small garden shredders, are they any good?

CamperMan

We have a very large pile of twigs and branches, the result of 14 large pine trees being cut down.. are these garden shredders any good for this job?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KOMATE-GARDEN-SHREDDER-CHIPPER-MULCHER/dp/B003MWQ494

magicbastarder

i've used one which does a decent job on branches up to about the thickness of your thumb. you get great mulch from them.

anything bigger than that is chopped for firewood.

redser7

It depends. I got one and it is okish. They can get jammed if you put soft stuff through like leafy material. Do your homework and read reviews on sites like argos and amazon. Some seem to be complete rubbish. Check out the gardening tools section of adverts.ie, you can get good quality makes cheap from time to time.

Degsy

I got one and used it twice..it was okay for thickish branches but jammed up with anything leafy,pliable or green..basically anythinng you'd want to shred it didnt work for.

ymurtagh

they are extremly slow and not good with the texture in pine trees

bartlguy

Guaranteed the one you have looked at is pretty rubbish but i bought one from homebase about 4 years back and it is still going fine. Has reverse gears if things get stuck. fairly good safety mechanisms too. decent size collection box and will take anything up to 4cm thick.

On the down side it is useless for anything leafy, however for pine it is perfect, especially for dried out wood that has been lying around for a while.

The one i bought was identical in looks to this one but an alternative make and nowhere near as expensive.
http://www.handyhardware.ie/product/38333/Bosch-AXT-22D-Shredder

Just visit a homebase to find one or an alternative likewise store

tommy2bad

Pine has sap which will clog up all but a good powerful shredder.
If it a once off thing, you want to clear some leftover branches but aren't looking for something to use regularly, rent one, for about 40 euro you'll get a days work from a pro level machine. Rent on a sat and get 2 days for th money

paddy147

tommy2bad wrote: »

Pine has sap which will clog up all but a good powerful shredder.
If it a once off thing, you want to clear some leftover branches but aren't looking for something to use regularly, rent one, for about 40 euro you'll get a days work from a pro level machine. Rent on a sat and get 2 days for th money

+1 to the above.

Most plant hire shops now have heavy duty gardening equipement that you can hire out for around 30-40 euro a day,depending on the type of machine.

If you hire the equipement out on a Friday morning,then you can bring it back on Monday morning and you only get charged for the Friday (you are allowed to keep it for the weekend).

Thats what my girlfriend does when shes needs to hire out anything like large concrete breakers,industrial shredders or turf cutting machines.

Get the most use out of the equipement for the least amount of money.:)

paddy147

CamperMan wrote: »

We have a very large pile of twigs and branches, the result of 14 large pine trees being cut down.. are these garden shredders any good for this job?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KOMATE-GARDEN-SHREDDER-CHIPPER-MULCHER/dp/B003MWQ494

If you dont want them,then you can hire out a large shredder machine from a plant hire shop and shred it all down to make mulch for plants and soil.

Or you could allways cut them up with a chain saw or electric sabre saw and bag them up and sell them as bags of kindling or firewood.

My girlfriend did this with several very large Sycamore tree trunks and large branches that we aqquired last year for free.Loads of free firewood for the stove,especially on a cold frosty night like tonight.

Regards.:)

CamperMan

we want all the firewood for ourselves...

I am thinking about burning all the waste branches in one of those old oil drums....

seems a shredder would be a pain and we can't afford a decent one

CamperMan

tommy2bad wrote: »

Pine has sap which will clog up all but a good powerful shredder.
If it a once off thing, you want to clear some leftover branches but aren't looking for something to use regularly, rent one, for about 40 euro you'll get a days work from a pro level machine. Rent on a sat and get 2 days for th money

tell me about it... it's all over my work gear..

paddy147

CamperMan wrote: »

we want all the firewood for ourselves...

I am thinking about burning all the waste branches in one of those old oil drums....

seems a shredder would be a pain and we can't afford a decent one

Cut up the waste branches and use as "kindling" for starting a fire.:)

tommy2bad

paddy147 wrote: »

Cut up the waste branches and use as "kindling" for starting a fire.:)

Loppers 'il do that for you or a bushman saw for the wrist size and up ones. Store in bags and when dry will light like well.... kindling
Pine can spark a bit so use a fire guard.

blackharvester

i wouldn`t buy electric shredder as well, few of my client asked me to drop their electric shreders to recyclicng place, as they weren`t happy with them, they will get blocked very easy, and you spend more time on unblocking them than on shredding,
the best way as paddy147 said would be to hire petrol one for weekend and get job done,
they are quite noisy and dusty, so you have to protect your ears and eyes when using.
later you can use all shredded stuff for flower beds, or put under trees etc

doctor evil

We have an electric shredder at home and it is useless.

If it is a small amount than cutting up by hand for kindling is feasible but will drive you to insanity for anything bigger. I have spiky pyracantha that I am waiting for some dry weather to burn outside.

CamperMan

it's a pile of branches probably covering an area of 400 sq ft and a height of 5ft

so lots to work on

Trademark

I got a shredder very similar to the above one and say the same as many others - great for small dry things, anything flexible or damp and it blocks quite quickly.

Agree with previous post about using smaller branches for kindling, sit on the step on a dry day with a secateurs in one hand and pile of sticks in the other and snip away to about 8inch lengths, very therapeutic and you get a load done faster than you'd think!

Hani silki

After seeing this bit of advice on a tv gardening programme, this is what we do: put them whole into the compost bin as the hole in the middle will help to aerate the compost before the roll breaks down.


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basement flooding akron

Degsy

God be with the days when you couold just burn all your garden waste!

johngalway

I had an electric shredder in my trolley in Lidl the last day. Changed my mind at the checkout and glad I did now after reading this thread.

diygarden

I've got the Bosch AXT 25TC garden shredder and I must say it's very good. Never jams and makes short work of some pretty thick branches. However it's not cheap, but I do think you get what you pay for.

Day Lewin

I had one for years, bought from the local lawnmower-mending shop.
Loved it, used it a lot, lent it to neighbours, etc.

It eventually got stolen from a shed where it was left - (admittedly, was not very secure)

Can't remember what brand - sorry - it was red, LOL and cost about three hundred about ten years ago.