Make sure that you actually run some material through it before you buy it. You might even want to take a few limbs from your own yard just to be sure to test it with what you'll be chipping.

I'm not a big fan of small chippers in general. The couple of times I've used one over the years I found that you have to really force the material through them and the material seems to want to kick back on you. Not much fun. I think there's a reason you see some many of these things for sale on Craigslist.

Find out why the guy is selling. If he's moving, that's one thing. But if he lives on a wooded lot and says he just doesn't use it, that should be a clue as to its effectiveness.

Good luck!

 

Try dry, hard wood before purchasing - otherwise rent a larger one.

Caveat - I had a different brand.

I was using mine to shred leaves (a lot of leaves) and chip small branches from my wooded lot. Looking back, I wish I'd saved my money.

My experience was:

• Worked great for leaves and other soft material. Provided there were no sticks to clog it up, it would shred leaves as fast as I could feed it.
• If it has a bag to collect the material, one will spend a lot of time emptying the bag. They fill pretty fast and it will clog up if the bag is full.
• There's always branches that are larger than it will handle - one will need a different solution for those, like sawing them up for firewood.
• One needed to be ready to spend a lot of time - they can't handle woody material very fast.
• They will work at the rated size material if the material is wet and soft. Hard, dry material changes the capacity quickly.
• They will beat your hands up if your not careful. The material has a tendency to bounce, vibrate and push back.
• Small material (twigs) can clog it up and get wrapped around the flywheel.
• On mine, there was a "grate" that forced the leafy material to not just blow through the system. Over time that bent and was less effective - no shredding at all. Check for internal bent parts.

I finally grew so frustrated with mine I stopped using it. Then it became hard to start. I finally gave it away on CL. Never regretted getting rid of it and wish I'd never bought it.

I now try other options which are working for me:

• I pile up the brush in the woods and let it rot.
• If the pile gets too big, I either rent a small industrial chipper or haul it to my local landfilll where they shred it an haul it away to make mulch/compost.
• I wait until the tree company comes to work at my house and add it to the pile of material they are going to chip and blow into a big truck.
• For leaves, I have a backpack blower. I either blow them into the woods or into piles, put them on a tarp and dump them in the woods where they can rot down. Lately, I've been using my MCS for about half the leaves and the flowers we cut back in the fall.

 

DON'T. I have one. It belonged to my dad and when my folks moved into an apartment he gave it to me. Yes, they are solid. No, they don’t really work. We spend more time trying to shape branches into the mouth than anything else. Rent a large capacity one if you need a chipper.

I’m simply verifying what JAllen has already noted about another brand.

 

I have owned a Troy-Bilt Super Tomahawk chipper for years. Mine can chip up to 4" limbs.

You state the one you are looking at is a 1" to 2" chipper. The shredder on this model is also smaller than mine.
There are several size screens for the shredder. You need to check on the size screens it comes with. Small screens limit what you can do with it. Screens are some times are available on ebay, but you need to make sure they will fit the model you have.

JAllen makes some valid points.

Using the small chipper shredders is a slow process. Sometime it can be a very frustrating process, depending on what you are running through it.
If you have a lot of cleaning up to do, having you own chipper shredder is very nice to have. One that cleanup is done, they will not get very much use.

What I have seen when looking at used chipper shredders is that almost all of them look like new or very close to new.
My Troy Bilt is around 30 years old. It has not been used for at least 3 years & still looks almost new. It get used a lot when it gets used. It just does not get used a lot.

 

I was just watching these yesterday.... maybe they can give you some ideas for wood processing


https://youtu.be/p9cKYTGaxN8

 

As someone who’s been browsing Craigslist looking for a chipper shredder my first thought is can you get parts? I’ve seen several Tomahawk chippers on Craigslist lately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Chipper purchased was made. Starts and runs great. No leaks, oil or gas. I did take a sampling of wood to be chipped. My largest was 2 inch branches. Handled them with ease. The sale of this chipper came with extra's. Three differently sized shredding grates, One plastic push tool for grinding, to keep hands clear. One of the additional features, comes with a all aluminum sturdy tow hitch, easily removable.
I will change the oil and gas, even though it looks okay. Will replace the fuel filter. Air cleaner element looks new.
This purchased was made to give it new ownership soon, to a family member. This type of shredder should fit their needs at this time. After this summer season has ended, they also will have their garden to clean up.
Thanks for the feed back on this shredder. I also agree with the necessity of renting a larger machine when the size and volume dictate. I have done that on my own property. Certainly is quicker with the larger rental of a chipper. With convenience generally comes with a cost.

Thanks for the link of the wood processing. Interesting.

:greentractorride:

 

Congrats on the purchase!! :good2:

 

Had a Tomahawk for 10 years, left over from when we bought the house in Baton Rouge. Brought it here to Va.

More or less identical to the 3ph Mac TPH-122, but the Mac is A WHOLE LOT EASIER to work on! The spacer between the hammers on the Tomahawk would get bent and "weld" to the shafts, often requiring hours of hammering to get them out to rotate the hammers. By comparison, the Mac shafts just push right out with ones fingers.

Now selling the Mac hopefully this morning after 16 years. Have a Woodland Mills WC46 on order.

Ralph

 

Based on my experience...
I have the Troy-Bilt 3" version, got it new about 10 years ago and towed it 30 miles home. I've sharpened the knives a few times and had to replace a Welsh plug on the carb andit still runs like new. One feature I really like is that the branch chute is longer than my arm. I save out a push stick from the pile to be processed, then chip it last.

I got it for a dual purpose, I had branches/pine cones/leaves to process and I wanted chips for my compost & gardens. The chips are rather small compared to the bigger ones which means they compost faster. There is a 12-15" self-powered chipper on my wish list but I can't afford $25k for one. More realistically I'll get an 8" for the tractor when the $$ show up.

Yes, the 3" chipper is slow on branches and hand feeding the sticks can get vibrationally painful depending on the stick and sharpness of the knives. Just adding a self feeder would work wonders. I don't feed it any of the willow fronds I get to harvest from my neighbor's overhanging trees. Messes up the lawn sweeper too. No vines either.

I break up the smaller sticks and feed them to the leaf chute. I also drop in short 4-8" lengths of up to 4-5" branches one at a time, small enough to go around the chute corner at the bottom. Pine cones go in there too. Feed it dry leaves, not wet. Make sure the chipper is clear before turning off or you may be opening it up to clear the jam. You don't have to use the bag but the smaller bits will blow all over and be harder to collect for the compost bin. Oh, store the bag empty and dry.

If/when I do get the 8" chipper I plan to keep the Troy-Bilt for the smaller jobs, just as I am keeping my walk behind Cub Cadet tiller even though I got the RT1157.