I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.

During the year, I come across an awful lot of hedging material -
mainly privet. In the past, I've burned this material, tried to
compost it (but it takes an awful long time), dumped it at the local
council refuse tip.

I don't mind paying a premium for something that will last and take
some wear and tear. I've done the false economy thing too many times.
I bought a small jetwash last year from a local diy store. I later
discovered the unit was so underpowered it was taking at least three
times as long to clean with the unit. So, I would have saved myself a
lot of grief by spending the extra money on a professional unit in the
first place.

Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !

Thanks.

In article , simon simonles@bonbo
n.thisneedsremoving.net writes
I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.

During the year, I come across an awful lot of hedging material -
mainly privet. In the past, I've burned this material, tried to
compost it (but it takes an awful long time), dumped it at the local
council refuse tip.

I don't mind paying a premium for something that will last and take
some wear and tear. I've done the false economy thing too many times.
I bought a small jetwash last year from a local diy store. I later
discovered the unit was so underpowered it was taking at least three
times as long to clean with the unit. So, I would have saved myself a
lot of grief by spending the extra money on a professional unit in the
first place.

Go for a petrol driven shredder with at least a 5 bhp engine. I have
been using a Viking 350 with a Briggs & Stratton 5hp engine for the past
3-4 years. It is a very effective machine when working, but it is noisy,
it requires a lot of maintenance and attention, frequent blade
sharpening and new blade sets @ £35 annually. It is also something of a
gas guzzler and in the higher price range @ £500+

When viewing shredders, remember that sellers will always over emphasise
their working ability and under-emphasise their noisiness, so get a
second opinion if you can.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"simon" wrote in message
...
Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !


This may be contentious but I personally don't think shredders are a good
idea. I bought one of the more expensive electric ones, but it was a very
noisy and tiresomely slow. I got to dread standing at the thing wearing
goggles and ear defenders for two hours at a time, working through a heap of
cuttings. And I think the neighbours were fed up with it too. Far
quicker (and cheaper) to bag it up and take it down the dump. Yes you can
use it for a mulch when shredded, but how much disease are you recycling
back into the garden?

- Arthur

simon wrote in message ...
I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.

During the year, I come across an awful lot of hedging material -
mainly privet. In the past, I've burned this material, tried to
compost it (but it takes an awful long time), dumped it at the local
council refuse tip.

I don't mind paying a premium for something that will last and take
some wear and tear. I've done the false economy thing too many times.
I bought a small jetwash last year from a local diy store. I later
discovered the unit was so underpowered it was taking at least three
times as long to clean with the unit. So, I would have saved myself a
lot of grief by spending the extra money on a professional unit in the
first place.

Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !

I use a Bosch, and am totally satisfied with it. It has never jammed,
but is not one with blades rather a screw which pulls the branches in
and cuts them into small pieces, it is also very quiet.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

simon wrote in message ...
I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.

During the year, I come across an awful lot of hedging material -
mainly privet. In the past, I've burned this material, tried to
compost it (but it takes an awful long time), dumped it at the local
council refuse tip.

I don't mind paying a premium for something that will last and take
some wear and tear. I've done the false economy thing too many times.
I bought a small jetwash last year from a local diy store. I later
discovered the unit was so underpowered it was taking at least three
times as long to clean with the unit. So, I would have saved myself a
lot of grief by spending the extra money on a professional unit in the
first place.

Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !

I use a Bosch, and am totally satisfied with it. It has never jammed,
but is not one with blades rather a screw which pulls the branches in
and cuts them into small pieces, it is also very quiet.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

In article , Alan Gould
writes

Go for a petrol driven shredder with at least a 5 bhp engine. I have
been using a Viking 350 with a Briggs & Stratton 5hp engine for the past
3-4 years.


I've got a viking one and its brilliant, not quite so big as the petrol
one but does wood the thickness of broomsticks. Has a circular feed hole
so you can get branchy stuff such as hawthorn into the machine, it's
fairly quiet and it works, so far like a dream. On the basis of that I
got a viking/stihl hedgetrimmer a nice big one none of this faffing
about with a dinky one, not on 7 - 8 foot hawthorn! Even has an arm
sling thingy to brace your arm, it has a blade about 25"
I recommend that as well.

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

simon wrote in message ...
I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.

During the year, I come across an awful lot of hedging material -
mainly privet. In the past, I've burned this material, tried to
compost it (but it takes an awful long time), dumped it at the local
council refuse tip.

I don't mind paying a premium for something that will last and take
some wear and tear. I've done the false economy thing too many times.
I bought a small jetwash last year from a local diy store. I later
discovered the unit was so underpowered it was taking at least three
times as long to clean with the unit. So, I would have saved myself a
lot of grief by spending the extra money on a professional unit in the
first place.

Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !

I use a Bosch, and am totally satisfied with it. It has never jammed,
but is not one with blades rather a screw which pulls the branches in
and cuts them into small pieces, it is also very quiet.

Mike
www.british-naturism.org.uk

In article , Alan Gould
writes

Go for a petrol driven shredder with at least a 5 bhp engine. I have
been using a Viking 350 with a Briggs & Stratton 5hp engine for the past
3-4 years.


I've got a viking one and its brilliant, not quite so big as the petrol
one but does wood the thickness of broomsticks. Has a circular feed hole
so you can get branchy stuff such as hawthorn into the machine, it's
fairly quiet and it works, so far like a dream. On the basis of that I
got a viking/stihl hedgetrimmer a nice big one none of this faffing
about with a dinky one, not on 7 - 8 foot hawthorn! Even has an arm
sling thingy to brace your arm, it has a blade about 25"
I recommend that as well.

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Alan Gould
writes

Go for a petrol driven shredder with at least a 5 bhp engine. I have
been using a Viking 350 with a Briggs & Stratton 5hp engine for the past
3-4 years.


I've got a viking one and its brilliant, not quite so big as the petrol
one but does wood the thickness of broomsticks. Has a circular feed hole
so you can get branchy stuff such as hawthorn into the machine, it's
fairly quiet and it works, so far like a dream. On the basis of that I
got a viking/stihl hedgetrimmer a nice big one none of this faffing
about with a dinky one, not on 7 - 8 foot hawthorn! Even has an arm
sling thingy to brace your arm, it has a blade about 25"
I recommend that as well.

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Alan Gould
writes

Go for a petrol driven shredder with at least a 5 bhp engine. I have
been using a Viking 350 with a Briggs & Stratton 5hp engine for the past
3-4 years.


I've got a viking one and its brilliant, not quite so big as the petrol
one but does wood the thickness of broomsticks. Has a circular feed hole
so you can get branchy stuff such as hawthorn into the machine, it's
fairly quiet and it works, so far like a dream. On the basis of that I
got a viking/stihl hedgetrimmer a nice big one none of this faffing
about with a dinky one, not on 7 - 8 foot hawthorn! Even has an arm
sling thingy to brace your arm, it has a blade about 25"
I recommend that as well.

janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

I also have a Viking chipper and is good, .Except you are for ever clearing
the chips from underneath, just wished it blew out to the side.
I got a Still strimmer with the hedge cutting attachment,
........Great....... you can cut at least 10 ft off the ground, and with the
head tilting you can top hedges well, though it does get your muscles after
a couple of hours or so, still by alternating 5 mins then 10 of putting
through the chipper it helps a lot, and its strange cutting 50 or so ft of
overgrown hawthorn hedge and just having nice small piles of chipping and
not trailer loads for burning.

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

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, Arthur wrote:

Anyhow, I know nothing about shredders so any help very gratefully
appreciated !


This may be contentious but I personally don't think shredders are a good
idea. I bought one of the more expensive electric ones, but it was a very
noisy and tiresomely slow. I got to dread standing at the thing wearing
goggles and ear defenders for two hours at a time, working through a heap of
cuttings.

However there are the so-called "silent" shredders. I bought a Viking
last year and am very pleased with it. The best thing about it is that
it doesn't have whirling cutters that get blunt quickly.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

"David Rance" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Jan 2004, Arthur wrote:

However there are the so-called "silent" shredders. I bought a Viking
last year and am very pleased with it. The best thing about it is that
it doesn't have whirling cutters that get blunt quickly.


Thanks for the advice. I think for me it's a case of 'once bitten, twice
shy', but it's interesting that others have had a better experience.

- Arthur

"simon" wrote in message
...
I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder : brand,
suppliers, advice on what spec. It has to be mobile, so I assume that
means a petrol engine.
snip
We have recently changed our 19 year old Alco which although noisy and slow
gave good service, we would have bought the same again but they now no
longer make them the same, most lower priced electric shredders seem to have
only one set of blades (which means they jam often) and outlets so close to
the ground that you can get nothing under for collection.
We ended up buying a bosch 2200 for around £320, best move we have ever made
(despite being double what I had hoped to pay!) it has a slow rotating drum
with teeth and you do not have to push stuff in it just takes it, anything
that will go through the 2" slot is chopped up and unlike its predecessor it
has no dislikes! plus if it jams you just reverse the direction, its quiet
and gets through the work quicker even though it looks slower.
check it out before you buy
-
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 12:29:22 GMT,
(simon) wrote:

I am looking for recommendations for a good quality shredder :

THANKS to all who offered opinions/advice. Much appreciated.