Score! Chased After a Wood Chipper Truck...

16 years ago

...& caught that lil darlin'.

They dropped off a truck load of trimmings & asked me if I could use more in future, as the place where they dumped stuff until this week (timing!) can't accept any more.

Wooo-Hoooo!

What composting experience has brought a smile to your face lately?

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Comments (14)

robin_maine
16 years ago
Enough snow melted for me to see the top of a frozen pile this week. How's that for desperately seeking something! -9* this morning but the sun's out and the coffee's hot.
ceresone
16 years ago
You mean that isnt normal? LOL--I've chased them down every year they're in the area. Such good FREE stuff!
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Amen Brother...From your lips to God's Ears.../ I need/want bigger bins ;-) As I go around town now,when I see stuff,I'm thinking...."where am I going to put it ;-( Those are individual sheds for Elec, Drywall,Plumb,,etc etc that way everything has it's own place ;-) I built those from those "Costco Sheds" you know...the 10'x 20' carports they sell... I wrapped them in metal,pour concrete for my floors,built the Front and the Back,and tossed in a door,ran some power out to them.... VIOLA ...Instant 200 square foot of usable storage ;-) Here's a couple of examples of how I have them set-up, I have Giant Garages on my other properties,but they never really work for me...(for storage) everything gets thrown in, and then before long,I can't find anything, these can still become a pig sty ,but they are more manageable and what I need is somewhere in this 200 sq. ft. area....I'll find it ;-)
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Smarsh, I'm a bit late to this forum (just joined today) but I have an old Kemp Chipper/Shredder that has a tired centrifugal clutch with shoes that look very similar to yours. I am about ready to replace it b/c it slips more & more even at full engine RPM. My cluch is mfg. by NORAM. I have found their specific info at www.noramclutch.com You can also find other mfg. by googling 'belt drive centrifugal clutch'. Let me know what you end up doing. btw: your chipper/shredder looks very similar in constructions style and color to the the Kemp Chipper/Shredder I picked up 2 yr ago. I replaced the engine w/ a greyhound from aHarbor Freight and now need the clutch. I will need new shredder 'fingers' sometime too. Let me know if you run across any Kemp chippers.
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I am sorry if this thread is old, but the people who are putting down electric shredders as being weak are clueless. An electric shredder of appropriate horsepower rating equal to a gasoline one WILL shred better than then gasoline one. What you need to look for is the TYPE of single phase electric motor used. This is VERY important as there different types of single phase motor configurations having vastly different torque characteristics which is suited for a particular application. For a shredder I recommend using a capacitor start/capacitor run motor or a capacitor start/induction run motor; both are very torquey. Usually the motors are called "compressor duty" or "farm duty". To give you an example of a farm duty rated single motor's torque ability have a look at this Leeson catalog number 131543 by copying and pasting it into the catalog form at http://www.leeson.com/findaproduct/index.html#1 and pressing search. You will find a farm duty rated motor. This baby has a starting torque of 43.5 ft*lbs at zero and a breakdown torque of 35.5 ft*lbs which means when the motor is at full speed it requires a load that will cause it to go to its breakdown point of 35.5 ft*lbs before the motor will stall. Now you all tell me if there is a 5 hp Briggs, Honda, or Tecumseh gasoline engine that makes 35.5 ft*lbs of torque!! They don't exist folks for that horsepower range. Sorry electric wins this one. Oh yeah btw, the 240 volt circuit is used for single phase motors up to 10 horsepower so, no you do not need a higher voltage circuit. Your only advantage for gas is weight savings.
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A suggestion for the OP. I have acres of trees and no chipper so have to be clever. I have begun to dig slight depressions into the ground, piling the slash in, covering with leaves. Whenever there's some compostables, I throw them in under the leaves. I began this a year ago, much of the branches have got brittle and are breaking down although not exactly composting. It's made nice little hills for the landscape without heavy equipment and moving great hunks of dirt. The leaves even out the appearance so they look no different than my sheet-composted gardens. Did I mention that I planted hydrangea in the two experimental hills? I just added more sticks and leaves to round the hills out last month but think that this weird plan is going to work. They've compacted nicely so shouldn't lose their shape.
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mommyandme
16 years ago
congratulations, Sylvia ! Have fun!
gardenlen
16 years ago
good stuff sylvia,

over here now they charge and arm and a leg for the stuff, it is very popular stuff for gardeners and the tree lopper boys soon worked out hey it must be worth gold hey chuckle well they charge like it is diamond impregnated, i think they do their loping cheaper and pick up on selling the chip.

love the stuff just can't afford it.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
bob64
16 years ago
I've done it myself. That's good stuff and well priced.
Were the chips steaming when they first arrived?
sylviatexas1
Original Author
16 years ago
Nope, no steam, & today it rained all day & the temps never made it out of the 30s, supposed to be in the 20s tonight, so I haven't been out to check it.

I bet there's some heat in the middle of the pile, though, because I see green on some of the pieces.
dchall_san_antonio
16 years ago
If you haven't already, search for "ramial chipped wood."
sylviatexas1
Original Author
16 years ago
Cool!

I can use this stuff for everything!

& I'm hoping these guys have a *lot* of business out here;
I could use several more loads.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ramial Wood Chips
lhafken
16 years ago
My worm bin almost totally froze, so I decided to dump it into my main compost pile. While dumping, I noticed that the center was not frozen, and contained live worms!
dottyinduncan
16 years ago
My DH came home the other day and with a big smile, said, "Come and see what I have for you". In the back of his SUV were bags and bags of fir shavings! He had visited a job site and found all of this "garbage" that had to be disposed of! I think that I will use these for mulch in my perennial bed in the springtime. Love this type of garbage.
steve2416
16 years ago
The city clean up crew just brought me another truckload of vacuumed up leaves. That is 3 loads @ 10 cubic yards each, with another 2-3 loads possible. They have a new diesel vacuum they are very proud of that does a great job of shredding them as it picks them up.
All it costs me is a phone call at the start of leaf season and a thank you.
sylviatexas1
Original Author
16 years ago
They SHRED 'EM UP???????

I am way bad green with envy!
flowerfloosey
16 years ago
I compost the chips from trees..I have chased the trucks too lol. If you put them in your beds sometimes they can extract all the nitrogen to decompose...
sylviatexas1
Original Author
16 years ago
I've always heard, & read on this forum, that they'll cause nitrogen draft if you mix or till them into the soil, so you just put them on top.

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Score! Chased After a Wood Chipper Truck...

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