I bought a wood chipper today

I bought a wood chipper today.

The seller will be retiring in three weeks.  He was asking $110.  He is a very honest man.  He said there were major issues with the chute that loads the larger limbs.

The motor started on the first pull.  It had clearly been stored inside.

This is the chute in question

Some kinds of plastics get brittle when it is cold.  I suspect somebody bumped into the chute on a cold day and broke-out two of the three attachment holes.  That would be the sides that are on top and in the foreground.

The gentleman selling also said that it did not chip branches that were larger than 3/4" diameter.  It was no wonder it had been sitting on Craigslist for over a month.  It was a case of the seller being too honest.

He about cried when I handed him $11, "...just like the ad listed."  Then I winked and gave him a hundred more.  Most of the other units on Craigslist were $300.

Onondaga and I carted it home.  We disassembled it to see what I had gotten myself into.  The blades were as good as new.  The oil was as clear as new honey.  It started on the first pull.

I talked Onondaga into being my model.  I promised I would only take pictures of his best side.  Yup, sure enough it did a great job on the little stuff.  We used a 1.5" diameter shoot from a Box Elder as our test subject.

Sticks above 3/4" in diameter had to be pushed into the rotating knives.  They did not self feed.  But the unit chipped them just fine as long as you did not bog it down too much.

We did the test run without the loading chute.  The primary purpose of the loading chute is to keep fingers and hands away from the knives.  It is designed to be 15% longer than a 95th male's extended arm.  Running it without the chute is not safe.  A future post will show how I intend to reattach the chute.

This unit should save me a lot of steps when pruning orchard trees.  I will chip everything less than an inch in diameter in the orchard.

The seller is an attorney.  It is a pity he is retiring.