Topic: Electric Shredders

[KevB]

Hi All
Can anyone please tell me the pro's and cons of electric shredders??? I'm bidding on one from ebay and I would truly appreciate any knowledge of them!!Especially regarding how often you have to replace the "blades"??  Cheers Kev

[flowerlady]

Hey Kev,

We have a Draper 2400Kw shredder.  My husband reckons to sharpen the blade every 5-6 hours of continuous use.  Hope this helps.

If you can't sharpen it, maybe you could squeeze up to 8 hours out of a blade?  I suppose it truly depends on the density of the wood etc that you are chewing up!

[telboy]

You pay for what you get.
Bosch make a 'quiet' one which crushes the growth & therefore doesn't make enemies of the neighbours.
Pricey, but very very efficient!!

[KevB]

My neighbour has just got a very quiet one.  It's whisper quiet.  The stuff it produces though is still quite large so I'm not that impressed  :(

My husband wants one as we have so much leaf and twigs all over the place at this time of year and it would make good sense to chop it and use it rather than just burn it, although we can use the ash on the garden.  I think we'd go for a petrol one so we could use it at home and on the lotty

I think with these kinds of tools, and lawnmowers, we ought to be able to try before we buy as so often you end up with something which you don't like - well I do  ;D

I Totaly agree with you there Wardy!and if you think about it B&Q do give a 14 day test period!!!!! so its try b4 u finally buy!! Take advantage!! have fun "TRYING" KevB

[HO]

Youve probably bought one by now, Kevb, but for what its worth you can keep shredders. I do a bit of gardening for folks and come across all sorts. Most are noisy but at least they do chop the bits up smallish, and leaves. Some like the Mountfields have a screw-type cutter, a bit like the old Spong meat mincers, those I find OK for big stuff but almost always totally fail on normal vegetation, just dragging it through after giving it a good thrashing for being a naughty bit of twig. The trouble is (with all of them ) they are all so slow. Unless you have a very small amount, or inordinate amounts of time and a very patient, almost saint-like disposition  I would just not bother. However if you have a neighbour you would like to wind-up then buy one of the noisy blade types and come early Sunday morning...

[Garden Manager]

Dont talk to me about shredders either.  My garden was once very overgrown and we bought a Bosch on witha screw blade. it did good service and the by-product was used as a mulch. then a couple of years ago without warning it started to go wrong. The motor was fine but the blade had to be replaced proffessionaly twice in quick sucession (at about £80 a time!). The first time it was beleived a wire orbit of metal had got in and worn a notch in the blade. but when it happened again we knew nothing like that could hav e gone down there as i had been very carefull since the first do.

After the blade semed to go for the third time in short order we decided we couldnt keep spending out money geting it repaired and it would be cheaper in the long run to get a new shredder (would soon pay out as much in repair bills). this time we went for one with flat blades arranged on a disk which ground and smashed up the material rather than chopping it up cleanly like the old one. Also unlike the old one it didnt automaticaly fed the material in so the job of shredding turned out to be far more 'manual' than before.

Things took a new turn this year when the current machine stopped shredding properly and would repeatedly jam (easily cleared but still a nuisance if done frequently). It appears the blades had now become blunt. Not being able to see how to change or sharpen the blades, we have now given up on shredding fro the time being.

This has of course meant a return to 'tip trips' with non compostable (but shredable) garden waste. Recently though I have come up with anew scheme for disposing of the waste i would have previously shredded.

For a couple of years now i have 'processed' my hedge clippings with my hovermower (fitted with an old blade) this chops up the material as well as neatly collecting it on its collection box. The material can then be sucessfully composted. I decided to sort through the pile of woody prunings I had and try 'mowing' them so that they could be mixed with the compost. This proved sucessfull. What couldnt be mown (not much) will be tipped or maybe burnt) and the rest incorporated gradualy into the compost bin.

I shall certainly be using this method again since it proved a lot easier than even shredding the stuff.

[myrtle]

Oh dear, am I the only one who likes 'em then?  I've had an AK100 (cost £90) for about 15 years and it has paid for itself 10 times over. It has never failed and needs very little attention, apart from a stone on the blade and a drop of oil on the moving parts once a year. Yeh it clogs up occasionally but that is usually down to me trying to feed it faster than it can eat!!  ;D

[Garden Manager]

Yes Myrtle doo tell. Though i suspect as you have had it for 15 years, its probably no longer on the market. :'(

[myrtle]

Ooops!  ::) Just checked and it's not AK100 it's GA100 and it's made by Black and Decker.

[Rosa_Mundi]

I'm quite happy with my Bosch, too. Have had it for several years with no problems - makes short work of all sorts of prunings, turning them into chips which are useful and thus avoiding many trips to the tip....

[AikenDrum]

I'm glad you cleared that up Myrtle as I was thinking that maybe the AK100 was the latest upgrade to the AK47 .... didn't half give me some strange mental pictures of you in the garden !    ;D

[myrtle]

 ;D Yeh, I was getting it mixed up with my cat deterrer. ;D

[undercarriage plan]

Oh I'd love a shredder!! Borrow this chaps when I do his garden, love it!! Find it quite therapeutic in a strange, worrying way, not had any problems with it so far, though haven't been using it long. Have put one on my Christmas list along with pick axe, chain saw.....
Lottie  ;D

[AikenDrum]

< .... horrible vision of Lottie with a chainsaw !  ....... *shudders*

[undercarriage plan]

I done a course I did!! Well, sort of...ish....teacher went very pale on seeing me in full gear with big grin on face, and manic gleam in eye!!! Just love tools!! Mind you, I was turned down for the tree surjery course....

[lorna]

Son-in-law and I bought a JCB (electric) shredder between us.. Found it very handy for the thick pieces of conifers but found the thin stuff went straight through. I do find it a slow proceedure and must admit since the Council have supplied us with three different wheelie bins it is not used as much. I have been removing ivy today and I don't think it would shred that. It cost £100 ...   Lorna.

[Garden Manager]

Nope! Mosrt shredders tend to dislike ivy. Had loads of it in the garden once. tried it a few time s in the shredder (when it was working -sigh!). After a few frustrating jams. soon learnt to bin all ivy stems. Honeysuckle too.

[undercarriage plan]

Haven't a clue, Wardy!!  ;D ;D ;D Is chaps I work for, will find out when I next go round, it's really good though, but I have to agree, they seem to prefer substantial bits to get their teeth into, seem to get easily blocked if there's alot of foliage..
Lottie
PS wrapping water lilly on Tuesday....gulp! Wish me luck!

[Lady Cosmos]

I use a Black and Decker for years, no problems, little noisy but works fine. :D
 

[Val]

I've got a quiet Bosch,AXT16-30, I've had it about 9 years , wouldn't be without it.It works fine, although not so good on the soft stuff especially ivy :D.if you have a lot of woody material its great.