AS SEEN ON TV the DR chipper 375 can only handle perfectly straight manicured lumber.

Seriously the marketing video is offensive: https://youtu.be/8RXEFMmaeWA

He might as well be feeding 2x2s off the rack at home depot.

  • DavidP@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I have the next model up (400 Pro) so mine will likely accept larger diameter branches. But with that said one needs to learn the machine’s limits in terms of both diameter and wetness.

    Before I chip up a pile of branches I’ll go through with a swede saw and lop off any parts that are too big. That’ll let me breeze through the pile without fighting the machine too much. Also cut apart any wide crotches that won’t feed through on their own.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.social
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      2 months ago

      Or, when local authorities don’t allow burning, just throw it in a pile in a back corner of the property … and let it sit. Over time, the pile grows and grows. But over even more time, it rots and shrinks. And in the meantime, it’s animal and insect habitat, lol.

      • Emma_Gold_Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        If it’s small and you can spread it out (wooded area, on foot paths, etc), it will break down faster. The two inch rule is: if it’s not more than 2" thick and not more than 2" off the ground, it should break down in 2 years.

      • toynbee@piefed.social
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        2 months ago

        My parents had a compost pile. It was big enough that my friends and I would build forts with its components or even make paths through it.

        Eventually my mother started noticing snapping turtles around it and we were no longer permitted to do so!

        Now, or at least last time I was around that property, you wouldn’t know it for anything other than a somewhat odd hill.

    • Steve@startrek.websiteOP
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      2 months ago

      It has no feeder of any kind despite the claim of “self feeding”. I checked the blade and set the gap.

      • davad@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Not sure what kind of “feeder” you’re expecting, but I have a chipper that looks similar. For mine, the “feeder” is just gravity. If my blades are sharp, it feeds itself nicely. If they’re dull or get too much caught in them, it stops feeding itself and needs a shove.

        • Steve@startrek.websiteOP
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          2 months ago

          One sideways twig utterly defeats the gravity “feeder”. Whats the point?

          A proper wood chipper has an unstoppable hydraulic toothy roller that drags everything into the maw.

          This gravity feed abomination should never exist. It was designed purely for profit.

          • Typotyper@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            So buy a big ass professional chipper, even rent one.

            This one is a simple one for casual once in a while use. I’ve used these types. They work but you need patience.

            • Steve@startrek.websiteOP
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              2 months ago

              This one doesnt solve a problem for me. It took more work to chip my twigs than it would take to bundle them up for the trash collection.

              I’m mad that it exists at all. Plus the mfg outright lies about its capabilities.

              • Typotyper@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Fair enough.

                Burning is good too for small stuff

                I had 11 big trees dropped in one day. We had bonfires of twigs. I was fortunate to have the space to burn it.

  • paper_moon@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The as-seen-on-tv products sometimes have good ideas but the execution is awful. Cheap materials or bad engineering/quality control, etc…

  • TheOSINTguy@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    I had something similar and it was about $500, thing was a piece of junk. Could barely cut a stick with a diameter of around 3 inches despite being rated for 6 inches (no it wasn’t from a hardwood tree)

    I ended up selling it for $250 and felt bad for the person buying it thinking that it will clean there yard up from the severe weather we had a year ago.

  • SaneMartigan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’ve got a 15hp chipper and need to be wary of my cuts so I can feed it nice branches. I’ve still got a bunch of “elbows” that wouldn’t fit that I’ve turned into garden borders. It’s nice to make mulch where you actually know what’s in it and not ground industrial waste or whatever.

          • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Ok, so, not much, not for a long time, and never on my own property, which I did not own before a year ago. But I feel like I would just put the sticks in the woods, or burn them.

              • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Also wanted to verify OP’s experience. The deal here is we just fill up a big green trash bin with sticks and yard trimmings (it takes a couple weeks to fill up a large 55 gallon (i think) tote unless we’ve just yanked out a bush or something, and we are on a small lot) and let the city mulch and compost them for us. If we want, we can go pick up a pickup bed full of mulch from the dump for free any time we want. If we want more than a pickup bed full in a day (they check your ID), we have to buy the mulch. it’s a pretty nice system.

            • Steve@startrek.websiteOP
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              2 months ago

              We have forest fires here. Part of the reason I trim is to maintain the fire break around the house. Throwing the tinder into the woods would just make it worse.

            • PNW clouds@infosec.pub
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              2 months ago

              And where I live, we frequently have burn bans due to dry/windy weather. The city will pick them up if piled properly and make mulch that can be bought.

              It’s easy to end up with too much debris and not enough places to put it if you prune like you should. A little mulcher/chipper would save some space, be easier and quicker to compost…

  • brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    Oh man. That design looks like shit. It seems the prioritized the size and price over anything else. It’s so narrow and the feeder seems so small.

    For branches up to 3.75", it also doesn’t seem to handle anything actually worthwhile. Things that small are going to be relatively easy to manipulate with work. I actually tend to cut them into mini log lengths and store when I’m trying to get my fire pit going. It’s nice to have medium/small size tinder at the ready when the fire isn’t going enough to catch a proper log.