skidder39,

I think the MacKissic towable model 12PT10 is the best all around shredder-chipper for home use. However, I wouldn't want to mislead you about the ease of use. It comes with head-phone style ear protectors and gloves, which you should use. You should also use safety glasses or safety goggles. I use my chainsaw helmet with its screen-wire face protector, because in cold weather it doesn't "fog up." I use some lined leather gloves, and the lining provides some padding from the vibration of the stick that you are feeding to the chipper chute.

The limb that you are feeding is being hit several times a second by the chipper blade, so some vibration is unavoidable. The striker plate and the chipper chute absorb most of the impact, and I have no problem feeding the chipper for 30 or 40 minutes at a time. Sometimes the MacKissic shredder-chipper runs out of gas, thus bringing at least a pause in my feeding session.

Dry wood is harder than green wood, so you can expect to get more vibration chipping dry wood. The MacKissic 12PT10 can chip branches as large as 3 inches in diameter (that's pretty big), and I chip a lot of pine wood rather than use it as firewood, because pine tar can "gum up" your chimney. Limbs that are too large to chip probably should be used as firewood, garden edging, or for some other use anyway.

The 12PT10 has a large shredder chute into which you can throw almost anything, like leaves, small sticks, twigs, discarded plants from the garden, grass clippings, compost that needs to be re-processed to a finer consistency, even dirt or old compost that you want to blend into the product that you are making. You can "seed" fresh material with mature compost or rich soil to speed up the decomposition. That inoculates your fresh material for rapid activity.

"Also, just wondering if I can feed in large chunks of vegetables and fruit rinds as I get these from my local grocery store for my compost pile. It's time consuming chopping them up to put in the pile."

Although I am not a card-carrying organic gardener, I do use many organic methods, include making all the compost piles that I can. The MacKissic 12PT10 shredder is a true hammermill, which accounts for its great versatility. For fresh materials with a lot of water content, the wet shredded material may clog the hammermill screen. You can deal with that in several ways. One is to feed some dry material along with your wet material. Another way is to temporarily remove the hammermill screen. It is designed so you can do that without any tools required. There are also special screens available for wet materials. I have one of them, and use it occasionally for processing things like pumpkins after Halloween.

After I realized that the swinging "hammers" of the hammermill could bash and process almost anything, I purchased several optional screens, including a ¼" and a ½" screen. The majority of material for my compost piles goes through one or the other of those screens. Dry leaves and other dry material go through the ¼" screen to produce a soft fluffy material that has a huge amount of surface area for rapid composting. Greenish leaves usually require the ½" screen to avoid clogging. Occasionally if a screen is starting to clog I throw a short dry stick into the hopper and as it is getting bashed to bits (noisy) it clears the screen.

The MacKissic 12PT10 is designed so that the chips from the chipper chute fall into the hammermill section. If you want maximum sized chips for landscape use, remove the screen so that they don't get bashed. If you want finer chips, leave a screen on. Frequently I use my ¼" screen if I intend to incorporate the chips in a compost pile. If I plan to use the chips for a garden path I use the ½" screen. Occasionally I use an optional ¾" screen for coarser path material. It comes with a standard 1" screen, which can be used for nearly anything and doesn't clog easily, but does not give quite as much surface area as you might want for compost.

I think you would be able to use a MacKissic 12PT10 or the 12PT10E electric start model, after you got used to it.

MM

Thanks for your reply Maineman, the information you provided is very useful. I think I will look for a used unit as they are over $2000 cdn with taxes. I have been looking on ebay but no towable models listed.
Have a great day!
skidder39

We faced this problem last year. We had accumulated a pile of brush approx 15' in diameter and 5' high. We had been unable to burn during the previous 2 appropriate "legal" seasons. I looked for used chipper / shredders all spring of 2007 on the various lists in Greater Boston but there was little for sale. Last spring a new outdoor power equipment dealer opened up in our village. They were selling Bear Cat chipper shredders. We bought the 5 HP model that accepted 3" branches. In approx 15 hrs my wife and I reduced the brush pile to chips. The machine ate 3" pine effortlessly no vibration at all. (I save any hard wood over 2" for the fireplace). While I agree with the previous post from Maineman, I didn't want to allocate the $2000 to that machine. We've been really happy with the Bear Cat. Last fall we had a near hurricane northeaster that took down a lot of trees all over the Cape. We had lots of branches all over the yard. The Bear Cat took care of all the debris in about an hour. check out this website: http://bearcatproducts.com/. Maybe this will fit your needs too. Good luck with your search.
Steve

I don't know where you live but there is a Mackissis 12PT10 for sale on craigslist for $700 in the San Diego area.

I have one of these and it is probably not very old with the 10hp motor) and are an excellent machine.

I've used chipper/shredders for years, since about 1974, my first unit was Sear 5. It didn't have a separate chipper shoot, but it took branches anyway, right down the shredder shoot. As for vibrations...the limb was sucked in so fast I don't recall noticing any vibration..lots of noise. I used this unit until about 1990 when (still working) I gave it to a neighbor and replaced it with another Sears 5 HP unit, this one with a separate chipper shoot. I works a bit better than the older unit and was used every year until 2006 when, after I made a faulty reassembly after clearing a stuck branch, it threw a flail knife, not through the metal shield, but it did cut a hole..and that was the end of that unit given the cost of the many parts it would take to repair and given my proven record of not assembling correctly.

Late last year I bouth a Yardman from Home Depot, a returned unit for a very low price, under $400, and it really works great. I have the larger unit (a.k.a. 10 hp) with a removable tow bar which makes it great when I want to use the unit far from the house/shed (I have over 5 acres of land/trees). Again, no specific problem with vibrations, but I will say the new longer protective shoot that provides access the to chipper is safer, but more easily jambed when the top part of a branch comes in and fills up the restricted cross-section of the feed as it approaches the chipper knives. I have no doubt that a Mackissis is a better unit, but given I get 15 years plus of very effective service out of units that cost less than half as much says to me the Sears and Yardman level of equipment is fine for home use, albeit my home (property) is at least 10 times as large as most residential properties.

Thanks for all your opinions. I am located in Ontario, Canada so San Diego is a little too far (thank you for the tip though). I have an offer on a MacKissic 12PT10 which I am waiting on an answer, but now that I know that other units mentioned above are good I have other brands to look for if my offer is declined. I would really prefer the kind that I can hook up to my lawn tractor as the one I am using now takes a lot of effort to move from my shed to the shredding location. I don't want to wear myself out before I start chipping/shredding. Oh, and I am not in the least bit handy enough to "modify" one into a towable model!!!
Thanks so much for all you information, it is truly appreciated!

Last year, I found a used MacKissic on Craigs list for 300 US. It is about 20 years old and has a 7hp motor. Put a new blade and basic maintenance in it. Runs great, starts on the second pull usually. It is a pull behind model, basically the older version of the 12pt10. Guess what, it takes mostly the same parts as the new one.
It did take a while and I guess I got lucky, so if you are willing to wait a while, you can find a good deal.

I was wondering about the different screens you can buy for the mackissic 12PT10. Do they need to be sharpened, or do they wear out and need to be replaced?
I am leaning towards the Mackissic unit for a couple reasons: towable behind my lawn tractor and has the hammermills and different screen sizes to adjust output size. I haven't read a bad thing yet about this product.
Thanks for all your posts.

skidder39

skidder39,

The screens don't need to be sharpened or maintained in any way, other than keep them reasonably clean. In normal use they are self cleaning. They are just strong curved metal plates with lots of holes punched in them. They serve to keep the material in the hammermill chamber until the swinging hammers bash them into pieces small enough to escape through the holes. The hammers are just lengths of steel bar stock with a pivot hole punched in each end.

I leave my MacKissic parked at my working place in the nearby woods with the wheels chocked and cabled to a tree with a bicycle lock to keep it from "wandering off." I have hollowed out a place under it so I don't have to shovel stuff out from under it so often. I keep it under the optional cover, which seems to protect it from the weather nicely. That way it doesn't take up space in the garage and it is always ready to use at the work site. In our sloping rocky terrain it is easier to bring material to the machine than to drag the machine to the material. I drag branches to the machine and bring some stuff in a wheelbarrow. There is a pile of branches at my machine right now. There is also a cluster of compost piles conveniently located in the area near the machine.

I once ran out of gas and my machine came to a stop with a full shredder chamber. I decided to "call it a day" and buy more gas before my next shredding session. I guess it was a week or two before I returned with a full gas can. When I started it, the V-belt started to smoke so I quickly killed the engine. The stuff in the chamber had fermented into a solid mass, which wouldn't let the hammer assembly turn. I dropped the screen and gouged the stuff out with a long screwdriver. The screen was gunked up so I put it on the lawn and blasted it with my garden hose nozzle and used a stiff brush to help clean off the residue of rotten stuff. That is the only time I had to clean a screen.

Incidentally, the V-belt was still serviceable and I used it for a couple more years. During those two years I "smoked" it a couple more times. So it had three bad places on it when I replaced it. The V-belt stretches a little in time with heavy use and if you forget to readjust the tension, it will "smoke" if the clutch engages when the tension is too loose. Just remember not to leave the machine stopped for a long period with a full hammermill chamber, and check your belt tension from time to time and you can avoid having to clean a screen or replace the V-belt.

I purchased my MacKissic shredder-chipper in January of 2004. It was the 12PT9 model then, the same as the current 12PT10 except it has a 9hp Briggs & Stratton engine. I think this old "X-ray view" is of my 12PT9 model.

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I haven't done anything to the hammers yet, but this Summer I plan to "rotate" the hammers. The leading outer corner of each of my hammers is now somewhat rounded from wear. MacKissic's simple design for the hammers allows them to me mounted in four different ways, so that all four corners of the hammers can be used. That increases their working life by a factor of four. So unless something unusual happens, it looks like I will get as much as 16 years of use out of my hammers before I need to buy replacement hammers.

Actually, my hammers still work fine with rounded corners. It just takes them somewhat longer to bash the material when they have rounded corners.

MM

Wow, that's an industrial strength machine, I've read the posts but never looked one "up" to get a picture.

I've seen conflicting reports on the benefits of covering machinery outside. maineman, you seem to have good results with your chipper being covered, I have one garden tractor I keep under a "plastic" tarp and it has been stored that way for three years, and there are no rusting or other problems I can relate to it being stored outside. The key seems to be to allow air to circulate somehow, but even with some open space at the bottom if the cover doesn't "breath" it seems moisture could be trapped. Not directly related to topic, but given your note of storage outside, your experience is sought.

Maineman you are a wealth of information, thank you for sharing it!
You make me want to get a unit right away but as I said in an earlier post I have an offer in on a 12PT10. The guy hasn't got back yet.(I offered $1000 and he is asking $1200) He said it is 2 yrs and used 10 times but it doesn't come with any extra screens. I believe he is waiting for a better offer so I am still looking as I don't think I should pay anymore than my offer (which still might be on the high side) for this machine. I'll have about a 4 hour drive one way to pick it up so I have to take that into consideration. He is supposed to get back to me "this week" which is anytime soon.
It's the long weekend here in Canada so I will be working in the yard as I am sure a lot of other gardeners will be doing.
Have a good one.

skidder39

Jerry,

I am sure it is better to store in a garage or a storage building, but our property is sloping and rocky and it would be inconvenient to drag the shredder-chipper back and forth between the garage and the work site for each use. Besides, the optional cover doesn't reach to the ground, so air circulation is good even in a slight breeze. Our garage space is limited, so I store as much stuff outside as I can. We intend to get some kind of storage building when we can afford it and when we can figure out where to put it.

I just pulled the tarp off of my Merry Tiller and it started easily and I have tilled about half of my garden with it. I did have concerns about how well the tiller would fare under the tarp in our cold Winter, but it did fine. The tarp was aluminized on the inside.

MM

Too bad you aren't near San Diego. In the last couple of weeks, I have seen three MacKissics for sale here. One was $700, another $500 and the third one for $300. Horsepower ranges from 7-10 HP. These are the first ones I have seen for many years. Wish they had been for sale when I bought my 12PT10 a couple of years ago.

Does anyone have experience with the Mackissic Leaf Cycler? I am in a rural area with lots of trees and leaves. I have quite a few areas such as driveway, stone landscaping, etc where mulching leaves into the lawn is not an option. The Leaf Cycler looks versatile enough to clean up spaces that would not be accessible with a riding or push version leaf vacuum. But I have not been able to find anyone who has any experience using one.

Mainman

Have you had to sharpen your knife yet?

My machine (12PT10) is a couple of years old and I have not sharpened it. It still cuts up large branches (3" approx) with no problem. It is an excellent machine.

I do not know how to tell when the blade needs sharpening but when it needs it, it looks like we now have a local dealer who might be able to do it.

Thanks