Wood Chipper...first timer

salty87

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Aug 12, 2003
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Any pointers on renting/using a wood chipper/shredder. I've got a bunch of juniper trees to dispatch. Too much to burn and it's not good for anything else.

What's the best way to prepare? I'm guessing I should cut down whatever I want to chip first so I'm not wasting rental time doing that.

Any other helpful pointers?
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
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Any pointers on renting/using a wood chipper/shredder. I've got a bunch of juniper trees to dispatch. Too much to burn and it's not good for anything else.

What's the best way to prepare? I'm guessing I should cut down whatever I want to chip first so I'm not wasting rental time doing that.

Any other helpful pointers?

Sounds like the plan, not much else.

Keep loose clothing away and tucked in so limbs don't grab you. Make sure the reverse bar around the outside of the entry of the chipper works. This way if a limb does grab you, it will stop and reverse when the bar is pushed
 

dingbat

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Nov 20, 2001
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15,417
We bought a abandoned tree nursery. I've been clearing trees, shrubs and bushes going on four winters now. Tried the chipper approach the first time around. Slow.......... wasn't the word for it. If it's too much to burn, we're definitely in for a workout.

Any more, just get a fire going and drag them to the fire with the tractor. They burn almost as fast as I can cut them up.
 

Scott Danforth

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with Junipers, I normally cut them down and like dingbat stated, start a fire.

however with a chipper, cut everything down to manageable size prior to renting the chipper. if you have a good amount, you may want to simply call one of the tree and stump removal services and have them come with the big shreader/chipper. It may be cheaper in the long run.
 
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