Mick Dempsey

Doable but not worth the hassle. Just easier to buy over here and be done with it.

Oh yeah! ‘I can assure you there’s nothing in there’ (A cursory inspection reveals some old wire fencing) ’well apart from that it’s just branches’

He said he wanted to keep some if not all of the trunk. Why I neither know nor care, but it does make it cheaper.

Just as an exercise.. I reckon there’s less than an hours work if the wood is staying. Strip it on the way up, chipping as you go, chunk it down and leave the wood. Ideal job to do on the way home after making a full days money elsewhere. Of course pictures can be deceptive. Sounds like the OP is already relieved at the figures being quoted anyway!

Couple of hundred quid all in should do it.

Not really selling it to me there. Really strange the lack of chippers here compared to the UK.

Leave it as it is, lots of tree surgeons won’t even chip stuff up that the clients have cut themselves.

I don’t think they look that good if I’m honest.

So you like it or not? Difficult to tell.

This pops up on various forums from time to time. General consensus is that these aren’t very good. Poor visibility, lack power, not worth it.

It is certainly in the mix Joe. It seems good, it was second hand and I’ve had a few issues with it, blown hydraulic motor, loose wire that was earthing and cost to a grand to find. I’m not religious about it but it seems a good machine, but it is big, too big really for daily use. The best and most reliable chipper I had was a 150 TW that I bought new in 2003 and kept till 2015, the worst was the Forst I bought to replace it, so read into that what you may. After this aborted attempt to get a decent second hand one I may look again at new. The Schliesing I want is 44k plus VAT, the bank would be ok with it, I’m not sure I am though. I get a few PMs from other members giving me horror stories about certain models for which I am grateful.

Well Stu brought up the vice caché thing, but I’ve never heard of it being used on stuff like this. ‘Sold as seen’ translates as ‘en etat’ or ‘as it is’ I might go brand new again, just for the warranty. No hurry, the Schliesing is running great, if a bit overkill for day to day stuff.

Quite so. I didn’t even ask them to start the engine, by that point I was loading the tools and saying my goodbyes. I had said to myself that unless this machine was impeccable (considering the money being asked) I was walking away.

Comes from bitter experience John!

Update: I drove eight hours across France to view/buy this machine. I get there and first impressions are it’s a little shabbier than I thought it would be, few dents, rust patches but only a small red flag. Then I look the engine over and noticed the the oil filter has the hours on which it was changed written on in marker pen 100 hours ago (compared to the hour clock) so clearly the service claimed by the salesman didn’t actually happen. Another small red flag. We open it up and the blades are a bit fooked, the other side is ok but it’s clear that no one has done more than throw a bucket of soapy water on it after the trade in. There’s now 4 of them on the case two salesmen and two tractor technicians assuring me that it’ll be ok, you can turn the blades, it’s a solid machine etc.(There’s a bankers chèque for 30k in my briefcase) I ask to see the anvils, we get to them and they’re surprising ok, I reach into the space between the rollers and the anvils and pick out a stone the size of a big Malteser and some concrete that’s just sitting there. I tell them I’m off and there’s no way I want this machine, no matter the discount. I explained to the salesman (much to the amusement of the technician) that I was happy to pay top dollar for a good machine, but this was a long way from being that. Anyway at least I didn’t do what Mick 2010 would have done and bought it as I’d gone so far..

I have the same engine on my Rayco grinder, only with a carburetor instead of injection. Not an missed beat in 6 years, admittedly not as much use as your chipper. It’s a conundrum, but sometimes you have to just say ‘bollocks to it!’ Put it back together and move it on, forget about losses and go forward. The Forst was a bloody millstone round my neck, but it’s gone now, at a fair price with everything fixable fixed. I’m ready to be hurt again now!

If you fell in a barrel full of tits you’d come out sucking your thumb at the moment!

Funny you should mention the adb, I’m starting to see ash here that never came out this spring, am assuming that’s what it is. Chance of a bumper few years?

Bugger! That’s a bit of a pita. I’m off up to the Belgian border tomorrow to have a look at/buy that Vermeer 190 I started a thread on.

So what are you chipping with?

With all pickups putting some sort of cover on the back will dramatically improve mpg. Otherwise you’re pulling a parachute about.

Getting prices in atm. Very very expensive. €45000 ex VAT for a 325 with a 45hp engine.

Dunno yet Don, I have the big Schliesing as a back up till I make my mind up.

Private.