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cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 06 10:10 pm Post subject: Shredders?

We're going to clear some horrid laurel from out in front of our house; we'll get a nice little front garden from the excercise rather than evil, impenetrable bushes.

To do this, or rather to get rid of it, I thought we might hire a shredder/chipper.

Has anyone got any reccomendations for good places to hire one? What should I look for in such a machine? How much should we expect to pay? And is there anything constructive we can do with chipped laurel?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46239
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 06 10:13 pm Post subject:
no sleeves

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 06 8:36 am Post subject:
We thought about getting a larger-than-we-really need chipper on hire for the day, and sharing the costs of it amongst our immediate neighbours, as we all seem to have gardens that need a bit of a radical haircut once a year or so. We were just going to go to HSS, as they happen to be the closest to here.

Windymiller

Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 550
Location: West Wales

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 06 10:10 pm Post subject:
Getting a big one is a good idea, the DIY sort can be slow. Make sure you can keep it well fed though, so it does not stand idle.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 5:58 am Post subject:
I'd be tempted to take the prunings to the local green waste part of the tip. I think laurel would benefit from being shredded and composted with plenty of other material.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:13 am Post subject:
Are you taking the hedge out completely, or just giving a radical haircut? If the latter, then some of the smaller domestic shredders are pretty effective these days - and amazingly quiet. Ours handles stuff up to about broomstick diameter or slightly more with ease. Anything bigger is cut down and stacked for firewood.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:30 am Post subject:

I have a mains electric shredder of a fairly conventional design, with a fast rotating, heavy blade/cutter against which the material is pushed.
Its an Alko H1800DS (1800w motor), and I got it, not much used but several years old, via eBay for IIRC �40.

Such things make one heck of a racket when there's any material in them.
It can deal (gradually) with largish (two/three fingers?) branches as long as they are
1/ straight, and
2/ reasonably brittle
My experience of this one and a couple of others has been that 'knarly' branches are best handled otherwise, and that feeding thin and 'chewy' material needs the greatest operator skill... !!!
It takes very little trapped material to bog down such machines. One distinct difference between machines is in how easy it is to open the thing and clear the jam. (This Alko has a single knurled nut, rather than the four wing nuts and slightly fiddly realignment of the unit belonging to Someone I Used To Know.)
Wear strong gloves and be prepared for the occasional kick-back from the stuff you are feeding. Some form of safety glasses would be sensible.

I'd like to see how the Bosch 'silent' shredders perform. They take the material between two sharp Archimedes screws and simply cut it into short lengths. Jams are supposed to be clearable by reversing the mechanism. And they should be *much* quieter.

There's some shredded laurel in my compost heap.
Shreddings really do rot dramatically faster than unshredded stuff.
And a big heap of tree makes a much, much smaller pile of shreddings...

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:39 am Post subject:

Cheers for the advice guys.

This isn't a haircut, it's total removal of a nasty, pointless 'hedge'. Its more a sort of blanket covering of a pocket handkerchief front garden than a hedge, actually.

We could try getting it all to the tip and into the council composting thingy, but its many car loads. And we don't have a car. Seems more rational to me to hire a shredder, bung a lift with it (or borrow a car for it), and shred everything in sight. Then we have all the chips we need for mulching (make a change from mulching everything with kitchen compost).

I'll prowl around on ebay and see what I can find; looks like buiying a lower spec one might be as cheap as hiring a better one, and that'll give me time to shred at leisure.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:47 am Post subject:
Anyone used one like this? Doesn't look too sturdy, any good? https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-ELECTRIC-GARDEN-LEAF-VACUUM-BLOWER-SHREDDER-RRP-99_W0QQitemZ7758796218QQcategoryZ22655QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:53 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

Anyone used one like this? Doesn't look too sturdy, any good?

Errm, thats NOT what you want!

That's a vacuum cleaner for gathering up fallen leaves, with a thing like a little strimmer that cuts the leaves up so your bag takes longer to fill.

Not what you need...

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 10:57 am Post subject:
We have one of these. Borrowed it off a friend and ended up buying it from him!

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 11:00 am Post subject:
Looks very fragile to me - the bloke over the road has just had a huge hedge of laurel, forsythia, flowering currant etc.. ripped out only last week - I hwas talking to one of the blokes who did it for him and they used a massive shredder which they hired - made very light work of the hedge and only jammed up twice apparently

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 11:00 am Post subject:
Is there any problem with laurel shreddings; I know there is worry over burning them, and I have a suspicion you may want to avoid inhaling/getting on your skin too much spray? Regular breaks/rotation of the job and long sleeves might be a good addition to the gloves and goggles?

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 11:02 am Post subject:
That vac is not what you want at all. If you hire one, HSS are as good as any, and you should expect to pay only peanuts, relatively. https://www.hss.co.uk/g/62812/Garden_Shredder_Electric.html Might be just what you're after. Sadly, there's no picture, but it'll be about a metre high and make lots of noise. What more do you want?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 06 11:03 am Post subject:

dougal wrote:

Not what you need...

Thats what I thought, but thanks for confirming

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