Garden Shredders

• How to work when your shrubby, hedgy, garden starts branching out fast...
• Discover which type of garden shredders suit your needs & how they do the job.
• All the accessories you need for the job are here.

• How do you easily move a sprawling mass of branches and hedge trimmings?
• How do you fit branches into a convenient space or get them all into the green waste container?
• How do you avoid spending hours cutting up branches, while enduring piles of branches everywhere?
• The free wood chip that I make with my garden shredder is a great asset for covering soil & paths.
• Paying for disposal adds a regular extra cost & at inconvenient times - I'd have to wait weeks.
• I need the job doing now.
  Then - owning the machine is not so much - & look - the way to your garden is always within your site.
• Can you afford not to use a garden shredder?

Although the celebration fires on estates during the fall festivals are popular, they would be happening somewhere else at another time. I've used several garden shredders over many years and now I would not finish my garden work in a timely way without one. I don't hesitate to renew them when they become tired or a better model appears.

Below, I share lessons learned and describe several types of garden chippers and shredders that I've owned. I will critically describe my latest garden shredder & what I will buy next for my future gardening tasks where, in my garden, the shrubs are always fast becoming trees. Let's find out more...

Here's What Garden Shredders Can Do For You

• Reduce garden waste from a sprawling pile of cuttings and branches and prickles, to a vastly smaller volume that's easily moved around by a shovel and rake, and easily carried in filled bags.
• Make your own fragrant conifer wood chip for garden paths, & to use around plants as garden mulch.
• Make old tough green stems of cabbage and tomato etc... compost quicker from fine shreds - & reduce the time disease spores have to spread.
• Lay down your home made chippings & mulch during a dry summer to help retain moisture in your soil. You'll save on buying that stuff.
• Your shreds and chips are also used as cover before winter time to insulate your soil. You will get an earlier warmer start for growing in spring.
  So, many good things & - time well spent all around!

Leaf shredders are also very popular garden tools, so I've included information about them, for you, further down the page - see further below >>

Garden Shredders & Wood Chippers Work By Different Mechanisms

• Shredding Disk and Anvil with Controlled Entry & Exit Size:-
  

  Sun Jo - High Velocity value
  Garden Shredder USA for fast disposal of hedge clippings

  

  AXT Rapid Shredder -
  Fast disposal of hedge trimmings, stalks & light branch...

  These rapid garden shredders (e.g. the Bosche AXT 2000 Rapid series or the Sun Joe CJ600 series) have a fly wheel with two slits bearing double sided shredding knives. The disk spins up to high speed and the fly wheel momentum helps to maintain speed. There is an anvil plate in the cutting chamber which holds against the material being shredded by the knives.
  
  The hopper has supports to steady the feed. A feed pusher assists feeding in and clearing exit port blockages. The size of the exit acts like a screen to ensure larger material is shredded down to size before exit. Blockages can be cleared superfast - disconnect - simply unscrew the large knob & the top comes right off for clearing.
  
  Note - these types of shredder are not wood chippers. They are useful for fine hedge cuttings, and will quickly dispose of tough plant stalks. That is what they are for.
  
  Modern versions of these simple machines do not have pre-cutting knives above the shredding disk which means less noise. However, for branches, the significant down side with my 2017 Bosche Rapid shredder was that without precutting blades above the shredding disk, many branches shred into long strips. I would not get this model again. Also - the switch-on/off mechanism is a little flimsy.
  but see the turbine shredder - better & more below >>>

• Shredding Disks & Pre Cutting Knives:- The first of my garden shredders had precutting knives positioned above a shredding disk that rotated rapidly.
  
  It worked well with twigs and softer material. Branches go through with more noise and vibration but there was a side shoot direct to the shredding knives. It made nice piles of crumbly chips.
  Note:- Precutting knives are important - because a shredding disk alone may turn many branches into long strips instead of the finer cut chips & crumbs that you probaby want in the finished material.

• Cutting & Crushing quietly:- These are more properly described as garden chippers. They use a spiked drum to grip, cut and crush branches, against another drum or an anvil plate.
  
  The machine works with a slow beautifully quiet steady beat, though it gets through more material by weight nevertheless. It is especially useful and powerful when branches are your main material for turning into wood chips.

For links to:- Wood Chippers / Shredders and to Specialised Leaf Shredders >>>  V V V V  check further down the page V V V V

• Turbine Cutting Blades shreds green twigs, along with branches & thorns up to 4cm. This system uses a cone of rotating blades, which makes the feed automatic. Use the reverse drive if it gets blocked.
  
  The mechanism runs quietly and it should easily deal with both wood and greenery. see the Bosche AXT25 series.

• Screw Cut & Crush not illustrated, uses a screw to draw larger branches in to cut them against a plate. Screw feeds are often used to feed branches into larger machines with the hammer mill mechanism illustrated next. I like this mechanism but Bosche have stopped making their screw cut AXT 2200HP.

• Hammer Mill and Shredding Disk Knives do a precut followed by a shredding disk. It deals with both leaves and wood. Branches can be fed direct to the shredding disk through a special port.
• my next machine will be bigger and more powerful.
  Bigger with more power makes sense for my garden because the wood is growing bigger every year. Owning a bigger machine is faster, more effective & better than annually paying garden companies that are very busy to come when needed. - I'll get the job done much quicker too - see below

• Thrash & Bash chip bigger wood and shred leaves. Larger professional machines will take larger branches simply thrown into a hopper and screw fed. They have screens that contain the material inside a hammer mill until it is shredded suitably fine. They dispose of larger material very quickly. Used by tree surgeons and professionals, they may include a tow bar.
  
  - Look below to find your garden shredders...vVv...vVv...

High Velocity Chippers to Reduce Smaller Branches, Twigs & Green Stuff.	Bigger, Better, Faster, Works Independently In The Field.
Chipper Joe Electric Wood Chipper / Shredder Mulcher CJ601E Cuts up to 11/5"	Throw & Forget, for Bigger Jobs Larger Garden
AXT 25 TC Quiet Shredder - & the ATX Rapid Shredders - click here & then scroll down next page	Throw & Forget, for Bigger Jobs Larger Gardens

Accessories And Spares. You'll Do Well To Have These. With Garden Shredders.

• Tough Protective Gardening Gloves - for use with thorny branches links below...
• Safety Glasses
• Ear Protectors
• Hard Safety Helmet - may come with visor & ear protectors attached
• Collection bags for wood chippings
• Electric extension cable on reel
• Residual Circuit Breaker RCD to protect you if the cable becomes damaged etc...
• Fuel can for gas powered shredders
• Spare double sided blades to fit your garden shredder disk...
• Spare V or J pre-shredding blades...

Some accessories may be included with a garden shredder purchase. Others can be conveniently bought together which often saves you money on the purchase and on delivery. See below for useful accessories.

Accessories For Your Work With Garden Shredders
Find Replacement Blades - be sure to buy genuine parts - keep hold of screws - more here...	Garden Shovel - Moves Loads of Finished Wood Mulch	Garden Rake - Gather Together Finished Wood Mulch	Garden Bags 3 x 300L - Self-Standing and Foldable
Replacement Blades - be sure to buy genuine parts - find more...	Garden Shovel - Moves Loads of Finished Wood Mulch	Garden Rake - Gather Together Finished Wood Mulch	Garden Bags 3 x 300L - Self-Standing and Foldable
Garden Rigger Work Gloves - for thorns, & tough handling	SAFETY HELMET SYSTEM - Hard Hat / EarMuffs / Face Shield Chainsaw Protective	Garden Workwear with Handy Pockets	Safety Boots For Work
Garden Work Gloves for thorns, thistles, & tough handling	SAFETY HELMET SYSTEM - Hard Hat / EarMuffs / Face Shield Chainsaw Protective	Garden Overall with Handy Pockets	Garden Safety Boots

Safe Efficient Working Methods With Garden Shredders

Below I describe the most efficient working methods to get your job done as smoothly and as quickly as possible. There are different machines for different jobs. Let's start with my latest heavy duty 4 stroke petrol engine garden shredder. This is capable of handling most branches that you might expect from an above average sized garden containing larger growing shrubs, hedges and small trees. Unlike the electric machines, these petrol engines are very heavy. My chipper/ shredder weighs just under 1 tonne. While with some inginuety I have managed to construct the machine from packaged kit, move it to the garden, and do all that alone, it is advisable to get help when constructing and moving this garden shredder. As I tried to lift mine over a step into my garage but I did it the wrong way. While making the effort I slipped and this heavy 1 tonne machine fell over on top of me. You need to plan these moves and it is advisable to have some assistance. Moving it is not too difficult if the ground is flat and firm.

The construction is simple but as the machine is heavy it is somewhat foolish to attempt it alone. There is a serious risk of injury when moving this machine over obstacles such as steps or slopes. But I did manage to do it and survive (doing it alone is not advisable).

The good news is that with 4 Horse Power (HP) this heavy duty shredder destroys garden waste easily non stop and is the right tool for bigger jobs and wider branches. The ability to move it independently of an electric power source is also a very big advantge. Here's a few tips on managing the machine during garden shredding, on using garden shredding accessories and organising the work flow.

When you unpack the machine I suggest that you keep the timber palette that the garden shredding machine is mounted on. Don't let the delivery driver take it away. I use this wooden pallet to mount the garden shredder at location so that it stands above ground level when I'm using it. More on that below...

I wear boots with a steel toe cap and sole, hard hat with a visor and ear defenders, and protective gloves.

Gorse
https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/gorse-hedging-ulex-europaeus.html

Western Red Ceder
https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Western-Red-Cedar-Thuja-plicata-Atrovirens.html

Mixed native hedge inc. Hawthorth
https://www.hedgesdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Hawthorn-based-40-60-cm-bare-rootsx50.html#SID=331





 By Michael E. J. Scott.
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