Garden clearance - shredder hire or buy?

[fossyant]

Got an eletric one that does anything upto 25mm. If you've loads to chip, then an industrial one is better. Use the chippings on your borders.

 

[All uphill]

We have had a small electric shredder for about ten years; it works hard as we have a big garden, and together with loppers we can gradually work our way through most things.

We have a couple of log piles for insect life, and a couple of big compost heaps.

I hate paying to have garden waste taken away and then buying the same stuff back as compost!

 

[BoldonLad]

I bought a shredder from Screwfix (their own brand, Titan), cannot remember the exact price, but, it was considerably less than £100.

They do not appear to sell them any longer, the equivalent model is a MacAllister at about £85.

It works well, but, only on branches upto about 35-40mm diameter.

I have have had mine for about 7 years, no problems.

It is a tedious job however, if you have a lot of branches to shred.

 

[fossyant]

I have the Screwfix Mac Allister one. It's £139.99 at present

 

[Jameshow]

They are ok for twigs but anything green esp larrel or leylandi they are useless!

Better to let it dry out a bit and light a match on a windy night!

 

[BoldonLad]

I have the Screwfix Mac Allister one. It's £139.99 at present

There is a smaller Mac Allister for £84, but, the bigger the better.

 

[Time Waster]

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.

Branches only, the rounds will get donated to family with burners.

 

[Jameshow]

Branches only, the rounds will get donated to family with burners.

Get them to take the lot!!

 

[Time Waster]

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.

This!

It's at the top of the garden up a steep hill. Only access to the back is a footpath/track that's not wide enough for a truck and towed shredder. To carry the wood to be shredded down to the driveway would have doubled, tripled or even more the time needed. Time is money.

Two guys worked very quickly dropping the trees with only one hand hour break for lunch. That resulted in two big conifers and a tall holly being dropped plus the lifting if the crown of a copper beech. Then cutting the bigger stuff into reasonably sized rounds and the less useful of the larger branches into manageable lengths. They were left in piles next to where the trees were. Imho the trees take up more room felled than growing!

As you can see, it's a lot of work to pay for. The surgeon gave us the option on the site visit before quoting. He was kind of hinting that it would cost a lot to clear and most near us save money by clearing it themselves. He said the wood wasn't worth anything and he had just dropped a few better trees for wood so didn't need it for his own burner.

Currently hire costs over the weekend are £155, a lot less than the surgeon. Looking at shredders the only decent electric for medium to heavy use is a bosch atx 2800watt for nearly £300. The cheapest petrol is a bit more and even more bulky. I think I'll hire one.

Mind you the hire one is still a small petrol one. They do a trailer one but don't give prices. The small one had a 13hp Honda engine. From what I've read Honda engines are on the better petrol shredders,

 

[Reynard]

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.

That's a toy which will make the job far harder than it needs to be. And the OP will probably end up wanging the thing through a window in frustration.

I use a petrol-powered Stihl with a 14 inch bar. Yes it's spendy, but it's the right tool for the job. I can appreciate if the OP doesn't want to drop £400 on one, but it's worth hiring for a weekend as it will deal with cutting stuff up with ease.

 

[Reynard]

This!

It's at the top of the garden up a steep hill. Only access to the back is a footpath/track that's not wide enough for a truck and towed shredder. To carry the wood to be shredded down to the driveway would have doubled, tripled or even more the time needed. Time is money.

Two guys worked very quickly dropping the trees with only one hand hour break for lunch. That resulted in two big conifers and a tall holly being dropped plus the lifting if the crown of a copper beech. Then cutting the bigger stuff into reasonably sized rounds and the less useful of the larger branches into manageable lengths. They were left in piles next to where the trees were. Imho the trees take up more room felled than growing!

As you can see, it's a lot of work to pay for. The surgeon gave us the option on the site visit before quoting. He was kind of hinting that it would cost a lot to clear and most near us save money by clearing it themselves. He said the wood wasn't worth anything and he had just dropped a few better trees for wood so didn't need it for his own burner.

Currently hire costs over the weekend are £155, a lot less than the surgeon. Looking at shredders the only decent electric for medium to heavy use is a bosch atx 2800watt for nearly £300. The cheapest petrol is a bit more and even more bulky. I think I'll hire one.

Mind you the hire one is still a small petrol one. They do a trailer one but don't give prices. The small one had a 13hp Honda engine. From what I've read Honda engines are on the better petrol shredders,

Urgh, conifer small stuff... Watch out for the goo when you clear that up. DAMHIKT. Do you have a tip nearby? It's probably better putting the stuff into dumpy bags and disposing of it that way.

Conifer wood burns nice and hot, but you do want to be mixing it with other types as it does leave a lot of residue up your chimney otherwise. It can be burned green, but best not to. Leave it to season for a while. It does smell nice when burning though, but it's not as long-lasting as most hardwoods. Holly burns well in my experience, but again, benefits from being well seasoned. Beech is middling in that respect.

If you're struggling for space, hire that chain saw, cut the lengths up into logs and stack them in a pile.

 

[Jameshow]

The electric titan isn't too bad a machine for £50 if you can use a lead...

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-tt...LqN8qPYRRaBQ3Yq_juBoCLxcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Or....


https://www.toolstation.com/hawksmo...stEt40KEfjqkjj3drlhoChQAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

This one has an oragon chain and bar too.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Is it just me that is trying to think of a good argument for why I need a chinsaw


and by good argument - I mean one that will convince my wife that it is not just a toy?????
and a toy with power and the ability to kill me
(views on whether she would think this was a problem or just serve me right - are not required

I mean - there is an annoying willow in the trees at the back that needs a rather extreme prune - but she knows I can do that with a hand help saw - so I can;t see that working

 

[Time Waster]

Neighbour has a hobby buying chainsaws, doing them up and selling them for a profit. He helped me with cutting up a stump to get it out. A 4 inch trunk on the conifer ended up as a 75cm wide stump once I dig down a little. Not sure how but inch or two under the soil surface it just spread out.

He brought one out, it went blunt quickly then another came out. He had a few more at his work and at his land he has. He was able to refurb and sharpen them too.

I don't need a chainsaw because anything worth burning is already cut into rounds at a suitable length. Smaller diameter a bit longer than the base rounds. The rest is thin m so n OK for shredder. The hire one is up to 75mm. Good enough as anything thick is in rounds or in a habitat pile.

It's quite green and a lot is still wet. If it will light and keep going it will smoke badly. Not great even in a decent sized garden.

Leylandii is actually not a bad wood for burning. It has to be well dried or seasoned. Can't skimp on that time.

Holly burns a long time if dried well but it also carves well if that's your n thing.

Beech isn't great I heard.

Overall I think it's better and easier to chip it all. There's two sizes of
shredder, 13hp smaller one on two wheels for moving and a larger, more powerful motor one that's price on request and not held at meant hire shops. The smaller and cheaper to hire one deals with up to 75mm
Should be enough.

 

[CXRAndy]

You will be looking at £1500+ for a 15+hp petrol that will chip upto 100mm 4" . It's a lot of work to chip a tree or lots of branches.

Did it a few years ago, took 3 to 4 long days to shred down green cuttings bag it all and clear from garden

Good luck