Clear up kit - shredder

[Paul_B]

We had a few big trees felled for us last year and we've still not fully cleared up. Rounds will be dried in an unused summerhouse, branches 40mm up to say 100 or 150mm will be stacked into a habitat pile in the top wild bit of the garden. That leaves tonnes of thin stuff that we're simply making no dent in with tip visits and green bins.

So we looked at a petrol hire shredder. £600 plus with deposit! So we are now the proud owners of a ryobi electric shredder. Did an hour and what a difference! We've now mulched two borders and will reconvene tomorrow. Best purchase for a large garden. Although I'd read that they're not worth it on several gardening forums. It's not going to be fast but it's proving to be faster than loppers, bowsaw and green bin / visits to the tip.

Anyone else bought a power tool that's better than you thought it would be?

 

[SaraR]

We had a few big trees felled for us last year and we've still not fully cleared up. Rounds will be dried in an unused summerhouse, branches 40mm up to say 100 or 150mm will be stacked into a habitat pile in the top wild bit of the garden. That leaves tonnes of thin stuff that we're simply making no dent in with tip visits and green bins.

So we looked at a petrol hire shredder. £600 plus with deposit! So we are now the proud owners of a ryobi electric shredder. Did an hour and what a difference! We've now mulched two borders and will reconvene tomorrow. Best purchase for a large garden. Although I'd read that they're not worth it on several gardening forums. It's not going to be fast but it's proving to be faster than loppers, bowsaw and green bin / visits to the tip.

Anyone else bought a power tool that's better than you thought it would be?

I’d love to have one - we seem to generate a lot of smaller branches and I’m sure they’d take up less space as chippings, plus I could do with it as ground cover, but we’ve not got as far as buying one yet. It’s a lot of money (although definitely less than renting one for any amount of time!) and there always seems to be something else that’s more pressing.

Which one did you get in the end?

 

[Erbswurst]

If you see how fast a professional shredder works you will be shocked.

 

[Paul_B]

I know but they're three times the price and volume for storage. This one is slow but does the job even if slowly plus it's compact and surprisingly light. It'll work OK for us. We've a lot to clear but it'll be done before the good weather and allow us to start on planting out a few areas now that the wild wood part is a bit more open. After that there will be pruning and stuff to clear later on too.

I believe you can use them to shred green waste and anything compostable to speed that up. I think it's time we got into composting as the previous owner had quite a few that we've hardly used.

Is there any other garden power tool or normal tool that you weren't convinced would work but did? A surprisingly successful purchase.

 

[SaraR]

Don’t really do powertools in the garden, but the battery-driven hedge cutter has been well worth it. For non-power tools, we use our Laplander folding saw more than any other saws we’ve got (including the chainsaw). Fairly quick, very quiet and capable of taking down even small trees and large branches.

 

[Mesquite]

I bought an unbranded shredder second hand off of ebay for £25 when I moved into my house 17 yrs ago as it had several large buddleias and other shrubs. All metal construction apart from the hopper chute and chews up branches up to about 40mm thickness.

It gets used two or three times a year and is still going strong. It's probably the best garden implement I bought besides the S&J garden shears I bought 40 yrs ago

 

[Paul_B]

We've inherited my grans hedge clippers despite having a cordless strimmer that does that job well.

I thought a samurai pruning saw we bought early on was great until I got a good bowsaw. That has a blade for green and wet wood that simply chews through branches, especially with two way action. I now only use the pruning saw when things are too cramped for the bowsaw.

 

[Erbswurst]

I worked with Stihl hedge scissors that are great because very light. Pretty expensive though.

Otherwise I would always choose the gasoline version because it's simply faster, lawnmower, rucksack leaf blower, chain saw, whatever.

It depends on the size of your garden though. If there is nothing to do you can as well do all by hand. That's cheap and sporty and the equipment always works well.

If I imagine your building site right, I would have hired a team with a huge shredder and it's done in a day and finished.

 

[slowworm]

If you see how fast a professional shredder works you will be shocked.

Not really, and there's always a bigger one. Cost and where to store a large chipper are an problem for many.

I picked up one of those screwfix shredders, the one that chews the wood rather than having a fast spinning blade. It's good for what it cost and I've produced several large bulk bags worth of clippings for the compost.

 

[Erbswurst]

I mean the trailer size. That's what I call professional and what's in my opinion the right size after felling a few trees in a private garden. That's nothing to buy or store for a private user. That's why I call it professional.

 

[Stew]

Not really, and there's always a bigger one. Cost and where to store a large chipper are an problem for many.

I picked up one of those screwfix shredders, the one that chews the wood rather than having a fast spinning blade. It's good for what it cost and I've produced several large bulk bags worth of clippings for the compost.

Does it clog?

When I’ve used a shredder previously it’s taken ages to feed everything through or it just clogs up. I would rather shred and reuse but that past experience makes me value my time more!

 

[Robbi]

Mini cordless chainsaw with a 4 inch blade, fantastic thing, turns a pallet into wood burner sized fuel in 15 minutes.... Seriously impressed.

 

[slowworm]

Does it clog?

Not my current one. I have owned a shredder in the past that clogged a fair bit, that one had a fast rotating disk with the blade on and relied on speed to cut, if too much was fed it the speed slowed and it jammed.

My current one has a relatively slow moving cog with sharp teeth on it that moves past a solid anvil. It chews the material and pulls it in. It hardly jams. Downside is it takes a while to set up and some material is more crushed than chipped, and it chips rather than shreds so it produces larger pieces. Fine for my use which is adding to my many compost bins and it isn't that slow.

 

[Kadushu]

I have a load of Ryobi cordless tools. One that really surprised me was the pole chainsaw. It's been designed so that it cuts relatively slowly which is easier on the battery and prevents stalling. It'll cut 4 inch branches no problem or plod through an 8 inch hardwood branch.

 

[Paul_B]

Our shredder is a ryobi. Works well but the outlet from the shredding area deposits it to the front of the box underneath. This then backs up and fills shredding chamber. You know this is happening when smoke starts to come out. Then you unclog, takes a couple of minutes at most. Easy to prevent. Every so often tilt it back on the wheels and shake it a bit. Not hard or an issue now we know.

We've made a big dent into the pile brought down to the patio. We're halfway through filling a 272 litre rubble bag if not more plus a load dumped on a border and into one of our compost bins. The pile is only just starting to look a bit smaller.

 

[Kadushu]

Is that the type that slowly munches branches with essentially a big gear? My dad used a Bosch version for years and as mains powered chippers go it is a superior system to the type that snatch stuff in at high speed. Great when he was paid by the hour for using it too ;-)

 

[Paul_B]

Basically it does grab a bit until woody bit becomes conifer fronds. It Basically an impact shredder but if you have read my other thread on the first aid forum there's certainly a blade in there for cutting!

Output is very small chips until the tub gets full then you get larger pieces get in. I think it'll compost down quickly being small pieces.

Disc with blades within the disc. 2500rpm it cuts and smashes I guess. A good buy. Best buy was the ear defenders. Think I'll put them on for the next argument with my lass! Can't hear a thing with it. Not sure if it's loud or not. Need to try it without the ear defenders.

BTW what's your view on cut off time for mowing lawns and shredding stuff? What's good for neighbours? I've side is a young couple with baby. Wondering if I should keep it for a weekend job or if it's OK for an hour or two after work.

 

[Mesquite]

BTW what's your view on cut off time for mowing lawns and shredding stuff? What's good for neighbours? I've side is a young couple with baby. Wondering if I should keep it for a weekend job or if it's OK for an hour or two after work.

Weekdays I keep to 8:00am until about 7-8pm. Weekends I keep to nothing before 9:30am or after 6pm.

If you're friendly with your neighbours have a word with them and see what they say

 

[Stew]

Weekdays I keep to 8:00am until about 7-8pm. Weekends I keep to nothing before 9:30am or after 6pm.

If you're friendly with your neighbours have a word with them and see what they say

It would kick off round here if someone was shredding until 8pm….

 

[SaraR]

Sunday 8 am start with the angle grinder if you'd asked our former neighbour...