How'd it go today?

Going on 10 weeks without a chipper. Engine rebuild was supposed to be done end of July. Ran out of no-cleanup jobs and small ones I could haul brush, feeling the crunch.
 
cory said:
Hear ye, hear ye, here ye!! Ollie ollie inFree... Confucious say TH very good place, go there much, learn much.

Um, I had a little problem with my long (42"bar), it just wasn't cutting well at all in gnarly hardwood. Um, a young man from the great state of TN brought it to my attention that, SMH, sigh, oh geez,:|::banghead::banghead:, well, I guess I'll just come out and say it.... I was running ..050 chain on a 42" .063 bar.. :banghead::stoopyd:
Um, In view of this transgression, II repectfully request permission to remain a member here at the TreeHouse. If request denied, I fully understand:wall:
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Better to find the problem than to keep wondering what is going wrong.
 
Sven said:
Going on 10 weeks without a chipper. Engine rebuild was supposed to be done end of July. Ran out of no-cleanup jobs and small ones I could haul brush, feeling the crunch.
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Rental maybe? I know its not really profitable paying someone else 250-300 per day, but you will keep your schedule better. And a weeks rental is a little cheaper.
 
I’m eyeballing a bunch of 6” chippers and hoping to come across a Bandit that’s affordable... truth be told, I’d love one with a bad engine so I can stuff the biggest Honda that’ll fit in there. Lots of Vermeer and a Rayco that looks interesting, but I’ll be patient and wait for a good one.
Might be a little road trip in my future.
 
Jonny said:
I’m eyeballing a bunch of 6” chippers and hoping to come across a Bandit that’s affordable... truth be told, I’d love one with a bad engine so I can stuff the biggest Honda that’ll fit in there. Lots of Vermeer and a Rayco that looks interesting, but I’ll be patient and wait for a good one.
Might be a little road trip in my future.
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A neighbor has a Bandit 250 for sale. JD Diesel with a bad injector pump. Don't know how much he wants. Right on the NY/MA border.
 
Thanks for letting me know Dave, but I was thinking 6-9” chippers and trying to fit ~40 hp Honda in it. I don’t have enough truck to pull a diesel 12” chipper around yet.
Still if the rest of the machine is in good shape, that might be a nice deal for someone that wouldn’t mind putting another 5k or so into it.
 
I’ve thought about a chipper again as it’s getting harder to find places to dump, but that would involve a chip truck, which is yet more cost. I still find it cheaper/easier to load and haul the brush. Had a 12” Morbark for years. It was worn out when I got it and more so when I sold it...
 
I didn't own a chipper for many years. Granted, most of my work was as a subcontract hit man but I had plenty of my own jobs. Using a 14 yard dump trailer, the amount of brush you can fit in 3-4 loads will easily chip into one load in the 8 yard chip truck. Around here it's $72 to dump my trailer and I can give chips away for free or at most $20 per load via Chipdrop. So it's not even close unless you have a free dump site nearby.
 
I’d say roughly half my work is hired gun. I worked four (short) days this week, three of them for other folks. No clean up at all for me this week.

How did you load your trailer, Brian? My trailer is 16-17 yards. I can’t imagine getting three of my trailer loads into an 8-yard truck.
 
Your trailer is a bit bigger than mine. And you can pack a lot more in it if you throw some poor groundman in there with a chainsaw to chop it down as you pack. But loading with a machine it fills up fast.

If I'm loading brush or palm fronds I use a 14' long tow strap. Lay it out, stack a pile on it, choke it and pick it up with the bucket truck to load in the trailer. Not as good as chopping it down in the trailer but better than tossing sticks over the side.

tow strap
 
Trailer is 16’ long so I cut everything ~8’. We stack it in piles 4’-ish wide. Crush it as tight as the BMG will with the Gehl, then load it in the back, starting right or left. Next grab goes on opposite side. Next in center. Wash, rinse, repeat until just higher than the sides (4’). Then use the grapple to push as far forward as possible, and grab a log to finish shoving it forward. Repeat for back half. When I’m done, the trailer is packed. Drop big wood over the side for further compression and to eliminate small stuff blowing out.

Occasionally, when a long way off and needing to pack more on, after pushing forward, I’ll cut four 7’-8’ poles (standards), and climb up and work them down alongside the front stack, then drop the ramps and run the Gehl into the trailer and stack a few more grabs on top before packing the back half. Makes for some awesome looking loads!
 
20200822_180937.jpg I I drove this home today from a tree removal job. I happened to have the 2018 camaro rims and tires laying around with some backspace/ bolt hub adapters. The job was a Douglas Fir that I bid for $1800. We rented a 6" chipper. Once up in the tree I spotted this camaro and shouted down to the home owner what his plans were for it. He asked what I was offering. I asked if it ran and he said all that was left to be done was the upholstery and wheels and tires. I said give me the car for this tree . The owner went into the house and came out with what looked like a title in hand and shouted deal. My boys and I did speed lining to four strategic piles where we dragged the chipper to and left the chip behind. The spar became firewood and the car became ours. 20190825_192701.jpg
 
What year is it? My adopted son Corwin's father drove one very similar to that one. When his dad died we kept the Camaro going for Corwin for a good while; though it had a lot of electrical issues and finally he decided to sell it.
 
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