GarethM

I've recently sold my Laimet HP21, it was a monstrous beast, 1200Kg+. It never created small chips, 4"x1/4" chips was the smallest I ever saw and it hated hedge thinning, branches and saplings. I did look at the costs of installing a smaller screw which was nearly 3k with delivery. Plus a new machine was in the region of 20k, I was offered a smaller PS-10 for approximately 3k. I'm currently heating the old farm house using logs and joinery waste, I've a second hand wood chip boiler that's under a tarpaulin, just waiting for a new shed to be built before being stripped and then installed. My plans are to supplementing my wood chip usage with extra from a friends tree surgery business, but really need a chipper on the tractor to get into the overgrown parts of the property, I can only get a tractor into some parts and wouldn't want to get someone else's expensive kit getting stuck. Plus I agree about the double handling, if it's felled I'd want it gone as I go. Rather than waiting before it could be burnt, the Welmac is a nice idea but everything I sell is cut and split before being barn dried. With all that greenery left in the bags, my customers would run a mile.

I've trawled the forum, possibly a little too much and I'm still undecided. I have a small family farm, and a tractor with around 50HP on 540RPM PTO, which makes sense to use its red diesel grunt & ability to go almost anywhere. Without going into all the details, I need to chip anything that cant be sold as firewood, so anything 4" and below. Its predominately going to be a mix of tree thinning, overgrown hedges & branches. But definitely need something that has a discharge nozzle that can be directed into the undergrowth and the bottom of hedgerows. I like the hydraulic feed system, but anything that's of any build quality fitted with hydraulics is way outside of my budget. I've seen a few second hand TP100 & Greenmech CS100 which seem reasonably priced at around 2-4k including VAT. Are these reasonable choices for second hand equipment or have you any other better suggestions ?. Many thanks, Gareth