On Oct 9, 4:01*pm, "jake" wrote:
am shopping for a chipper to be able to feed small twigs, branches and create some
mulch/compost in the deep south

previously I had a Snapper 5hp unit that lasted over a decade with well over 400 hours
on the engine

can someone recommend a particular type and where to buy? my local small engine shop
(chainsaw, lawn equipment) no longer
stocks chippers and everything is a mail order item

harbor freight sells a 5.5hp chinese made unit for 385 but I have no idea how durable
are the engine and chipper components

can you recommend a unit and where to buy?

Well a few years ago I bought a big sears chipper for around 700 bucks
and severly trimmed 8 large trees. Spent the summer trimming and
chipping. Wore out the blades in the branch chipper part. Sears was
unable to get me replacement parts so the ultimately gave me a brand
new chipper for free. my returned one went to the crusher. sad it was
only a few months old.

Now I wanted a chipper my entire life but am going to sell
mine........

they are very loud, wear ear protection!, create a unreal amount of
dust that irritates my allergies, had a bad experience after
accidently chipping some poision ivy, the small wood chips generated
rot in less than a year, dont pile up chips they generate alcohol and
piles will catch on fire they are large and take up too much storage
space, and parts are hard to find..... they are too safe to use, the
fine chipping area has barely been used, its unreal hard to put even
leaves in......

living with my nice big red chipper makes me wonder why I EVER wanted
one.. if your around pittsburgh i will be happy to sell mine

by a older one, they arent as safe to use but appear to work
better........