Electric wood chipper

oil pan 4 · 09-30-17, 12:20 AM

I needed a wood chipper to do 2 things.
Reduce the piles of brush and get ready to make wood pellets.
The gas powered ones seem like they almost unlimited power and most of the decent ones chip branches up to 3 inches.
3 inch diameter sticks are fire wood. Not going to chip that.
The electric chippers claim to do up to 1.5 inches. Which is more along the lines of what I want.
So I go the Oregon electric chipper from harbor freight. It didn't have very many disastrous or disappointed reviews for something from harbor freight that plugs in. So I got one.
It comes with extra blades in a little package. Plus the blades are double sided so they can be removed, rotated 180° and reattached and you are ready to go.
To make it more economical I will probably connect my foot operated tig welder switch to it so it only runs when I'm standing in front of it.

natethebrown · 09-30-17, 10:34 AM

I destroyed my HF wood chipper. It bogs down on the thicker pieces and does take a while to chew through the wood. The problem with the HF wood chipper is that the main metal structure is made from cast aluminium, which is terrible at withstanding shocks and impacts. At a minimum, the should have used cast iron.

oil pan 4 · 09-30-17, 05:02 PM

How did you break it?

natethebrown · 09-30-17, 10:46 PM

Too many big 1.5" branches too quick. The chipper self destructed. The biggest issue, from a usability standpoint, I have with the chipper is the chute is quite narrow, making it really hard to feed in branches with lots of little small wide forking limbs. Sure you can shove the branches in, but it takes a long time to chip even a small pile of brush. You are pretty much limited to a max of three 1/2" branches at a time. If I had actually paid money for mine (long story), I would have returned it.

oil pan 4 · 10-01-17, 04:26 AM

I noticed that too. I think they did that so stupid people can't put their hands down in there while it's running.
Anything that is much over an inch I want to burn as is it takes a lot of time to cut up the little stuff but it really gives a ton of wood.

ecomodded · 10-30-17, 11:38 AM

I was going to buy a electric wood chipper a few years ago and start a compost with chips from yard waste but in the end opted to break branches by hand instead. My yard is only 135' x 35' so it develops little yard waste.

Im thinking for a larger property with more waste a gas chipper would be more productive / useful.

oil pan 4 · 10-30-17, 08:04 PM

I have 18 or 19 acres out the farm land and a half acre in the city. I'm going to run this wood chipper for all its worth.
But I'm saving as much wood as possible down to about 1 inch diameter, stuff most people just throw away (put it in a brush pile, bonfire or wood chipper.
I know a lot of people buy the gas powered ones because they will chop branches up to 3 inches, but 3 inches is fire wood to me. I save pretty much 100% of everything down to 2 inches, and most if not all 1 inche, I probably save branches down to around 3/4 or 5/8 inches.as much as possible.

oil pan 4 · 05-31-18, 04:28 PM

Any one ever try to burn wood chips for home heating?
I got a nice pile building up.

ecomodded · 05-31-18, 09:24 PM

Never used them for heating but have used them for smoking fish and landscaping.

oil pan 4 · 06-02-18, 01:22 PM

Yeah I need up putting moat of my pile around freshly planted trees on my land.
The dark brown native soil mixed with potting soil absorbs a lot of heat from the sun, driving off water. The elm wood chips are very light color and reflect sun very well and insulate the dirt.
I parked the wood chipper next to the next tree down the line.
Saving water is a perfectly acceptable use for the wood chips.

09-30-17, 12:20 AM	#1
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Electric wood chipper I needed a wood chipper to do 2 things. Reduce the piles of brush and get ready to make wood pellets. The gas powered ones seem like they almost unlimited power and most of the decent ones chip branches up to 3 inches. 3 inch diameter sticks are fire wood. Not going to chip that. The electric chippers claim to do up to 1.5 inches. Which is more along the lines of what I want. So I go the Oregon electric chipper from harbor freight. It didn't have very many disastrous or disappointed reviews for something from harbor freight that plugs in. So I got one. It comes with extra blades in a little package. Plus the blades are double sided so they can be removed, rotated 180° and reattached and you are ready to go. To make it more economical I will probably connect my foot operated tig welder switch to it so it only runs when I'm standing in front of it.

10-30-17, 11:38 AM	#6
ecomodded Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Vancouver Island,Canada. Posts: 1,037 Thanks: 116 Thanked 100 Times in 87 Posts	I was going to buy a electric wood chipper a few years ago and start a compost with chips from yard waste but in the end opted to break branches by hand instead. My yard is only 135' x 35' so it develops little yard waste. Im thinking for a larger property with more waste a gas chipper would be more productive / useful. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

05-31-18, 09:24 PM	#9
ecomodded Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Vancouver Island,Canada. Posts: 1,037 Thanks: 116 Thanked 100 Times in 87 Posts	Never used them for heating but have used them for smoking fish and landscaping. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

09-30-17, 10:34 AM	#2
natethebrown Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: North Alabama Posts: 167 Thanks: 0 Thanked 40 Times in 20 Posts	I destroyed my HF wood chipper. It bogs down on the thicker pieces and does take a while to chew through the wood. The problem with the HF wood chipper is that the main metal structure is made from cast aluminium, which is terrible at withstanding shocks and impacts. At a minimum, the should have used cast iron.

09-30-17, 05:02 PM	#3
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	How did you break it?

09-30-17, 10:46 PM	#4
natethebrown Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: North Alabama Posts: 167 Thanks: 0 Thanked 40 Times in 20 Posts	Too many big 1.5" branches too quick. The chipper self destructed. The biggest issue, from a usability standpoint, I have with the chipper is the chute is quite narrow, making it really hard to feed in branches with lots of little small wide forking limbs. Sure you can shove the branches in, but it takes a long time to chip even a small pile of brush. You are pretty much limited to a max of three 1/2" branches at a time. If I had actually paid money for mine (long story), I would have returned it.

10-01-17, 04:26 AM	#5
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	I noticed that too. I think they did that so stupid people can't put their hands down in there while it's running. Anything that is much over an inch I want to burn as is it takes a lot of time to cut up the little stuff but it really gives a ton of wood.

10-30-17, 08:04 PM	#7
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	I have 18 or 19 acres out the farm land and a half acre in the city. I'm going to run this wood chipper for all its worth. But I'm saving as much wood as possible down to about 1 inch diameter, stuff most people just throw away (put it in a brush pile, bonfire or wood chipper. I know a lot of people buy the gas powered ones because they will chop branches up to 3 inches, but 3 inches is fire wood to me. I save pretty much 100% of everything down to 2 inches, and most if not all 1 inche, I probably save branches down to around 3/4 or 5/8 inches.as much as possible.

05-31-18, 04:28 PM	#8
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Any one ever try to burn wood chips for home heating? I got a nice pile building up.

06-02-18, 01:22 PM	#10
oil pan 4 Land owner Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NM Posts: 1,026 Thanks: 12 Thanked 127 Times in 107 Posts	Yeah I need up putting moat of my pile around freshly planted trees on my land. The dark brown native soil mixed with potting soil absorbs a lot of heat from the sun, driving off water. The elm wood chips are very light color and reflect sun very well and insulate the dirt. I parked the wood chipper next to the next tree down the line. Saving water is a perfectly acceptable use for the wood chips.