FWIW I sure don't have 20 acres, only a little city lot but I seem to have a lot of little branches and other stuff for the compost pile. Last Fathers Day the kids got me a little electric chipper/shredder from Harbor Freight Tools. Will take up to a 1.25" branch and all kinds of smaller stuff. I realize its not up to a big job, but for what I needed, it works fine.

DM,

With over 20 acres mostly in woods you will already have a lot of deadfall that you could shred into compostable material. I agree that $1000 would buy quite a pile of compost and mulch, but getting your own shredder-chipper has the advantage of recycling material that you already have that otherwise would go to waste. And don't forget all those fallen leaves. When pulverized to a small particle size, they can form almost instant compost. Your woods can supply you with an unending supply of organic material for your gardens.

Another advantage of the shredder-chipper is that it helps you clean up your woods and make them more "sanitary", "user-friendly", and pleasant to be in. I prune off dead limbs that can be a hazard. I use ferns as a source of renewable greens for compost. We have only about 2 acres of woods now (it was 3 acres, but I felled a bunch of trees to get more sun into our main garden), but we seem to have an unending supply of old brush piles to chip and shred.

We have a mosquito problem, so I am thinning our woods and pruning off lower limbs to get better airflow through our woods to give the mosquitoes more of a "headwind" to fly against and fewer places to "roost". I am also pruning limbs to make it easier to walk around in the woods. My rule is that I don't want anyone to have to duck under any low limbs. I have a good pole saw that I use to help with my pruning and a good chain saw to fell unwanted trees. All of that provides "grist" for my chipper and hammermill shredder.

From reading these forum messages, you probably know by now that I am one of those who recommend the MacKissic 12PT10 series of shredder-chippers, and I suggest one or more of the optional screens for the hammermill shredder. I use my ¼" screen most of the time for fine particle sizes that compost rapidly, but occasionally put on my ½" screen for a somewhat larger sized product. If the material is damp, I put on the standard included 1" screen or occasionally my optional ¾" screen. I have the bar screen for wetter material. For maximum-sized landscaping woodchips, I remove the hammermill screen altogether. There isn't much you can't feed to a MacKissic "Mighty Mac" shredder-chipper.

If the 12PT10 models put too much strain on your budget, the smaller MacKissic SC763 still has a true hammermill with a standard 1" screen and an optional ½" screen (which I would get), and is a whole lot better than no machine at all. However, with as much wooded area area as you have, I think the investment in a 12PT10 would be very justified.

In fact, if I had 20 acres of woods at my disposal, I think I would invest $3000 in the even larger MacKissic SC150-12E for its bigger capacity and faster throughput.

But, for a lighter investment more in line with what you suggested, I think the 12PT10 would serve you very well and help you put your woods in tiptop shape as well as provide an abundant supply of compost, mulch, and woodchips for your gardens and landscaping.

MM

My thought is it's not just about the cost of the mulch you can make. I use mine to make wood chip mulch in the winter, and that is very useful in our numerous planting beds. But I need to control the trees anyway and the brush piles would be a considerable problem. Further, the planting beds and pruning of fruit and ornamental trees produces an abundance of waste to get rid of. The shredders compact that and recycle it into still more mulch. I find it quite pleasing to shred the 'garden' waste and recycle it instead of hauling it to our old HUGE waste pile.

I have both the 12PT10 and the SC183. Nice machines, the 12PT10 is more versatile. Still, it's the SC183 that gets used the most because of its huge shredding hopper and its big engine. If not for the SC183, I'd be happy with the 12PT10.

Thank you both for the thoughts.

I've wondered about the electric ones just for leaves and small stuff.

MM you are absolutely right that with 20 acres of woods and an acre of garden I've got plenty of raw material, work in the woods that could be done and places to use compost and mulch. (although just keeping up with the garden, the downed stuff we have to move and trying to keep a few trails open for walking and x-country skiing takes most of the time we have - a lot of trees and branches fell this spring and summer with all the rain and storms) There is no doubt I could make use of a "bigger" machine and the MacKissic you have sounds perfect. What I don't have plenty of are the resources that make spending a couple of thousand dollars right now a reasonable priority.

That's why I was curious if a smaller/cheaper machine to take the smaller branches that are too much trouble to burn, leaves and little stuff would be worth it and would hold up. People seem to have had very mixed experiences with the smaller machines, 8hp and less (MTD, Troy-built, Craftsman, etc) but some of their problems seem to be connected to trying to use those machines for more than they were made for, trying to chip bigger pieces that I would burn.

Do you know folks that have had good experiences with smaller/cheaper alternatives? If so, which ones?

I was looking at chipper/shredders recently and I didn't want to spend a boatload of cash either. Even though it was more than I wanted to spend, I bit the bullet and ended up with a Mackissic 12pt10(MM helped with alot with the decision). It turned out to be perfect for me. I got it for a little over $1500 with tax. When I was shopping around, I noticed Simplicity makes a couple of c/s models.

http://www.simplicitymfg.com/chipper.php

I was never a big fan of the craftsman power equip. I knew a lot of people who had problems with craftsman stuff. I did have a few neighbors that had Simplicity tractors and they lasted a long time, but other than that I don't know much about Simplicity. I found that Simplicity makes a 5hp one for around $600 or a 8 hp one for $800, but I really think the 5hp might be to small for your property. You definitely want to get a chipper/shredder vs just a chipper. The shredder is better for the smaller little stuff. good luck

den69

thanks for the tip on Simplcity, I'll look into them.....where did you find your MacKissic for $1500 and was that the total cost or were there accessories that were needed that pushed up the final cost beyond that?

I agree about the need for a shredder/chipper combo....I've been surprised that there don't seem to be tons of reviews on the smaller machines.

I bought mine locally through a place called Klems in Spencer MA. This place has everything. I didn't have to buy any additional accessories. They even delivered it with oil in the engine. I paid a total of $1598, but I also both two bottles of ortho weed killer. They delivered it free and it was completely assembled. I didn't have to buy anything extra. The 12PT-10 came with ear protection, eye protection and gloves. Here is there website. I know you won't find the 12PT10 on there, but they are a Mackissic dealer.

http://www.klemsonline.com/

I purchased the electric 110 volt 2.5 HP Chicago Tools Chipper/Shredder from a Harbor Freight store recently for only $89.00 after a 10% off coupon.Just tried it out today 3/18/07.I have a weeping willow tree that I prune everyother year and this machine did a wonderful job at chipping/shredding the branches and leaves from this tree.It chopped up the branches very nicely up to 1 1/4 inches as promised with no problem.I had 3 bushels of nicely chipped mulch in less than a hour.It pulled the branches in great,without me having to forcefeed it.One thing I noticed though is that if you try to chip a very dry branch that is'nt freshly cut,it struggles a little to do its job.Other than that,I'm very pleased with this little machine and would recommend it to anyone who needs one for relatively light duty work.I also plan to use it for my old veggie garden plants when the season is over,up here in Michigan.