Chippers of branches and wood - types and their applications

Wood chippers, as the name suggests, are equipment used for shredding wood. On the one hand, we feed larger branches and pieces of wood into the device, the machine does its job, and we get fuel material of the desired dimensions. It sounds trivially simple, but as is often the case, the matter is a bit more complex.

Types of chippers and their applications

The first criterion for dividing chippers into different types is their power supply. We distinguish between diesel and electric chippers. Depending on whether you will be using them close to the farm or perhaps, for example, in an orchard or forest, it makes sense to choose a different type of drive.

Diesel chippers

Electric chippers

The electric version of the drive will do well as backyard equipment, more economical to use, but limited by the length of the extension cord.

We also divide chippers by the way they operate:

Roller chipper

In this chipper, the wood shredding mechanism is two rollers armed with blades. The rollers rotate in opposite directions allowing large blocks of wood to be shredded into smaller chips or shavings. The product of this process is biomass, which is great for making briquettes or high-energy and efficient pellets.

To learn more about making pellets yourself, click here.

Drum chipper

In this type of chipper, the cutting mechanism is based on the rotary motion of a single cylinder with externally attached blades. The wood to be cut is inserted through a hole, and then the drum rotating around its axis shreds it into small pieces. Depending on the setting, the material is obtained in the form of sawdust, chips or pulp.

Disc chipper

The last type of chipper is the disc chipper. Smaller pieces of wood or branches are fed into this device, which are turned into wood chips or sawdust by large rotating discs. As with the roller and drum chipper, it is possible to adjust the blades - thus changing the size or granularity of the end product.

Thanks to the ability to adjust and make their own settings, these devices, despite significant design differences, perform quite similar functions and can often be used interchangeably.

A chipper only for professionals?

Chippers are mainly associated with logging work and may be regarded as specialized equipment for woodcutters. In reality, however, any farm or workshop that generates large amounts of wood waste can successfully use a chipper and thus minimize wasted material that needs to be disposed of anyway. Also check out: waste shredder.

What are the benefits of using a chipper?

Wood waste can be turned into wood chips, and these have a number of practical uses. They can come in handy in gardening, as a material for fertilizing beds or topping garden or park alleys. Wood chips are also used as insulation or material for making wood-based panels - such as particleboard.

In addition, wood chips are an ideal base for the production of high-energy, eco-friendly fuel materials - such as pellets or briquettes.

Wood chips can also be simply sold. Their price oscillates around 100 zlotys for a 15-kilogram bag. In this way you can get rid of waste and still make money on it, and this is undoubtedly a tempting solution.

To sum up:

Wood chippers are uncomplicated devices that can significantly change the efficiency of working with wood waste. Investment in this type of equipment is in line with the "zero waste" philosophy, which has been gaining popularity recently, i.e. a style of work focused on wasting resources as little as possible. A wood chipper allows you to make one hundred percent use of the material at your disposal and ultimately save money and resources.