I wanted to thank the people who took the time to share advice with me a couple of years ago. I appreciate your help very much. I thought I'd let you know that my new MacKissic SC183 has recently arrived here on Maui. I kept putting the purchase off, since the price tag for the one my husband insisted we needed was a little daunting (especially here in Hawaii). I finally got tired of driving pickup truck load after pickup truck load of yard waste to the green waste site. Getting a MacKissic here was no small feat, though. I had to hire a small engine repair guy to put it together for me and get the 700 lb. machine on the ground at my place, since the dealer through which I bought it is located on the island of Hawaii. They just drop-shipped the machine to me. I should mention that the people at MacKissic were very nice, but their dealer here in Hawaii put very little effort into the sale. Half the time they didn't return my calls, and they never even checked to see if the machine made it to me. Anyway, after it was delivered we started it up to test it out and the shredder surprised me by ripping an Areca palm frond out of my hand. Yikes! What a big difference from the Bearcat we rented two years ago! The chipper is less scary, but easily chips the shockingly hard coconut palm fronds I feed it. It makes beautiful palm frond mulch. To move it around the yard I bought a two inch ball hitch for our John Deere X300 lawn tractor, and it pulls the MacKissic easily up and down our sloping yard. I have not figured out how to get light things down into the shredder, though. The flaps that separate the chute from the hammermill chamber are stiff enough to keep light material out. I had a large pile Wedelia that I had cut and left to dry, leaving it much lighter than the rest of the yard waste I processed. I was unwilling to try to push it with anything that could not be processed by itself for fear of damaging my new machine. Consequently I didn't really have any good pushing tool to use for this. Any thoughts?

Herb, Normally it starts on just the second pull, even in winter. Once, when the temperature got down near zero, I got some ice frozen in the fuel line or fuel filter and it wouldn't start until I warmed it up with a small electric heater on a long extension cord. I would guess I got a little water in the gas. Possibly water vapor condensed in the gas tank. I use regular 87 octane gas, with no additives. The manual recommends against additives. I put the little electric heater on the ground under the cover so the heat would rise in the cover and thaw out the ice, wherever it was. After 30 minutes of that it started on the second pull. In general, it has been very good about starting easily in cold weather. The only thing is, when the machine is real cold, you shouldn't stick your tongue on the metal frame. (grin) My 12PT9 came with two manuals, one for the Briggs & Stratton engine and one for the MacKissic shredder-chipper. The engine manual has a chart showing to use 30 weight oil from 40°F up to over 100°. For starting in 0° up to 40° it recommends 5W-30 or 10W-30. For operating anywhere from -20° or lower up to 100° or higher it recommends Synthetic 5W-20 or Synthetic 5W-30. To be on the safe side, I have been using Mobile One 5W-30 synthetic oil exclusively. My dealer had installed regular 30 weight oil originally but, after a few hours of "break in" use, I drained that oil and replaced it with the Mobile One. As per the manual, I also retensioned the V-belt after the break-in. The engines are shipped to the dealers dry, and they install the oil. But double check to make sure your engine has a good oil level before you start it. Starting it without oil would ruin it. After a few hours of break-in use I think you should drain the original oil and replace it with Mobile One 5W-30 synthetic. That would be my recommendation. In my opinion, it's false economy to skimp on the oil. You should grease the main rotor bearing initially and after every 10 hours of use. I got a small manual grease gun from Home Depot just for that purpose. I haven't noticed any undue rusting after 3 years out in the weather. Most everything has a heavy coat of paint on it. Of course, the hammers, mounted screens, and chipping blade are now bare, but relatively frequent use keeps them shining. The unused screens do have some signs of rust, but nothing beyond cosmetic. I have replaced the paper air filter after it got too hard to clean. It's a standard filter available at Home Depot. The engine muffler looks rusted. It gets red hot in use. I've used my "Mighty Mac" some at night and you can see the muffler glowing. I always let the machine cool off for several minutes before using the cover, to keep from scorching the cover on the hot muffler. I think the muffler will probably be the next thing that needs replacement. It probably should have been made of stainless steel. But it may go on, looking rusty and glowing, for the next several years. I have a spare V-belt that I plan to install on my next maintenance session. I have smoked my original V-belt a couple of times, so it's probably due for replacement, but I'll keep it as a spare. It's a little stretched and scorched in a couple of places, but it's still usable in a pinch. I also bought a chipper knife replacement kit that I plan to use then as well. However, I will keep the original chipper blade and resharpen it for future use. MM

yeh i find usually the best advice is to do all you prunning a couple or so times a year in blocks and go hire a shredder machine, then you maybe can do bigger branches and hire a chipper. keep in mind no matter how much you pay the common garden type shredder is exactly that a shredder with some chipping capabilities. some gardeners over here get a bloke in with a chipper and they get lots of stuff ready and then he does the big cutting, too easy realy. they get an added bonus he takes any unchippable stuff/or gen' rubbish to the tip free. and look at the action of the machine if you are going to buy, for me i like the models that will shred fibrous plants ie.,. gingers, bananas, palm fronds etc.,. flail type shredders won't. and last but not least don't buy from a discounter like all machinery at the end of the day you get what you pay for, go talk to a specilaist store. if you go the hire path you may be able to try different models and see which suits you best. the best thing about hiring is you don't have that machine sitting there doing nought most of the year, and servicing or break downs are not your care. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

I love my chipper/shredder that I bought at Home Depot a couple years ago. It is gas powered and can only handle branches about 3 inches wide. I use it frequently for my property and now it seems to travel and we help others with their yard waste. The best thing of all is we get to keep the wood chips - which I love. How about if you put an ad (free) on Craigslist or Freecycle giving away the wood to someone who can use it? In my neighborhood there is a guy with a huge chipper for commercial jobs. I've even asked him if I can have the 'waste' that he pays to take to the dump. He is happy to give it to me. It saves him time and money and saves me money from buying mulch. If you don't have room to compost - you could do a sort of 'horizontal' compost where you have something like leaves and wood chips scattered on the ground. It will decompose and improve your soil. Just a thought.