Yes the Bosch 'Quiet shredder' is VG Get someone over 60 to get one from B
&
Q with their diamond card. 10% discount on Wednesdays. Great

Pleased to hear of this offer as I was 60 on 25th July. So not only can I
get 10% off at B & Q on Wednesdays but I also can now obtain free
prescriptions for painkillers when I injure myself :-) When does the joy
end! Seriously though, I'm available to take advantage of this offer in the
Teesside area - just buy me a pint!

Terry D.

Jim Paterson wrote:
Yes the Bosch 'Quiet shredder' is VG Get someone over 60 to get one from B &
Q with their diamond card. 10% discount on Wednesdays. Great.

Another vote for the Bosch....

Useful tip - if you have lots of green soft stuff to shred, then leave
it lying on the ground in a pile for a couple of days first so that it
dries out a bit. Much less chance of blockages that way.


--
Cheers,

John.

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"Madmucks" wrote...

Agree with everything that has already been said, but I abvise that
you are
not tempted to cut costs by buying one of the cheaper versions. The
biggest
difference between the cheapo shredders and the quality ones (like
Bosch) is
that they do not have autofeed. This means that you have to stand over
them
pushing the branches/ twigs through with a little poker type thing,
whereas
with the Bosch, etc., you can leave the machine to do its job
automatically.
The "free-ad" type papers are full of ads for second-hand cheaper
shredders
where people have become disillusioned with theirs due to them being
too
time consuming. Also agree with the comments regard to using the waste
products for mulch.


Although I would normally agree with the sentiment that *you get what
you pay for*, my cheapo (bought online, c.£100) JCB shredder did the job
as required, but has now stood in the shed for a year unused. If I do
use it again it will be in the knowledge that I didn't spend a fortune
on it and that it has effectively paid for itself already. IOW, for
those of us who don't live for gardening, the cheaper option is often
perfectly adequate.
Why waste money? (Just my one penny's worth....:O)
Cheers!
Gilbert

In message , Gilbert
wrote

`
Although I would normally agree with the sentiment that *you get what
you pay for*, my cheapo (bought online, c.£100) JCB shredder did the job
as required, but has now stood in the shed for a year unused.

My cheap (c £90) B&Q "no-name" shredder of the rotating blade type was a
load of c**p. It started off well on light(ish) garden waste but after
about half an hour it was struggling, the blades were blunt. I turned
over the double sided blades and it was back to shredding. However on
tackling some thin privet branches that were less than a quarter of the
diameter of the advertised capacity the blades became blunt within 5
minutes.

If I do
use it again it will be in the knowledge that I didn't spend a fortune
on it and that it has effectively paid for itself already. IOW, for
those of us who don't live for gardening, the cheaper option is often
perfectly adequate.

One vote against the cheaper options.

The whole point of the shredder was to reduce garden waste to a size
suitable for composting as fast as possible and not spending a lot of
time continually sharpening blades.

--
Alan

I can recommend the Atika Bioline quiet shredder sold as Champion,
Focus' own brand.

http://www.atika.de/

Which? reckoned it was better than Bosch when they reviewed them a few
years ago. About the same price as Bosch under its original name but
considerably cheaper as Champion. The Atika impact shredders were
rated best buys too.

The smallest quiet Bosch, the one with the Archimedes screw, didn't
fare well, though.

Whichever brand you buy, get the biggest capacity you can find -
there'll still be one damn branch that's 2mm too big.

Al-Ko and Makita do quiet shredders too that are apparently well
thought of.

HTH.

"........ However on tackling some thin privet branches that were less than
a quarter of the diameter of the advertised capacity the blades became blunt
within 5
minutes. ..........."

I use a heavy duty petrol driven chipper/shredder and Find that privet only
about 3/4 inch makes it struggle where as I can put Ash almost 1 1/2 in
thick goes through with almost no problem.
Its easy to forget they some woods are much harder than others.
Hawthorn is quite easy when green but I'd hate to try putting dry hawthorn
through. I remember ruining many Bow saw blades logging seasoned hawthorn
wood.
It's not always the fault of the machine, the makers cant specify the
thickness of every wood, and they are going to show their machine in the
best light.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Alan" wrote...

snipped
...B&Q "no-name" shredder...
...after about half an hour it was struggling...

whereas my JCB 1800W was not. It did the job required, dealing with dry
Leylandii branches up to about 40mm across, even though 35mm was the
recommended maximum. The only time it objected was when the material was
wet, when inevitably it was much more prone to jamming. (Easy solution:
leave things to dry out...)

The whole point of the shredder was to reduce garden waste to a size
suitable for composting as fast as possible and not spending a lot of
time continually sharpening blades.
I think *as fast as possible* is a bit of a giveaway. Whacking half a
wet tree down a cheap shredder's throat is probably not the way to
expect optimum results!:O)

...One vote against the cheaper options.
My point about cost is not simply an objection to unnecessary spending
(and the whole consumer-based, rat-race economy), but also about the
misplaced assumption that a good tool will necessarily make for a better
job. Obviously a quality tool will stay sharper longer (etc., etc.), but
if I only need to do something once then I'm competent enough to produce
the desired result with a cheap tool.
However, I'm happy to agree to differ...

Cheers!
Gilbert

Thanks to all who contributed.

Regarding the suggestion that I spread the resulting chips around the
garden - that's a possibility although I am not a gardener by
inclination. And as for the grass clippings I already have two compost
bins that were left by the previous owners - the one that catches enough
sun to become warm enough to produce compost has become the home of slow
worms whilst the other is full of pine cuttings and sited in perpetual
shade. I also have three years worth of rank, rotting grass cuttings to
dispose of. The Lawson hedge, or rather small wood, that I mentioned
might produce enough chippings to carpet the entire garden to a depth of
several inches.

Hiring a big chipper when I have enough material to feed it is a good
idea.

SWMBO suggested looking in the free adds but I did suggest that any
shredders that appear in them are not worth having.

Regards Richard

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 17:42:50 +0100, Richard Savage wrote:
Recomendations please regarding the choice and purchase of a garden
shredder.
We have just acquired a wheelie bin for (council) disposal of green
waste. The collection is fortnightly and I wish to get maximum value
for money by cramming as much as possible into the bin.

Richard,

Are you not running a home compost heap? I have had a council green waste
wheelie bin for about 9mths now, and don't use it a lot because I home
compost.

However, what I do use it for is the stuff I don't want to compost, which
in my case is branches and hedge clippings. I have a lot of hedge and
large shrubs in this garden which generate more wood than I can compost in
time, so these now go in the green waste bin.

Sarah

"Richard Savage" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all who contributed.

Regarding the suggestion that I spread the resulting chips around the
garden - that's a possibility although I am not a gardener by
inclination. And as for the grass clippings I already have two compost
bins that were left by the previous owners - the one that catches enough
sun to become warm enough to produce compost has become the home of slow
worms whilst the other is full of pine cuttings and sited in perpetual
shade.

If what you call slow worms are what I call earthworms, then you rare a very
lucky person indeed and you have a bin of the very first quality compost.

I also have three years worth of rank, rotting grass cuttings to
dispose of. The Lawson hedge, or rather small wood, that I mentioned
might produce enough chippings to carpet the entire garden to a depth of
several inches.

Grass cuttings mixed with slightly more woody or papery things make really
excellent compost.
Alternatively, the same rotting grass cuttings, spread over your garden as a
mulch, is a first class weed control and forms top quality earthworm food.
Earthworm dung is the perfect compost. And you don't even have to dig it
in. The worms do that chore. You lucky person!

Hiring a big chipper when I have enough material to feed it is a good
idea.

SWMBO suggested looking in the free adds but I did suggest that any
shredders that appear in them are not worth having.

[Franz Heymann]

Recomendations please regarding the choice and purchase of a garden
shredder.

Don't buy a Black and Decker. They are crap. I threw mine away.
I've heard good things about one of the Bosch models - silent something or
other with a screw type cutter.

--
Drakanthus.


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


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"Franz Heymann" wrote in message
...
If what you call slow worms are what I call earthworms, then you rare a
very
lucky person indeed and you have a bin of the very first quality compost.
I believe that "slow worms" are legless lizards, looking like small snakes
rather than large worms.
Sometimes killed when mistaken for snakes.
Good for the garden in that they eat small pests.
hth
Neil

My point about cost is not simply an objection to unnecessary spending
(and the whole consumer-based, rat-race economy), but also about the
misplaced assumption that a good tool will necessarily make for a better
job. Obviously a quality tool will stay sharper longer (etc., etc.), but
if I only need to do something once then I'm competent enough to produce
the desired result with a cheap tool.
However, I'm happy to agree to differ...

I must agree with Gilbert,

My B&B 1800W rotating blade version was bought in a B&Q sale a few years ago
for 80 or 90gbp.

I only use it twice a year when I cut the holly back and a one off when I
removed a neighbour's 'london weed tree'...[ash?] as a favour [and to give
me more light]

If I had the type of garden that needed a monthly 'shred', I'd buy the
better one, but then I could afford it!

I also use screwfix 'budget' power tools, and have not had one fail yet.

I recently cut off a six inch dia apple tree branch with all it's associated
branches, twigs etc...about 10' long. Not having the shredder with me I cut
all the branches up to about 10mm into 6" bits with secateurs, and the
larger ones into 12" lengths with a bowsaw and it all fitted into 2 1/2 old
style dustbins, for distribution amongst the neighbours' wheelie bins on
collection day.

Andy




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eBay have this one for auction...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...ategory=31 86

"StevieBoy" no@email wrote in message
...
I've got a Bosch 2kw shredder and I fully agree with everything that
Andy has said.

Wasn't cheap at £230 ... but worth it just for the fun you'll have.

Steve

Franz Heymann wrote:

"Richard Savage" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all who contributed.

Regarding the suggestion that I spread the resulting chips around the
garden - that's a possibility although I am not a gardener by
inclination. And as for the grass clippings I already have two compost
bins that were left by the previous owners - the one that catches enough
sun to become warm enough to produce compost has become the home of slow
worms whilst the other is full of pine cuttings and sited in perpetual
shade.

If what you call slow worms are what I call earthworms, then you rare a very
lucky person indeed and you have a bin of the very first quality compost.


Nope they are definately slow worms - between 12 and 18" long and a beautiful
copper colour. As such, they are welcome to live undisturbed in the compost
bin.

Richard