On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:50:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

I was considering buying a garden shredder. As I understand it there
are two types: one that has rotating blades, like a large food
processor. The pros are that it will cut leaves into a fine mulch but
the cons are that they are noisy, the blades quickly blunt, and they
don't like thick branches.

The other sort is supposed to crunch the waste between cogs. These are
supposed to be much quieter and require less servicing and cope with
thicker branches but apparently they do not shred leaves. Leaves get
spat out whole, unless you can feed them in amongst some wood.

Have I got that about right?

I quite like the silence and reliability of the second type but I feel
that although we prune branches, I would expect we would want to
dispose more green matter than wood. Does these mean I need the first
type?

Are they really noisy? Do the blades blunt that quickly? Can they be
resharpened at home? What size branches can it cut without
complaining?

I understand there is a third model made by Bosch that uses a helical
blade. How does that compare? What are its pros and cons? Would that
work in my situation?

I have seen Bosch ones at all the DIY stores but I also noticed Aldi
and Focus are selling Einhell models, much cheaper than the Bosch. Who
are Einhell and are their machines any good?

Thanks,
Stephen.

I've got a "cogger" and it's reasonably quiet. Though you would still
get abuse and other things hurled at you if you decided to do a quick
bit of shredding at 3 a.m.
I'm no expert, but ISTM the difference in noise level might be that
my one uses an induction motor, whereas some (build to a budget) types
use a brushed motor.
So far as mulching leaves, I don't bother. The chips that come out
of the shredder and any leaves in amongst them go straight back onto
the flower beds and presumably the leaves just decay a little slower
than if they'd been chopped up.