Chipper 101

[lxskllr]

This is more for future use. My anvil's perfect cause it was apparently never flipped, and I did that a couple weeks ago. The blades have some small nicks, but are otherwise sharp. If it were a machete, I could still frig up a lot of stuff. When I say "nicks", I mean nicks. A tiny fraction of 1% of the total length. When Bandit says "nicks", they apparently mean after a session of chipping rebar :^D

 

[lxskllr]

As a reference, this is the video I saw(4.5 minutes). I'm posting cause it might be interesting for others. Filing the knife edge is counterintuitive imo.

 

[SeanKroll]

accusharp handheld knife sharpener ~$10

touch-ups

 

[lxskllr]

That's part of what inspired my revisit to the thread. I'm considering getting one. I had something similar before(good quality brand, but can't remember exactly which), and I wasn't terribly impressed. It made an ugly cut. Maybe suitable for a crude tool like a machete, but I still prefer a stone. What gives me pause is it'll create a double bevel instead of a wedge profile. I'm sure I'm overthinking it, and it doesn't matter that much, but that's where my head goes. I'm particular about sharpening things. Before I quit shaving altogether, I used a straight razor for the previous 25+ years, and my work loadout includes five knives of varying sharpness for the intended task. I take sharpening seriously, and don't necessarily consider faster better, though sometimes it is.

 

[Mick!]

As a reference, this is the video I saw(4.5 minutes). I'm posting cause it might be interesting for others. Filing the knife edge is counterintuitive imo.

This was discussed years ago, one of my first interactions on here iirc.
The theory is that a marginally less sharp (edge) is less likely to suffer chips and nicks than an edge that is sharpened to nothing, thus prolonging overall life.

The question has to be, why don’t Bandit do that in manufacture?

 

[Kaveman]

Cock the carbide sharpener to the side, putting one carbide flush with the flat part ofbthe blade. The other carbide is then doing all the work.

 

[SeanKroll]

I've been doing it for about 15 years. You're overthinking, IMO.


This sharpener is an easy, pre-chipping, 5 minute or less touch-up on a CnD.
(4) 16" blades accessible from the feed tray.
From 10 to 30, 2-way passes from one edge to the rough middle, then the same number from the other side of the same blade to the middle.

When the chipping performance deteriorates it seems to be more from the hexagonal anvil's edge wearing down and the gap getting slightly big from the blades also wearing down, and less from lack of sharpness.

BTW, my experience is with no chipping of raked and scooped-up material. If its raked and its worth grabbing to chip, fine. Otherwise, it goes into a homeowners burn pile, scattered in the woods where we're working, machine loaded into a brush trailer, or hand loaded.

Rakings can wreck blades' sharpness.


Professional sharpening (grinding, I guess) had been about $0.60-1.00/ inch of width. $50-64 for my set.
Serveral local hardware stores are drop-off/ pick-up locations for a commercial sharpening service. EZPZ.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

This was discussed years ago, one of my first interactions on here iirc.
The theory is that a marginally less sharp (edge) is less likely to suffer chips and nicks than an edge that is sharpened to nothing, thus prolonging overall life.

The question has to be, why don’t Bandit do that in manufacture?

I still can't buy it. I tried tough. But no. That stays in my throat!
Counter intuitive isn't what I'd say, but frankly absurd. Best case scenario, that takes out all the running time during which the edges are really sharp with the top efficiency of the chipper. The sharpening is made by industrial precision machines, and to "make it better" , you'd just run in it hard with a coarse file by hand ? To get a "marginally less sharp edge?" No, seriously ...
They don't do that in the manufacture because that would means selling dull knives to the customers. But they surely appreciate to sell more parts and maintenance time.

 

[lxskllr]

It kind of makes sense. Things need to be as sharp as they need to be, and no sharper. Sharper blades dull and damage faster. There's always a balance point. It's like the videos that show people sharpening a chef's knife so it splits hairs. That's fine if all you do is split hair, but for real work, it doesn't need to be that sharp, and that amount of sharpness is detrimental to the task. Steel's steel. I don't care what country it came from, or what mystical practices formed it's alloy. It's still subject to the demands of physics.

Not saying the video's right or wrong. Just that it makes some sense to me. As for why manufacturers ship knives with a razor(figurative) edge... Could be just to keep the customer happy. Customer wants to shave with the chipper knife when it's new, and will complain if he can't, so they ship what the customer wants.

 

[Mick!]

I still can't buy it. I tried tough. But no. That stays in my throat!
Counter intuitive isn't what I'd say, but frankly absurd. Best case scenario, that takes out all the running time during which the edges are really sharp with the top efficiency of the chipper. The sharpening is made by industrial precision machines, and to "make it better" , you'd just run in it hard with a coarse file by hand ? To get a "marginally less sharp edge?" No, seriously ...
They don't do that in the manufacture because that would means selling dull knives to the customers. But they surely appreciate to sell more parts and maintenance time.

I know what you mean, but if you’ve a better explanation, I’m happy to hear it.

 

[Treeaddict]

Regarding the chipper tach/feed wheel programming :

Do you religiously stay on manufacturers specs? IE is it possible to keep the feed wheel going at, say, 2900 rpm when the book says program to 3100 rpm to stop the feed wheel?

 

[Bermy]

My feed wheel speed is adjustable to whatever I'm chipping

 

[flushcut]

I just run the feed wheels at half speed and have not touched it since buying it.

 

[Treeaddict]

I just run the feed wheels at half speed and have not touched it since buying it.

How do you run them at 1/2 speed?

 

[Treeaddict]

@lxskllr Is the feed wheel adjustable speed wise?

 

[lxskllr]

Not that I'm aware of. I think you'd have to reduce the hydraulic pressure, and that's getting into weird stuff I think.

 

[Kaveman]

All this chipper talk, that I know nothing about, inspires a question. I've avoided asking it up til now, but inquiring minds are dying to know.

What's the proper technique, according to professional chipper operators, to feed pedophiles? Is it a head first thing, or is feet first ok? Also, is the preferred unit a Chuck and duck, or are you better off with feed control? I would think the latter, chipping slowly seems more appropriate, at least when feeding feet first, you should already be wearing ear protection anyway. Also rope or tape for the wrists? I could see the rope getting tangled around the drum and causing a problem, which leads me to lean towards duck tape, but I could also see how too much of that could gum things up as well.

"Into the woodchipper" has been something of a meme on the internet for years, and I believe it deserves a nuanced discussion.

Just to clarify, I do not have anyone in mind, but I do have two daughters, so...

 

[SeanKroll]

Not that I'm aware of. I think you'd have to reduce the hydraulic pressure, and that's getting into weird stuff I think.

My grinder's sweep has a variable-flow valve that bypasses some of flow to those two cylinders, thereby affecting the sweep speed. Pretty simple, I think.

 

[flushcut]

How do you run them at 1/2 speed?

There’s a hydraulic metering valve in the feed system and I run the lever half way. BC 1500

 

[Tree09]

There’s a hydraulic metering valve in the feed system and I run the lever half way. BC 1500

This. Add one if it's not there.

 

[SeanKroll]

Is there a reason for half way?


In my armchair, I would think that slowing the feed is for when the autofeed is activated too much/ bogging down the engine too much and faster feeding would be useful for smaller limbs.


Maybe not worth messing with it.

 

[lxskllr]

I was chipping today, and I noticed max rpms were lower than they were yesterday. Next time I'm at the machine, I'm gonna look into adjusting the throttle. The chipper manual says 3.6k max, the engine manual says 3.95k max, but the engine manual isn't precisely the model revision I have. The main number's the same, the year's the same, but the suffix is a little different. I think the tuning specs should be the same for all revisions. I'm gonna try to get 3.8k out of it. That's a bit below the manual for safety, but still a good bit more than the 3k-3.45k I've been getting. That should be a nice bump in performance.

Not sure why my rpms are changing. I've been putting Sta-Bil in the fuel. Maybe some gunk is getting cleaned from the system. Something to keep an eye on :shrugs:

 

[friedrich]

All this chipper talk, that I know nothing about, inspires a question. I've avoided asking it up til now, but inquiring minds are dying to know.

What's the proper technique, according to professional chipper operators, to feed pedophiles? Is it a head first thing, or is feet first ok? Also, is the preferred unit a Chuck and duck, or are you better off with feed control? I would think the latter, chipping slowly seems more appropriate, at least when feeding feet first, you should already be wearing ear protection anyway. Also rope or tape for the wrists? I could see the rope getting tangled around the drum and causing a problem, which leads me to lean towards duck tape, but I could also see how too much of that could gum things up as well.

"Into the woodchipper" has been something of a meme on the internet for years, and I believe it deserves a nuanced discussion.

Just to clarify, I do not have anyone in mind, but I do have two daughters, so...

beeing a pedophile does‘nt necessarily mean you have to rape children or watch movies of children beeing raped. beeing a pedophile is not a choice but a terrible illness under which alot of people suffer.

for chipping child-molester‘s, rapist and the like i would suggest a big drum chipper with a grapple..

 

[flushcut]

Is there a reason for half way?


In my armchair, I would think that slowing the feed is for when the autofeed is activated too much/ bogging down the engine too much and faster feeding would be useful for smaller limbs.


Maybe not worth messing with it.

It’s a happy medium, not too fast not too slow.

 

[Kaveman]

Cancer is a terrible illness. Pedophilia is grounds for euthanasia. Hence the chipper question. Since I don't own a chipper currently, I guess I'll just have to stick with using my Rottweiler.