How Should You Select Your Wood Chipper?

If you live in an area with a lot of trees, you are probably accustomed to dealing with fallen branches from strong winds. Clean up your yard when piles of waste are always a hassle, but a wood chipper may help speed up your process.

Toss in limbs as well as tiny mounds of ground chips, which are ideal for adorning flower beds or serving as matting for garden walkways. However, before you go out and buy a wood chipper, have a look at your land size.

Do you have a large number of trees that need to be tended to, or only a few? What are the most common types of debris you are dealing with? Is it simply a few pieces of small twigs or the occasional small limb, or do you need to deal with quite larger branches on a regular basis? Do you wish to mill leaves for mulch as well?

In this instance, a shredder may be the best option. Before we discuss how you should choose your perfect wood chipper, let us first try to know about the history of this equipment.

History of your wood chipper

Wood chippers have been present since 1882, although popularity did not really take off until the early period of the 1900s. Originally, they were intended for use only on farms or in lumber mills. Wood chippers are available in both manual and powered versions.

Manual models are typically less expensive than their powered counterparts. They do not, however, offer as much amount of power and frequently require more maintenance. Models that are motorised are often heavy-duty equipment with powerful motors.

Also, they have a higher capacity and chip quality. Which model you should buy depends on the type of material you will be shredding. It is advisable to acquire a larger unit if you have to cut down any large trees or any branches.

When Henry Kratzmann began selling his "Kratzmann's Pulverizer" gadget in 1882, he created the first manual type of wood chipper. He then purchased a patent from Carl Günther, another German inventor.

The design of Karl Günther influenced the development of various wood-chipping devices. In truth, there are numerous parallels between the two designs. They both have 2 circular blades that will rotate at several speeds, for example.

Despite the fact that both designs functioned well, still, the Kratzmann Pulverizer maintains the record for pulverising the most wood per hour (nearly one tonne).

What will you be chipping?

When renting or buying a wood chipper, the size and amount of the biomass that you usually operate with will be the most crucial factor to consider. Jobsites with full, mature trees, such as land clearing and tree removal, will undoubtedly necessitate the use of a certain machine that can process chopped logs and trees.

Match your work environment

Large, towable wood chippers are not always the ideal fit for urban and residential locations. Self-propelled wood chippers, on the other hand, come in a wide range of sizes and provide improved mobility and also all-terrain capabilities for difficult-to-reach places.

Power

Of course, the wood chipper you choose should have sufficient power for the work, whether that power comes from a gas or diesel engine.

Of course, purchasing a unit having more power than what you require can result in inefficiencies, businesses trying to maximise profit margins should assess whether any lower-power model that uses less gasoline is more economical when the machine will be running 5 days a week, throughout the year.

Features

There are several models that come with a self-feeding mechanism that uses a certain hydraulic hopper for pulling the wood into your chipper at a predetermined speed. Many large wood chippers have a lift arm or winch to make loading heavy logs easier.

A drum or a disc is used to do the actual chipping, and there is some controversy about which is better. Proponents of disc chippers argue that they are more efficient, while supporters of drum-style chippers argue that they will be better with huge materials.

Both versions are available from most wood chipper manufacturers. It is also a better idea to think about safety features of a unit, such as shut-off controls and emergency stop and long feed tables that provide a lot of distance between feed aperture and the workers.

Types of wood chippers

Wood chippers are sorted into 3 main categories as follows:

1.Electric chippers

For little work around your yard, smaller electric wood chippers will be ideal. They are light, so they are easy to transport, and most of them can grind up limbs to almost 1⅜” in diameter without effort.

Electric models are also easy to store because they are often compact. The length of the electrical cord will be limited, although this is not an issue for smaller yards. However, if you know you will be dealing with larger limbs regularly, the strength provided by beefier gas-powered machines will be exactly what you need.

2.Gas-powered chippers

You will prefer a gas-powered machine that is more powerful for major chores. Gas-powered machines will easily handle limbs ranging from 1.5” to 3” in length, depending on the type. For feeding in any longer limbs, look for models with a tall shoot.

Rotating disk/blade wood chippers can be cut at an angle of 45°, therefore keep that in mind while picking blade designs.

They operate well on straight-grained wood, however, if you have got plenty of soft and stringy wood available on your property, the blades may clog. Horizontal drum-type blades draw in limbs that can be fed into them.

Such blades you will find on the much larger type of commercial-grade chippers. They can handle almost any kind of wood, whether dry or wet.

3.Commercial-grade chippers

Commercial wood chippers are designed for farm use and in professional settings. The rotor or drum that contains the chipper blades can be turned in three distinct ways, each using a certain different power source:

•The power of any gas engine is used in tow-behind chippers.

•PTO chippers are attached to the driveshaft of a tractor.

•Chippers for skid steers attach to the hydraulic port of the machine.

Shredding for mulch

A chipper/shredder is equipment to consider if you truly want to ground-up leaves and smaller limbs meant for mulch. These instruments are not as strong as a dedicated type of wood chippers. However, they are wonderful for grinding up any leaf litter to make fine mulch for gardening.