With many shrubs to prune around this time I am considering buying a garden
shredder. Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend? Any
hints or tips? (I note a previous posting advising not to attempt shredding
Phormium - thanks for the tip!). Budget is around £150-£200. I am
particularly suspicious of the 30-35-40mm figures they give for acceptable
thickness. I mean a thick softwood cutting from my Forsythia is a different
ballgame from a thick pruning from my Ceanothus. Chalk and (soft) cheese,
I'd say. Would be interested in any views. UK-based, by the way.
Baz

Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend? Any
hints or tips?
Baz


Don't buy the Black & Decker 1400 electric shredder. I bought one and spent
more time unjamming it than using it. It was so bad I eventually threw it
away in disgust after a few months while still in "working" order.

I've heard other people on this group praise one of the Bosch "Quiet
Shredder" models. I understand this has a 'screw' rather than blades and
doesn't get jammed so easily.
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

"Barry Watts" wrote in message
...
With many shrubs to prune around this time I am considering buying a
garden
shredder. Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend? Any
hints or tips? (I note a previous posting advising not to attempt
shredding
Phormium - thanks for the tip!). Budget is around £150-£200. I am
particularly suspicious of the 30-35-40mm figures they give for acceptable
thickness. I mean a thick softwood cutting from my Forsythia is a
different
ballgame from a thick pruning from my Ceanothus. Chalk and (soft) cheese,
I'd say. Would be interested in any views. UK-based, by the way.
Baz


Hi Baz,
I bought a bosch 1600 "quiet shredder" which is brill. It has
swallowed all sizes up to it's max, is easy to un-jam, and I've no hedges
left to trim! They do a 2000 & 2200 which may be better?? Depends how much
work you need to give it. I got mine from B & Q locally - it was the best
deal I could get.

Chris S

Baz
There is a long thread on this (starting 4th May) - sorry I haven't figured
out how to copy a link. Have a look and see if it helps.

I bought the Bosch silent 2000 and it is very good, although as you say it
really struggled with thicker hard wood. To repeat the earlier posting -
although quoted at 35mm, it would not go through a 25-30mm branch which had
been dead for some time and had a few knots in (i.e. dry and very hard). I
think when they quote maximum size they assume green (soft) wood.

Other things I have learnt about shredding & composting - the shredder is
only really any good at fairly rigid / woody material. Anything that is
mainly green and too 'floppy' the screw blade does not grip and drag in so
you end up having to dig it all out again. Other non-screw types might be
better at floppy stuff but I have no experience.

I find that I still need to chop up floppy green stuff since it can often be
a pain when it partially rots but leaves lots of long stringy bits which
bind the compost together making it difficult to handle.

So I have learnt to put stiff / woody stuff through the shredder and for
other floppy green stuff I now put in a heap on the lawn and mow it up!
The lawnmower is very quick and efficient at chopping up the softer stuff -
ideal for more managable composting


The bit about silent versus non-silent I took the advice to go for silent
and glad I did. I find the shredder is turned on for quite long periods and
I'm sure the neighbours would not appreciate a 110dB model!

Pete


"Barry Watts" wrote in message
...
With many shrubs to prune around this time I am considering buying a
garden
shredder. Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend? Any
hints or tips? (I note a previous posting advising not to attempt
shredding
Phormium - thanks for the tip!). Budget is around £150-£200. I am
particularly suspicious of the 30-35-40mm figures they give for acceptable
thickness. I mean a thick softwood cutting from my Forsythia is a
different
ballgame from a thick pruning from my Ceanothus. Chalk and (soft) cheese,
I'd say. Would be interested in any views. UK-based, by the way.
Baz

I've got a Bosch 2000W Silent Model. Its quiet, easy to unblock
(flick a switch to go into reverse), and probably quite hard to
seriously main yourself (eg, idiot proof).

Although slightly outside of your initial budget it's worth the
stretch.

Made short work of a couple of conifers I fed through, and also good
for creating a compost base from old text books.

Steve

Thanks for all the info. I'll try to track down that previous thread - I
didn't want to repeat a topic so I did a search before I posted my question.
I guess I missed it. Thanks for info anyway. Really helpful.
Baz

In message , Barry Watts
writes


With many shrubs to prune around this time I am considering buying a garden
shredder.

snip

Budget is around £150-£200.

snip

Would be interested in any views.

Shredders?
In my opinion, they are expensive and unnecessary yuppie toys.

Let's say you get 5 years use out of it. That's cost you £30-£40 per
year. You can buy a lot of compost, plants, and beer with that much
cash.

Some very good, big, gardens have been kept immaculate for hundreds of
years without the use of shredders.

So what about your prunings?
- Burn, bin, or bury them. Then sit back, relax, and enjoy that new
found beer fund.

--
Regards - Jim (reply to: News AT outcrops DOT co DOT uk)

Woman went into a bar and asked for a double entendre.
So the landlord gave her one.

"Barry Watts" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all the info. I'll try to track down that previous thread - I
didn't want to repeat a topic so I did a search before I posted my
question.
I guess I missed it. Thanks for info anyway. Really helpful.

Baz they are all there

Try http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search

If you are still stuck let me know and I will try to help

Ophelia

Shredders?
In my opinion, they are expensive and unnecessary yuppie toys.
Regards - Jim

Since I threw away my B&D shredder, I have got by fine without one. Most
things compost given time including soft hedge clippings. I've found a small
hand axe suitable for chopping / pulverising sweetcorn stems and brussels
sprout stems into a suitable size for composting. It is surprising how quick
it is to chop these things over a heavy wooden block.
Some things like phormium leaves can't readily be chopped or shredded, so
there is a little waste - but not much!

--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend?
Budget is around £150-£200. I am
particularly suspicious of the 30-35-40mm figures they give for acceptable
thickness.

We have a Champion quiet shredder from Focus and are very pleased with
it . It copes easily with 40mm fresh branches. A couple of years ago
when we bought it, it was about £250 and a Which? best buy - rated
better than the more expensive but similarly specced Bosch/Atco model.
It's made by Atika in Germany:

http://www.atika.de/

Look for Gartenhacksler. The Atika impact models (ie. not the quiet
ones) were also Which? best buys at the time.

As well as making the Champion models for Focus, they also sell them
in the UK under the name BioLine, but I seem to recall they were more
expensive under the original name.

Does anyone own one they can recommend, or NOT recommend?
Budget is around £150-£200. I am
particularly suspicious of the 30-35-40mm figures they give for acceptable
thickness.

We have a Champion quiet shredder from Focus and are very pleased with
it . It copes easily with 40mm fresh branches. A couple of years ago
when we bought it, it was about £250 and a Which? best buy - rated
better than the more expensive but similarly specced Bosch/Atco model.
It's made by Atika in Germany:

http://www.atika.de/

Look for Gartenhacksler. The Atika impact models (ie. not the quiet
ones) were also Which? best buys at the time.

As well as making the Champion models for Focus, they also sell them
in the UK under the name BioLine, but I seem to recall they were more
expensive under the original name.

Hey - using a shredder to chop old books/papers (cardoard?) what a great
idea!

Hey - using a shredder to chop old books/papers (cardoard?) what a great
idea!