Which garden shredder?

10-10-20

I kind of need a garden shredder to take care of all of the wind-fall branches and off-cuts that the trees in my garden create. I now have two distinct pile of branches in the garden, and they aren't getting smaller naturally.

Does anybody have a preferred brand of device or cutting method?
I know that the Black and Decker ones use a circular blade (like a lawn-mower) and come in 1800W or 2200W varieties.
What do the others use and which method is best?

(Oh and a discussion about electric/2-stroke/4-stroke isn't required here because I'm going electric - despite the morbid scenarios of the "Pros and Cons of Electric vs Petrol Mowers" thread...)

Alun

We've got a Bosch one which uses a kind of archimedes screw that pulls the branches down into the innards and chops them at the same time .. makes it nice and easy to operate, just pop the branch in and it 'sucks' it in while you grab the next one. It's also nice and quiet compared to some I've seen operating, and has no problems with anything up to about 1" in diameter, although the larger models will doubtless take larger diameters. It's an AXT 2000 HP, but is a couple of years old and model numbers might have changed since then.

You'll be amazed at how small that pile of branches will look after shredding

10-10-20

That's the type I need then. I took apart the Black and Decker unit that was on display in Atlantic just to confirm the construction, but I think the self-feeding type is better alright.

ircoha

10-10-20 wrote:

because I'm going electric...

well do that.

10-10-20

ircoha wrote:

well do that.

I was taking the p155!:p

GreeBo

would you be better off renting one for the duration?

10-10-20

Hmmm... I may be able to rent a more powerful/versatile one than I could buy...
I'll look into it. Thanks GreeBo.

GreeBo

10-10-20 wrote:

Hmmm... I may be able to rent a more powerful/versatile one than I could buy...
I'll look into it. Thanks GreeBo.

no worries, I need to shred some stuff myself, but its only going to be a once off job so I was planning on renting...
let us know how u get on

10-10-20

I'll do a before and after shot of the piles of sticks...!

GreeBo

lol

oleras

10-10-20 wrote:

Hmmm... I may be able to rent a more powerful/versatile one than I could buy...
I'll look into it. Thanks GreeBo.

I split my hedge about a month ago and had a lot to get rid of also.
the small electric ones are a waste of time imo. I went down the hire shop route, mostly 2 options, a portable one for about €60/day and one you tow behind you, like the council use for about €200/day. I went down the portable route, waste of time ! Fine for straight solid branches but whispy 1/2 inch stuff had to be fed one at a time ! decided in the end to make a few calls to people who advertise waste removal in the local free paper and prices ranged from (it was going to be about half a skip full of garden waste) €320 :eek: to a sound bloke who came out this morning and took it all away for €100 .

p.s. when i dropped the chipper back to the hire shop this morning and told them it didnt do the job i wanted it for, without even asking they gave me my money back ! Fair play hss hire !!

Alun

Well all I can say is that we've had our Bosch one for a good few years now, and it gets used every autumn. The self feeding mechanism works fine, but it can get a bit bunged up if you have too much soft leafy matter going through it, but for branches up to 1" down to just thin woody stems, you just shove them in and it does the rest, sucking them in all by itself. I guess it all depends on how often you're going to use it.