And I could feed in a whole 15 ‘ tree , cut up in pieces first , and end up with a 5 gal. Bucket of dust . Couldn’t figure out how that was even possible. Were did the rest of the wood go ?? If your looking for wood dust this is the one to get
I have the 6.5Hp chipper from Harbor Freight and have been pleased with it, but Ive never used any other ones. It was $399 with coupon and looks very similar to the DR in the original post. It does good with branches 3" or under, its not very good with small piles of small branches/leaves bc they dont feed into the hopper well, opening is too small. I probably have 25+ hours on mine and and no issues, it really saves me time from having to haul storm debris away or the smaller branches from taking down a tree. It does have a learning curve and need to take your time with it, like dont try a limb with sharp bend as it may get stuck then you have to spend more time to use the cleanout to remove it, its easier to just cut it into smaller sections so it feeds properly. A dense 3" limb can choke the engine down so have to feed in about a foot, let it ramp back up, feed more, etc. The chips it produces are not always even sized and are not good enough for landscaping beds, I just the chips on the edge of my woods. https://www.harborfreight.com/65-hp-212cc-chipper-shredder-62323.html
I know nothing about chippers but my dad and my own experience with DR products have been nothing but the best. They make seriously tough stuff.