Does A Home Chipper That Doesn't Clog Exist?

Two words: Bear Cat

Best line of home-owner sized chippers I have ever come across.

http://bearcatproducts.com/

Good 3" and smaller chippers are indeed becoming tough to find. Too many falling victim to the price wars. Troy-bilt used to have a good machine with the Tomahawk line. Now I can't believe the chit they offer for sale.

Sounds like the chipper blade is dull. They have to be kept razor sharp to self-feed. As far as the bark clogging the shredder, I dunno. Bark of all things should go thru a hammer mill like that with zero trouble.

i have a Mackissic chipper. thing hasn't clogged on me yet. I haven't had any issues in the 5-6 years I've owned it.
I have the one in the link.

http://www.mackissic.com/HSC_12P.html

MasterMech said:

Sounds like the chipper blade is dull. They have to be kept razor sharp to self-feed. As far as the bark clogging the shredder, I dunno. Bark of all things should go thru a hammer mill like that with zero trouble.

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I never have given that a thought. Mine starts up first pull every year, but clogs up with in a half hour unless it just leaves.
I am always trimming back the brush and cleaning up the fallen branches. Always a lot of clean up to do around here.

Den69RS96 said:

i have a Mackissic chipper. thing hasn't clogged on me yet. I haven't had any issues in the 5-6 years I've owned it.
I have the one in the link.

http://www.mackissic.com/HSC_12P.html

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So that's what happened to Mighty Mac chippers...

velvetfoot said:

I'm going to try to sharpen the chipper and maybe the shredder blades.
You put it in a vise and use a hand file?

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Best is have it done on a wet stone or surface grinder. It can be done using other methods but it is very important to keep the edge true (no high/low spots) and absolutely not overheat the metal. A file would be my first choice for attempting to do it by hand. Some machines it may be economical to replace the blade rather than sharpen but others have specially heat-treated blades that get pretty pricey.

Your flails are most likely not sharpened from the factory as they rely on speed and inertia to pulverize anything in their way. Make sure they pivot freely and are not broken. Replace any that are beaten beyond recognition. You might check your screen size if the hammer mill is clogging constantly. Perhaps a larger screen is available?

NOTE: Bear Cat not only uses two double sided chipper blades, the hammer knives (flails) are serrated and that really eats up green vegitation quite nicely.

The screen controls particle size by forcing material to stay in the hammer mill unitl it is small enough to be discharged. Removing it will result in barely processed mulch. Keeping it clean should help it process material much faster without clogging. You can look into getting a diffent screen with larger openings or modify the current onee if you wish.

At 16 bucks apiece I wouldn't expend a whole lot of effort sharpening those blades. If it works out, great!

Never heard of an "extra" blade before the hammer mill portion. Usually the chipper section is a big flywheel with 1 or 2 blade mounted in that and the hammer mill (flails) are mounted to the backside of the flywheel. Is the extra blade stationary or moving?

Chipper blades much more difficult to get right than mower blades. The precision involved is beyond even the most anal chainsaw sharpenings. If you do any wood working you can sharpen them the same way you would a high-quality chisel or planer blade. No No's are any high-speed dry grinders or anything that produces a hollow (curved) grind. Usually sharpened to a true 45 degree bevel.

Something like this could work for small chipper blades like those found in 3" homeowner units.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200327817_200327817?cm_sp=Upsells-_-Top Sellers-_-Product Page

Stick with the 2x4 IMO. Chipper should self-feed eliminating the need to put your arm down that chute. That move is more dangerous than you know....

You never mentioned the make/model of this machine? Eventhough I have a pretty good guess.....

MasterMech said:

Two words: Bear Cat

Best line of home-owner sized chippers I have ever come across.

http://bearcatproducts.com/

Good 3" and smaller chippers are indeed becoming tough to find. Too many falling victim to the price wars. Troy-bilt used to have a good machine with the Tomahawk line. Now I can't believe the chit they offer for sale.

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I bought a Bear Cat chipper/shredder today. 3" 205cc. I read the manuals first and followed all of the instructions exactly. It didn't really want to engage the chopper, but if I slid the handle down ever so slowly, it would finally kick in. I had the throttle in the very slowest position as the instructions said to do and it sort of worked for about 20 minutes. Then I had to stop and unclog it. Repeatedly. I was chipping corn stalks that had set out all winter and spring. Most were dry, some were still wet. As annoying as having to stop and unclog was, each time I tried to start back up, and re-engage the chopper, it didn't want to go in, at all. It started screeching so I'd back it off and try to go in super slowly. Same deal. I finally gave up. I called the hardware store where I bought it but the guy I dealt with (the owner) wasn't there. So now I'm sitting here with a $1500 piece of equipment that I can't do anything with. I have a sick feeling that I'm going to be told to go through the manufacturer to get a resolution. We shall see. I'm VERY disappointed.

***Update... The shop owner came out and said that it was clogged up. That I need to put things through slower and move the machine VERY often... like every four minutes or less to keep the chipped stuff from piling up and blocking the chute, thus causing it to back up into the unit. If I'd have known that, I'd have definitely gotten a different type of chipper. I thought I could set it in once place and bring the stuff to the chipper.. Nope. I'm a 5'2" woman and that's a lot of 250 lb. machine to move every four minutes. I would have looked for something that had either a chute that could be directed somewhere other than only the ground. Big bummer. I'm going to put a tarp down, and pull it along a little at a time so I'm not having to move the machine so much. Bummer. If we didn't live in such a tiny town where everyone knows every move one makes, I'd have returned it to the store. But that's the main place in town to get anything so I don't want the new owner to hate me right off the bat, so I'm keeping it.

I have an old kemp chipper shredder that worked great in its prime. Its very old now, The chipper chute rusted off, the bearings to the hammer mill are sloppy and its almost ready for the scrapper. Back before all this it worked great and ate whatever i threw at it, 2-3 inch branches especially dry went through easily. It looks like the McKissic ones from a previous post in this thread

if this is a shredder with a screen you probably need a screen with bigger holes.
If this is a hammer shredder , hard to imagine it clogging
if this is a chipper with just a couple of knife blades I don't think sharper blades set to the right height will help much.


Too much bark to just put in the driveway and run over with the car ?

My Dad is real trough on equipment. Years ago he had a home depot one. In a month he had the shafts sheared, broken blades, etc. HD, then had a one year return policy. He brought it back for a full refund. A week ago I was at TS, talking to a guy looking a one. I told him dad's story, and told him my opinion that these small machines seam like they are way to much trouble. I take all my scrap limbs out to my woods pile. It's rotted in a year.

I bought one trying to be eco friendly, hahaha, I burn everything now.

I burn it all too.

It is way easier to drink beer around a 20' fire than run a wood chipper. Safer too!

I use both chipper and bonfires on our property.
The chipper hasn't hurt me yet but I did end up in the burn ward for a while after a bonfire incident.

It seems to me the carbon impact on burning versus chipping is essentially the same but I'd bet bonfires create much more particulate air pollution, even when powering the chipper is considered.

Maybe yes maybe no. When wood rots it releases mold spores, is a bacteria bed, provides a home for insects (the good and bad kind) and wood chips prevent other vegetation from growing that would create new oxygen.

If you want to look at total environmental impact a great deal of air polution was made in the Chinese foundry were the chipper engine was made, where paint was sprayed to make it all shiney, to transport it on a containership 3,000 miles, to truck it to the home store,,,,,ect.

The question you really have to ask yourself is, does having a bonfire really matter? My answer would be no. But when searching for your answer, consider all factors, not just the immediate.

sportbikerider78 said:

But when searching for your answer, consider all factors, not just the immediate.

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Agreed. I'm a big proponent of life cycle analysis.
Like many such comparisons, the devil is in the details.

sportbikerider78 said:

wood chips prevent other vegetation from growing

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Which can be advantage...

Point taken on the production impacts. BTW, I went out of the way to buy USA made for considerations you state and others.