Loan of wood chipper

micar

My dad is the middle of taking down tree/hedge growth which has grown very high. There could be 75m of length in total.

At the moment, we are planning to use a trailer to bring all material up to a recycling center. This could take many weekends of traveling to and fro. I don;t really want to be doing this as it's so time consuming.

It would be easier to get a wood chipper. These cost €180 per day to hire. We would still have to get rid of all the material that is generated.

Does anyone know if there is anyone who would lend us a wood chipper and we'd allow them to keep the waste? Is chipped wood something that can be sold on?

Had an idea to call the local county council to see if they would do this. We would just borrow it for a weekend. We'd allow them to keep all the waste.

any advise would be appreciated.

Tokyo

I sincerely doubt that the Co. Council would go along with this, unfortunately. First off, most of this type of work is contracted out now to private companies, and second, lending something like a wood chipper out to someone down the road would be a no-go in terms of liability and insurance.

You'll probably just have to borrow/rent a chipper, but perhaps put an ad on gumtree to see if anyone wants the woodchips for free, on the provision that they cart it away themselves??

Oldtree

Be very careful with the wood chipper, it is not a benign machine.

Wear a helmet with a visor and safety glasses and ear muffs (in addition also use the small yellow plugs for the ears) it will spit splinters back at you.
Wear robust gloves.
Do not wear loose clothing.
Do not wear loose sleeves.
Learn how the machine can be switched into reverse in an emergency.]
Do no use an old machine.
Stand to one side when putting in branches.
Put branches in butt first.
Cut off side branches so prevent blockages.
Do not overload the intake.
Clean off radiator sieve panel to prevent overheating.
Do not put in big pieces of branches, keep any wood suitable for firewood.
and so on and so on........

This is not something I would suggest to an amateur as there is so much that can go wrong easily.

You could use the chip to dress the area that the hedge is in to act as a mulch for new plantings.

Sonnenblumen

Unless you have previous experience of using a wood chipper (I presume you're looking for a professional chipper) I would advise against it. They are potentially very dangerous machines.

Tree surgeons are unlikely to be interested on a pro bono basis, but have you tried the wood fuel merchants. Fresh cut timber is of no immediate value for selling as winter fuel.

There are plenty of sources for getting rid of the chippings, try animal sanctuaries, stables, local farmers etc etc. Avoid putting fresh chipped wood near any plants or hedging as the decomposition process generates considerable heat and will damage plants.

The obvious alternative is to pay a tree cutter to chip and dispose of waste.