Garden clearance - shredder hire or buy?

[Time Waster]

We had a few big trees cut down and one trimmed. We did not pay extra for clearance as that would have really easily cost double. Unfortunately it's taken us by surprise just how much hard work is taken to clear. We've moved so much but barely dented the, piles of branches. So now we've come to the decision that to get a garden back by the good weather we need Thu shred the wood.

Options are £155 for a weekend of very hard work shredding in the driveway using a weekend hire of a petrol shredder or buy an electric shredder and taking it a bit slower. The shredder would cost a little more and be a lot less powerful.

Anyone know whether you can get a shredder worth anything for just a little more than the cost of petrol shredder hire?

We've a big garden on a slope with loads of trees and shrubs. Most of the waste wood is at the top and it's a hard slog just to get it all down to where we could shred it. We're probably talking of more than a tonne of branches!

 

[Kingfisher101]

Cant you just have a bonfire and burn it or advertise it for free on facebook? Loads of people have wood burners now.I do know that it has to be dried out but still in these times I'm sure people will take it for nothing.

 

[tom73]

Hire one
You’re asking a lot from a bog standard domestic one. They are not designed for hard core work you’d be lucky to get one that lasts long enough.

 

[Jameshow]

Cheeky they would charge extra for removal? Did they take the bigger limbs and trunks.

If not then advertise the whole lot as free firewood. It will be gone before the weekends out.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have an electric one

not much use if there is any moisture in the branches - and that include the leaves - it just jams up all the time

I would hire a more powerful one - which also stops you having to find a load of space in a shed for something you only one once or twice a year - if that!

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Hire one
You’re asking a lot from a bog standard domestic one. They are not designed for hard core work you’d be lucky to get one that lasts long enough.

So much this. Get a proper piece of kit and do it with ease

 

[Reynard]

I have a heavy-duty electric one. It's good for occasional use / small stuff, but anything much over about 15mm thick and it's really not happy. Bought it several years ago before we got our garden waste wheelie bin, and just threw the resulting chippings in the compost or used it under the hedges as a weed-suppressing mulch.

Now, most of the small waste gets cut up with clippers and shoved in the wheelie bin, as they'll take branches up to 3 inches in diameter. Having said that, anything over about an inch and a half gets kept here, as I'm on solid fuel heating.

I'll attest to clearing up downed trees as being bloody hard work, as I have seven acres of the damn things, and breakages happen... Unless it's somewhere close to the house, I generally leave the small stuff in piles. It dries out and rots down eventually and the wildlife loves it, but I appreciate that it's not something that everyone can do. Otherwise, anything under the 1 1/2 inches gets shoved in the green wheelie bin (when you cut it up small and tamp it down, it's amazing how much you can get into one bin) and the rest gets turned into logs and stacked on the fence. it's a task that's akin to painting the Forth Bridge, and I'm only one somewhat undertall girl and a chainsaw.

My tip is this. BEFORE you hire any tools, strip everything right down as much as you can with secateurs and loppers. Work from the small stuff to the big. It can take a surprising amount of effort to break down even a small-sized tree to the point where it's ready to be sawn up into logs. Make your cuts at the juncture of twigs and branches, as shredders aren't over fond of lumpy, misshapen stuff.

Loppers will tackle stuff a good inch or so in diameter. For anything bigger, you really will be wanting a chainsaw as it makes life so much easier.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Or better still get someone with a proper tow along chipper to come and do it for you. I was astonished how quickly a tree disappeared when they set about it!

 

[Mr Celine]

Mrs Celine bought an electric shredder. Utterly hopeless, continually clogs up and has to be dismantled to clear it every 5 minutes. It's powerful enough to temporarily dim all the lights when it starts up but lollipop sticks defeat it.

When I had a tree felled two years ago the tree surgeon chipped and removed the small stuff but left the logs. It's not worth his while seasoning firewood for a year before it can be sold.
I gave away several car and trailer loads of logs and still have enough to keep the chimnea going for summer barbeques for at least another five years.

 

[slowmotion]

I would buy a cheap, small electric chainsaw( say, 6" bar) from AliExpress, stack up the harvest, leave it for a few months, and then invest in a gallon of diesel and a cigarette lighter on the Fifth of November.

Stand around and drink a few beers while enjoying the flames.

 

[PaulSB]

Cheeky they would charge extra for removal? Did they take the bigger limbs and trunks.

If not then advertise the whole lot as free firewood. It will be gone before the weekends out.

Read the OP and you'll see it's not cheeky just realistic.

Depends where the poster lives but yes certainly true round here. Though people will only take what's worth having and leave the rest. In my local area when a tree comes down there's a race to get to it first.

 

[Jameshow]

Read the OP and you'll see it's not cheeky just realistic.

Depends where the poster lives but yes certainly true round here. Though people will only take what's worth having and leave the rest. In my local area when a tree comes down there's a race to get to it first.

Round here it would be normal to shread the branches into the tipper as they went....

 

[PaulSB]

Round here it would be normal to shread the branches into the tipper as they went....

Yes, it's what I would expect but if the tree surgeon offers a price for the work and another for clearance it becomes the customer's choice.

 

[tom73]

Yes, it's what I would expect but if the tree surgeon offers a price for the work and another for clearance it becomes the customer's choice.

Or ask's for the job to be done cheeper.

 

[Kingfisher101]

You have to pay for most things taking away now if they are not covered by the bin or large item collections. Its been like that for years.