How Much Wood Would a Wood Chipper Chip . . .

From Miscellaneous

Living on a farm, we have many downed trees to use for firewood, and many limbs falling in the large yard. Both result in a lot of smaller branch wood which isn't worth cutting into burnable log sizes. Traditionally these are tossed on a large pile and periodically burned. However, I would prefer to put these to productive use instead.

As the other maintenance item with a large yard due to the many trees is trimming around said trees, wood chips seem a logical use for this stack-o-branches. My local lawn equipment shop, R. E. Davidson & Son has a line of DR Chippers, so I decided to try one.

With a large backlog of wood to test with, I have no shortage of test samples. This chipper makes short work of anything I can fit in the hopper; even some large walnut I'd classify more as logs than branches are quickly ground into little bits. Being a chipper and not a shredder, it doesn't process smaller limbs alone particularly well, but it has no problems with small stuff when it is pushed in with some larger branches.

They did go a bit cheap on the engine mount; with it bolted right to the frame it shakes fiercely when starting up. I do worry that might result in long term maintenance issues or broken engine components, although it does seem to smooth out nicely once going full speed. My other complaint is the chute. Although the little one included is mostly fine for my needs, it shoots the material out a bit too close, and as can be seen in the picture, I had to shovel my wheel out. I might end up purchasing the larger chute to fix that issue.