Mate you gona be there a hell of a long time doing that shredding. Rip all those brambles up and place in pile in middle of that plot and throw a match on it. Itll burn down to nothing and use the ash for the soil 👍
I've had the near identical shredder by WORX for the last 11 years and it's still going strong after significant use. As previous commenters have said, the harder and drier the material, the better it shreds, regardless of its diameter. The thinnish straggly stuff (like brambles and ivy)and anything damp do not get cut properly and end up being wound round the cutters like a bobbin which proves tedious and time consuming to remove. I regard a machine like that as being suitable for an average size garden with several hedges and shrubs but not for a large plot needing clearing. You will run up a huge electric bill (it will cost about 85 pence an hour to run) and from experience, the initial joy of assembling material ready to shred, feeding it through the shredder and then emptying the box frequently soon wears off! It's really a job for 2 people to keep the machine fed sufficiently and quite tiring, if satisfying work. But a good video nonetheless.
Hi Stuart. Great review as ever. I got one about 3 years ago and its still going strong. It was great to meet you and Mrs ProperDIY at Makers Central. Sorry I wasn't still there for the prize draw and sorry phone cut out. Hope you both had a great weekend
Living down in South Africa. Have also just baught a plot of land and have been searching for an affordable solution to get rid of all the lantana. This has given me inspiration.
I've had this exact model for a few years now, it's a great bit of kit. Basically, if it fits in the chute it will shred it. Impressive. They don't like wet material, but if it clogs, just push a dry stick through and it usually clears. Great review. Atb
Watching you start feeding in tiny twigs at the start and then seeing the enormous pile behind you, it occured to me that you might want to take on a work experience kid!
I think with all that vegetation it's going to be a long job with a small shredder, much better to get a large skip and get on with the next job. As always a great vid.
Used my dad's MacAllister type during lock down for my well overgrown tree - did a cracking job, even on some thicker items. Lasted a couple seasons when he had it back. Can't remember the issue but was beyond repair. For £99 or so (SF a few years ago, now 130/140), getting 3/4 years out of it isn't an issue really. Think this type is more a mulcher as opposed to a spinning blade that more finely cuts up waste. Both types have their benefits and depends of their use! As always, great video.
Had an almost identical one from Lidl almost 10yrs. Brilliant. The only time it struggles is when there is a lot of wet leaves. This clogs up gear holes and you have to clear them. Just leave branch's couple of weeks for leaves to shrivel up a little and no probs. If the branch's fit the hole in top it will eat them. Feed bottom first so smaller branch's squeeze into mouth as it goes down
I recently picked up the Ozito branded version of this for just shy of £100. It's pretty much a carbon copy as far as design goes, and for the right job it's a brilliant bit of kit. Yesterday I shredded & bagged pretty much the entirety of an 8m tall smooth holly tree in around 4 hours (and that included debranching the trunk!). It made around 500 litres of coarse mulch, which will either go onto the garden or into the compost. It was sooo much quicker than using an impact shredder. As you rightly pointed out in your video, the more aggressive you are with what you try to feed into it, the better it performs. Smaller branches
Brilliant video, quite therapeutic getting rid of those pesky brambles.. burning question what lurks in the workshop…. I’m on the edge of my seat….. cannot wait 😎😎
I had a Bosch flat disk shredder. It did give a very fine cut but was very noisy and was always clogging up. This looks much better. Only have a small garden now so the green bin suffices but would go for one of these now
Another great video! I have the Florabest branded version, had it for 6 or 7 years, thrown loads at it and it eats everything that I can fit in the slot. Great bit of kit. Yours has a much better cutter, mine is more of a waterwheel shape and does clog if I feed lots of wet stuff or leaves in together. I usually keep some thicker dryer stuff to one side and firing that through usually clears it. Now you’ve shown me how to get to it (I never even thought to take the front panel off!) I’ll have a look at sharpening the teeth. Thanks Rob
I have a Macallister shredder of the same type and it just eats branches, smaller leafy stuff I just put on the lawn and run my rotary mower over it, job done.
There's something so satisfying about using garden shredders. Especially on nasty, thorny stuff. Mine dislikes the fresh and thin stuff the most, kinda like the fresh offshoots on a hedge but it works in a way. Either way, good video and glad to see you've gotten a nice machine to munch up the stuff in the new plot!
Lovin the vid. Seen the Adult version of this at work 2 weeks ago. "The Beast" the guy called it. Amazing the amount of stuff you could put through this .It also had a funnel for directing where the cuttings went. Wonderful piece of kit.👍
Wish I lived near you Stuart, I’d love to volunteer to help you with your land clearing project. Purchasing this land should give you the opportunity for years worth of your great videos. Love your channel 👍
Love the shot @8:01 from inside the collection box, a few more seconds of this with the GoPro directly beneath the blade would be truly BAFTA worthy mate 🤩😏👍
Something to keep an eye on - I have the Qualcast version of this, bought for the exact reason you describe - I didn’t like the fast-spinning disc type shredders and wanted something that pulled the foliage in and did the work for me. Anyway, my problem is this… After about a year of use, the housing that holds the pressure plate that the cutting wheel presses foliage against has cracked, and now it’s not possible to get close contact anymore as further pressure just makes the crack bigger. So all I can get now are “ribbons” of wood rather than chips. It’s still fine for fitting more stuff in the wheelie bin but what is annoying is that while the cutting wheel and the pressure plate themselves are replaceable parts (I can find them on eBay) the metal housing that holds the pressure plate isn’t replaceable and I can’t really think of a suitable repair for it, I’m no welder. Considering the Bosch AXT 25 TC as it looks a lot more sturdy but I could buy three cheap ones for the same price so 🤷🏻♂️
The test of a shredder is it can shred soft green foliage (most wont) the test of a chipper is how wide the branches can be without the chipper stopping .Found lots of ok chippers but have not found a decent shredder 😢 found the bosch ones crap at both! That ferrex looks dire but thanks for warning me 👍
After shredding using this type of machine, I put them through an old spinning blade type to get the finer product I want. But after a year or so there isn't any difference where it has been spread on the soil. But I keep doing it, it makes sure any thorns or the like are well & truly smashed
I have had the macallister brand for several years now but I found it crushed it even with the adjustment screwed in more than shredded & after a while the box fills up & then when you go to slide the box out it jams with the material stuck inside, so don’t overfill. Also had issues with the unit not switching on was caused by the locking slide for the box not engaging. Having said that I did put some big branches through it & like you was clearing a big plot of trees I’d cut down, it munched through it all only overheating a few times ( has a thermal cut out) when I was working it hard. Personally a would have preferred to have it shredded finer so the blade type but I believe these would be noisier. Failing that bung a drink to one of the tree surgeons to stick it through their shredders in minutes & take the mess with them 😂
Thats really super Stuart…i was going to say that stuff can go on the compost heap, but you said it first….enjoy it….i think its great. Take care as always, from us in south africa
Happen to bump into one of these at a second hand store. Paid 65.- for it and I took the cutting wheel out to have a look at the state of it. It seems to wear a bit but can be sharpened. The label says the motor is brushless, wich has me believing that is can work for a long time. The spinning disc version of shredders I still use the most as most of what I shred is flimsy wet stuff to compost. But this winter I'll be using this model to make mulch to cover the soil with as there is a lot of willow wood that I can get my hands on.
Snap you've the same ne as me. There solid machines I've had mine over a year I've found mine to be good at composting as you need a bit of rougher material inbetween the grass cuttings or you end up with a mass of slime of the grass
In my experience they all work well new and straight out the box, it's after a couple of seasons use when the blades begin to dull that's the true test. My Bosch with it's spiral cutter is brilliant and will still slice up inch and a half Ash branches with ease, it's now showing signs of not coping so well with green sappy growth like Ivy or Clematis, but as long as I mix the occasional dry branch through it helps clear it. I'm wavering on whether to buy a new blade (£60+) or buy a new machine with warranty so it was interesting to see the Ferrex at work.
I expect with that amount of land and the crops you are planning to grow you will find that, in the long term, it lacks the grunt, takes too much attention to feed it and requiring a cable to get it powered will be a chore. Here in NZ I started by getting a Hansa C4 which made great wood chips suitable as a mulch and green vegetation that is shredded as fill for our compost heap. You just drop the stuff in the chute and it gets pulled in - no feeding it one stick at a time, I have now traded it in for the C7 - there are not many pruning pieces that this cannot handle and anything that is too big is firewood! It may not be available in England but something of the equivalence is well worth the investment and they hold their value well.
Ahh man your going to be there forever with the amount of stuff you have to work through. A bit like painting your fence with a makeup brush. You must have good patience. Great video though, as usual I really enjoyed it 😀
I've got the Macalister equivalent and it's almost identical save a few differences - the blade adjustment has a lockring to stop it moving and it definitely not quiet! Not earsplitting but very loud if you're bending down next to it to pick up branches. I've used mine a lot and have found it useful but I'm not sure it's the right tool for the size plot you have! The brush cutting blade for strimmers seems like a really good option that would be a lot quicker though.
If you have a large garden with shrubs and bushes these are essential… I have the spinning blade type which I bought from Aldi a few years ago but is a lot nosier, and does shred the material up a lot finer. However I do find that on mine the fine material can clog up the blade on occasions, so every now and again it has to be stopped and unclogged… Mine has lasted well and every now and again when I roll it out from the shed, it works every time.
I brought the macalister mis2500 from screwfix and its the disc type you mentioned in this video and in my experience it gets clogged up with chippings all the time, but it does chip alot smaller.
the exit chute has four or five little fingers of plastic moulded into it...cut them off/trim flush. It is purposely designed to clog at that point, imho.
I've seen a similar one on a shopping channel. There sales people are like car salesman , say anything to sell it to.🤣 But you Stuart tell it like it is. Thank you 👍
As I was able to send my last message and I can not find my original comments I will start again. I own the earlier Garden Line RLH2540FB, and some of my observations may be of some help. I will list them as you go through your video. I live near Brisbane in Queensland Australia and palm fronds make excellent mulch. My machine has done a lot of hard work because my MTD Chipper can not handle Palm Fronds without convert them into a tangled mass, therefore I first chop them into short lengths using the Garden Line, and them feed them through the hammer mill side of the MTD. 1. cuttings getting into the other parts of the machine. Also if the machine jams up and the reverse control will not clear it, backing off the knob will help to allow it to clear itself. 2. When you replace the font plate make sure you tighten the screws securely as the 2 screws on the Left Hand Side have switches behind them to ensure the plate is secure. Also if your machine stops and there is no humming sound like the cutter is jammed and there appears to be no electrical problem' one of these switches may have been miss lodged. Great way to spend an afternoon refitting it.
Stuart is right about a lot of what he says here..I would like to say though I have the dreaded spinning blade type and have had buyers envy whenever I walked past this munching type. Having watched the video I'm envious of the operating noise level. My spinny blade one however does cut much smaller, howls like a banshee, but, you dont really have to force stuff through as much as hinted at...gravity does a fairly ok job of making a twig/stick (up to 4cm diameter) down down. If you stuff a whole bunch of leafy twiggy weird shape stuff into the top all at once you'll need to baby it a bit, but if you do what I saw on this video, your results (in terms of babysitting the branches as they enter and get chopped up) are about the same. I tend to pre-sort my stuff...have a long knife and spend five minutes cutting off all the twiggy side bits, then take my sorted pile and launch them into the shredder post haste...job done.
The axis of the spinning blade is not vertical (at least in the Bosch that I have), but tilted at about 40 to 45 deg and therefore the slicing of the branch happens at this same angle, thus drawing the branch into the machine unless the blade becomes blunt.
I've got an older model and it's great too. The only thing that is wrong with it is it fills up near the cutters and gets full unless you shake the box
Personally I would rather hire, I look at it as a job where you can clear it all out first then shred or get a few people over and do it all in a day. Would cost about £80 a day so may even be cheaper than buying an electric one. It’s a job that as long as you dig out the roots you’ll never have to do again. I’m jealous of the sprinkler system though.
I bought a Bosch AXT 25 TC shredder/chipper, which is similar to the Ferrex machine. They work best on woody stems and branches or drier green matter. Useful devices for a decent sized garden and means not necessary to pay the council for the garden waste collection service, or trips to the refuse dump. The shredded material can be either composted (if green) or retained as woodchip mulch. Should pay for itself within a few years. Am interested to see how you remove the brambles. I recently removed these from my garden and found a mulch blade attached to a strimmer very useful (Oregon Universal Mulching Brushcutter Blade, 3 Tooth Shredder Blade for Thick High & Dense Vegetation, 3mm Thick Hardened Steel).
Just a reminder it's peak nesting season for Birds and to be checking for nests as you go and also a reminder that any "brambles" you can leave as they are, without cutting, are often excellent for nature.
@@artyb27 Not invasive in any sense. They are native and a top habitat...as listed by the RSPB on their website... "Bramble - One of the BEST shrubs for Wildlife...This scrambling shrub, also known as 'blackberry', is a real must in a wildlife garden. Its flowers provide nectar and pollen for many insects, it bears fruit in late summer and autumn, and offers good cover all year round."
I had one that was pretty much identical to the one in the video, though I'm not sure of the brand name. I suspect multiple brands of an almost entirely identical device come out of the same factory in China. Anyway it was pretty good, but it was very prone to Jamming, particularly for anything with a decent moisture content. Green branches pruned form trees coming to mind. I would say if you had a lot of shredding to do it's probably not the right device. You would spend a lot of time pulling it apart and unjamming it, you probably be better off hiring a more powerful one.
Shame we do not have that machine in Canada! Maybe our 110V current would not be able to move the mutter. Small analysis, You remain close to the machine pretty much all the time, maybe that crushing/pulling wheel is not that efficient... or you are a bit impatient?! Thank you for the video, as always great fun and learning?
Have a near identical tacklife shredder which I think has been rebranded lsrl. need to clean out the shredder wheel soon it's gone through 3 conifer trees and a bunch of other stuff.
I would suggest looking at a more robust one for your size of land and likely future use. Gosforth Handyman recently featured quickly his Forest Master petrol chipper on his Gosforth Handyman - Spring has sprung video. It is available on Amazon for £500 and is much more suitable for your needs and with it being petrol you can move it about much easier as no need to run a power lead to it. I believe he plans to do a review video of it soon.
@@ProperDIY Not really, for example he lives in a house a fraction the size of yours. I suspect he saved up for it. It is an odd comment from you given your recent lawnmower purchase was circa £2,000! You must be not very rich but extraordinary rich to spend that on a mower with your logic!
I bought the Aldi special one for £70 it cuts the pieces a lot smaller like a bark mulch but it is a lot noisier than yours, and mine has a bag collector not a solid box collector. I love it though apart from the noise.
I've got the Macalister equivalent and it's fine with 45mm branches although I don't know how it would stand up to this all day! A mixture of sizes with some 45mm would be fine though
I suggest you grease the axle that goes into the cover plate you removed to show us the cutter at least twice a year or it will seize. Probably not mentioned in the manual the you don’t read but very necessary. I know this is necessary maintenance from bitter experience.
I've broken and returned two of the Screwfix McAllister versions of this on a garden nowhere near as big as that paddock of yours. We just about managed to fill a 4x1x1m compost bin with a mix of chippings and grass cuttings before the second gave up the ghost.
I managed to kill one as well but I was pushing the limits of what could fit in. After that it just kept slipping even on smaller stuff. Is that what happened to yours? On my second and I'm much more cautious about putting larger stuff in, I tend to cut it up as kindling.
Unless the teeth were tighter it’ll not mulch it any finer. Maybe it coming with another closer toothed cutting would help? Seems okay for small jobs. Can’t beat a Green Mech mind!
I used to buy the Aldi specials but almost without exception, they didn't last very long before scrapping. I suspect this new toy of Stuart won't stay the distance and he won't be able to find parts to repair it. Good luck anyway but you have some serious work to do there and unless you are going to spend a good deal of the rest of your life shredding, hire a big gun!
I have a rotating "impact" shredder and it does pull the wood down. I think the blades are angled so as it shreds it slightly pulls it as well. I would actually say it pulls down a branch quicker than the this "silent shredder". As you mentioned it also shreds finer but it is noisy. I'm very impressed with the cheaper shredders so not sure what else you get if you spend more.
Yes, I would agree. I have a Bosch Shredder AXT Rapid 2200 and it is certainly appears to be much louder but it does indeed pull in most branches - the bigger the better in that regard. That said, my Bosch was £200 - almost double the price - however it did SEEM to be much more powerful and could handle handle bigger branches at a much quicker rate than the Ferrex.
in France most cement mixers don't come with cables, just a socket you plug your own extension lead into. It's very safe and keeps the connections away from any water splash
Surely with the size of that paddock it’s false economy to use that, wouldn’t you be better hiring something more industrial?..... do another tutorial fixing the motor when you’ve burnt it out!
I agree. People should know these things are extremely limited and the temptation is to always add bigger and bigger branches. Don’t buy if you have anything thicker than a finger to chop up and then allow plenty of time to do it all one little branch at a time. Zzzzzzzz
Using a shredder for wood chips? You need a chipper a shredder is for breaking down small shrubbery for composting not for chippings. People don't please don't use the cheap shredders for wood chippings.
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Mate you gona be there a hell of a long time doing that shredding. Rip all those brambles up and place in pile in middle of that plot and throw a match on it. Itll burn down to nothing and use the ash for the soil 👍
I've had the near identical shredder by WORX for the last 11 years and it's still going strong after significant use. As previous commenters have said, the harder and drier the material, the better it shreds, regardless of its diameter. The thinnish straggly stuff (like brambles and ivy)and anything damp do not get cut properly and end up being wound round the cutters like a bobbin which proves tedious and time consuming to remove. I regard a machine like that as being suitable for an average size garden with several hedges and shrubs but not for a large plot needing clearing. You will run up a huge electric bill (it will cost about 85 pence an hour to run) and from experience, the initial joy of assembling material ready to shred, feeding it through the shredder and then emptying the box frequently soon wears off! It's really a job for 2 people to keep the machine fed sufficiently and quite tiring, if satisfying work. But a good video nonetheless.
Hi Stuart. Great review as ever. I got one about 3 years ago and its still going strong. It was great to meet you and Mrs ProperDIY at Makers Central. Sorry I wasn't still there for the prize draw and sorry phone cut out. Hope you both had a great weekend
Living down in South Africa. Have also just baught a plot of land and have been searching for an affordable solution to get rid of all the lantana. This has given me inspiration.
I've had this exact model for a few years now, it's a great bit of kit. Basically, if it fits in the chute it will shred it. Impressive. They don't like wet material, but if it clogs, just push a dry stick through and it usually clears.
Great review.
Atb
You're right! Good point about wet material
I’ve used a similar machine for a couple of years now and wouldn’t be without it. They really do work well and so much better than the flat disc type
I'm really excited for you, Stuart! Looks like a ProperDIY funfair if you ask me!
Watching you start feeding in tiny twigs at the start and then seeing the enormous pile behind you, it occured to me that you might want to take on a work experience kid!
I think with all that vegetation it's going to be a long job with a small shredder, much better to get a large skip and get on with the next job. As always a great vid.
Used my dad's MacAllister type during lock down for my well overgrown tree - did a cracking job, even on some thicker items. Lasted a couple seasons when he had it back. Can't remember the issue but was beyond repair. For £99 or so (SF a few years ago, now 130/140), getting 3/4 years out of it isn't an issue really.
Think this type is more a mulcher as opposed to a spinning blade that more finely cuts up waste.
Both types have their benefits and depends of their use!
As always, great video.
Looks like a great bit of kit
Nothing I can add that hasn't already been said down below. Got an older version as well and it still keeps going. Good machine! Good review!
Had an almost identical one from Lidl almost 10yrs. Brilliant. The only time it struggles is when there is a lot of wet leaves. This clogs up gear holes and you have to clear them. Just leave branch's couple of weeks for leaves to shrivel up a little and no probs. If the branch's fit the hole in top it will eat them. Feed bottom first so smaller branch's squeeze into mouth as it goes down
I recently picked up the Ozito branded version of this for just shy of £100.
It's pretty much a carbon copy as far as design goes, and for the right job it's a brilliant bit of kit.
Yesterday I shredded & bagged pretty much the entirety of an 8m tall smooth holly tree in around 4 hours (and that included debranching the trunk!).
It made around 500 litres of coarse mulch, which will either go onto the garden or into the compost.
It was sooo much quicker than using an impact shredder.
As you rightly pointed out in your video, the more aggressive you are with what you try to feed into it, the better it performs.
Smaller branches
Brilliant video, quite therapeutic getting rid of those pesky brambles.. burning question what lurks in the workshop…. I’m on the edge of my seat….. cannot wait 😎😎
I had a Bosch flat disk shredder. It did give a very fine cut but was very noisy and was always clogging up. This looks much better. Only have a small garden now so the green bin suffices but would go for one of these now
Another great video!
I have the Florabest branded version, had it for 6 or 7 years, thrown loads at it and it eats everything that I can fit in the slot. Great bit of kit.
Yours has a much better cutter, mine is more of a waterwheel shape and does clog if I feed lots of wet stuff or leaves in together. I usually keep some thicker dryer stuff to one side and firing that through usually clears it.
Now you’ve shown me how to get to it (I never even thought to take the front panel off!) I’ll have a look at sharpening the teeth.
Thanks
Rob
Nice one Rob
I have a Macallister shredder of the same type and it just eats branches, smaller leafy stuff I just put on the lawn and run my rotary mower over it, job done.
There's something so satisfying about using garden shredders. Especially on nasty, thorny stuff. Mine dislikes the fresh and thin stuff the most, kinda like the fresh offshoots on a hedge but it works in a way.
Either way, good video and glad to see you've gotten a nice machine to munch up the stuff in the new plot!
Thank you
Lovin the vid. Seen the Adult version of this at work 2 weeks ago. "The Beast" the guy called it. Amazing the amount of stuff you could put through this .It also had a funnel for directing where the cuttings went. Wonderful piece of kit.👍
Made by ferrex?
Wish I lived near you Stuart, I’d love to volunteer to help you with your land clearing project. Purchasing this land should give you the opportunity for years worth of your great videos. Love your channel 👍
Love the shot @8:01 from inside the collection box, a few more seconds of this with the GoPro directly beneath the blade would be truly BAFTA worthy mate 🤩😏👍
great video im looking forward to you getting to that out building
Great for small jobs, but I think you're better off hiring one over a weekend break the back else you'll be there for months
Something to keep an eye on - I have the Qualcast version of this, bought for the exact reason you describe - I didn’t like the fast-spinning disc type shredders and wanted something that pulled the foliage in and did the work for me. Anyway, my problem is this… After about a year of use, the housing that holds the pressure plate that the cutting wheel presses foliage against has cracked, and now it’s not possible to get close contact anymore as further pressure just makes the crack bigger. So all I can get now are “ribbons” of wood rather than chips. It’s still fine for fitting more stuff in the wheelie bin but what is annoying is that while the cutting wheel and the pressure plate themselves are replaceable parts (I can find them on eBay) the metal housing that holds the pressure plate isn’t replaceable and I can’t really think of a suitable repair for it, I’m no welder. Considering the Bosch AXT 25 TC as it looks a lot more sturdy but I could buy three cheap ones for the same price so 🤷🏻♂️
The test of a shredder is it can shred soft green foliage (most wont) the test of a chipper is how wide the branches can be without the chipper stopping .Found lots of ok chippers but have not found a decent shredder 😢 found the bosch ones crap at both! That ferrex looks dire but thanks for warning me 👍
After shredding using this type of machine, I put them through an old spinning blade type to get the finer product I want. But after a year or so there isn't any difference where it has been spread on the soil. But I keep doing it, it makes sure any thorns or the like are well & truly smashed
Great review, that's my next purchase sorted 😂
I have had the macallister brand for several years now but I found it crushed it even with the adjustment screwed in more than shredded & after a while the box fills up & then when you go to slide the box out it jams with the material stuck inside, so don’t overfill. Also had issues with the unit not switching on was caused by the locking slide for the box not engaging. Having said that I did put some big branches through it & like you was clearing a big plot of trees I’d cut down, it munched through it all only overheating a few times ( has a thermal cut out) when I was working it hard. Personally a would have preferred to have it shredded finer so the blade type but I believe these would be noisier. Failing that bung a drink to one of the tree surgeons to stick it through their shredders in minutes & take the mess with them 😂
Thats really super Stuart…i was going to say that stuff can go on the compost heap, but you said it first….enjoy it….i think its great. Take care as always, from us in south africa
I beat you to it!
Happen to bump into one of these at a second hand store. Paid 65.- for it and I took the cutting wheel out to have a look at the state of it. It seems to wear a bit but can be sharpened.
The label says the motor is brushless, wich has me believing that is can work for a long time.
The spinning disc version of shredders I still use the most as most of what I shred is flimsy wet stuff to compost.
But this winter I'll be using this model to make mulch to cover the soil with as there is a lot of willow wood that I can get my hands on.
Snap you've the same ne as me. There solid machines I've had mine over a year I've found mine to be good at composting as you need a bit of rougher material inbetween the grass cuttings or you end up with a mass of slime of the grass
Perfect timing again! Big pile of chopped stuff needs shredding!! Watch out for Speedy though….. 😱
Epic these are the tools i like to see affordable for pure DIY
There is something satisfying about watching that machine gobble up its greens :-)
In my experience they all work well new and straight out the box, it's after a couple of seasons use when the blades begin to dull that's the true test. My Bosch with it's spiral cutter is brilliant and will still slice up inch and a half Ash branches with ease, it's now showing signs of not coping so well with green sappy growth like Ivy or Clematis, but as long as I mix the occasional dry branch through it helps clear it. I'm wavering on whether to buy a new blade (£60+) or buy a new machine with warranty so it was interesting to see the Ferrex at work.
It is not hard to sharpen the blade if you have some basic facilities.
I expect with that amount of land and the crops you are planning to grow you will find that, in the long term, it lacks the grunt, takes too much attention to feed it and requiring a cable to get it powered will be a chore. Here in NZ I started by getting a Hansa C4 which made great wood chips suitable as a mulch and green vegetation that is shredded as fill for our compost heap. You just drop the stuff in the chute and it gets pulled in - no feeding it one stick at a time, I have now traded it in for the C7 - there are not many pruning pieces that this cannot handle and anything that is too big is firewood! It may not be available in England but something of the equivalence is well worth the investment and they hold their value well.
Ahh man your going to be there forever with the amount of stuff you have to work through. A bit like painting your fence with a makeup brush. You must have good patience.
Great video though, as usual I really enjoyed it 😀
Nice. Be careful if shredding brambles as even small pieces can start rooting and grow where you spread them.
I've got the Macalister equivalent and it's almost identical save a few differences - the blade adjustment has a lockring to stop it moving and it definitely not quiet! Not earsplitting but very loud if you're bending down next to it to pick up branches. I've used mine a lot and have found it useful but I'm not sure it's the right tool for the size plot you have! The brush cutting blade for strimmers seems like a really good option that would be a lot quicker though.
I'm using a brush cutter for the brambles - what you saw comes from the overhanging trees and climbing plants within the buildings
Looking at all the brambles round you reminds me of my old Mums saying “you got a job for life there, if you don’t get drunk and lose it” lol
When you’re lay in hospital bored out your skin and Stuart uploads a video 🙌🙌🙌🙌
😂 get well soon
Me too!!
I'm glad to help!
If you have a large garden with shrubs and bushes these are essential… I have the spinning blade type which I bought from Aldi a few years ago but is a lot nosier, and does shred the material up a lot finer. However I do find that on mine the fine material can clog up the blade on occasions, so every now and again it has to be stopped and unclogged… Mine has lasted well and every now and again when I roll it out from the shed, it works every time.
Nice bit of kit mate should do the job 👍👍
Like diy projects best. Hope you have plans for that soon, real soon 😎
I brought the macalister mis2500 from screwfix and its the disc type you mentioned in this video and in my experience it gets clogged up with chippings all the time, but it does chip alot smaller.
the exit chute has four or five little fingers of plastic moulded into it...cut them off/trim flush. It is purposely designed to clog at that point, imho.
I've seen a similar one on a shopping channel. There sales people are like car salesman , say anything to sell it to.🤣 But you Stuart tell it like it is. Thank you 👍
I try!
As I was able to send my last message and I can not find my original comments I will start again.
I own the earlier Garden Line RLH2540FB, and some of my observations may be of some help. I will list them as you go through your video. I live near Brisbane in Queensland Australia and palm fronds make excellent mulch. My machine has done a lot of hard work because my MTD Chipper can not handle Palm Fronds without convert them into a tangled mass, therefore I first chop them into short lengths using the Garden Line, and them feed them through the hammer mill side of the MTD.
1. cuttings getting into the other parts of the machine. Also if the machine jams up and the reverse control will not clear it, backing off the knob will help to allow it to clear itself.
2. When you replace the font plate make sure you tighten the screws securely as the 2 screws on the Left Hand Side have switches behind them to ensure the plate is secure. Also if your machine stops and there is no humming sound like the cutter is jammed and there appears to be no electrical problem' one of these switches may have been miss lodged. Great way to spend an afternoon refitting it.
Looks exactly the same as the qualcast one I had. I found it a ball ache. Kept getting stuck with reasonable sized branches. Bit of a faff.
I've got Lidl's version of this have found it very good
Stuart is right about a lot of what he says here..I would like to say though I have the dreaded spinning blade type and have had buyers envy whenever I walked past this munching type. Having watched the video I'm envious of the operating noise level. My spinny blade one however does cut much smaller, howls like a banshee, but, you dont really have to force stuff through as much as hinted at...gravity does a fairly ok job of making a twig/stick (up to 4cm diameter) down down. If you stuff a whole bunch of leafy twiggy weird shape stuff into the top all at once you'll need to baby it a bit, but if you do what I saw on this video, your results (in terms of babysitting the branches as they enter and get chopped up) are about the same.
I tend to pre-sort my stuff...have a long knife and spend five minutes cutting off all the twiggy side bits, then take my sorted pile and launch them into the shredder post haste...job done.
The axis of the spinning blade is not vertical (at least in the Bosch that I have), but tilted at about 40 to 45 deg and therefore the slicing of the branch happens at this same angle, thus drawing the branch into the machine unless the blade becomes blunt.
Good vid Stuart. Did the box fit over the top for a bit of weather protection?.
I've got an older model and it's great too.
The only thing that is wrong with it is it fills up near the cutters and gets full unless you shake the box
Great review but I agree with the consensus, rent yourself a proper unit mate you'll be there months with that thing 👍🏻.
We shall see
Personally I would rather hire, I look at it as a job where you can clear it all out first then shred or get a few people over and do it all in a day. Would cost about £80 a day so may even be cheaper than buying an electric one. It’s a job that as long as you dig out the roots you’ll never have to do again. I’m jealous of the sprinkler system though.
Good review but you’ll be there the rest of the year to make it to that shed! 🤣
Here is a very good tip for a shredder to stop it getting blocked up spray some WD 40 down first & do it again later make sure it's on the blades.
I bought a Bosch AXT 25 TC shredder/chipper, which is similar to the Ferrex machine. They work best on woody stems and branches or drier green matter. Useful devices for a decent sized garden and means not necessary to pay the council for the garden waste collection service, or trips to the refuse dump. The shredded material can be either composted (if green) or retained as woodchip mulch. Should pay for itself within a few years. Am interested to see how you remove the brambles. I recently removed these from my garden and found a mulch blade attached to a strimmer very useful (Oregon Universal Mulching Brushcutter Blade, 3 Tooth Shredder Blade for Thick High & Dense Vegetation, 3mm Thick Hardened Steel).
That mulching blade looks amazing! Just the trick
I have the Bosch version, so far it has eaten a couple of rake handles and a pair of secateurs, vicious piece of kit.
That thing is tiny and your land is huge. It's going to take you years! I still think a flame thrower would be quicker (and make an awesome video!!).
Just a reminder it's peak nesting season for Birds and to be checking for nests as you go and also a reminder that any "brambles" you can leave as they are, without cutting, are often excellent for nature.
Aren't brambles ridiculously invasive? We have a real problem with them in our garden
@@artyb27 Not invasive in any sense. They are native and a top habitat...as listed by the RSPB on their website... "Bramble - One of the BEST shrubs for Wildlife...This scrambling shrub, also known as 'blackberry', is a real must in a wildlife garden. Its flowers provide nectar and pollen for many insects, it bears fruit in late summer and autumn, and offers good cover all year round."
I had one that was pretty much identical to the one in the video, though I'm not sure of the brand name. I suspect multiple brands of an almost entirely identical device come out of the same factory in China. Anyway it was pretty good, but it was very prone to Jamming, particularly for anything with a decent moisture content. Green branches pruned form trees coming to mind. I would say if you had a lot of shredding to do it's probably not the right device. You would spend a lot of time pulling it apart and unjamming it, you probably be better off hiring a more powerful one.
Shame we do not have that machine in Canada! Maybe our 110V current would not be able to move the mutter. Small analysis, You remain close to the machine pretty much all the time, maybe that crushing/pulling wheel is not that efficient... or you are a bit impatient?! Thank you for the video, as always great fun and learning?
Have a near identical tacklife shredder which I think has been rebranded lsrl. need to clean out the shredder wheel soon it's gone through 3 conifer trees and a bunch of other stuff.
Nice one!
I would suggest looking at a more robust one for your size of land and likely future use. Gosforth Handyman recently featured quickly his Forest Master petrol chipper on his Gosforth Handyman - Spring has sprung video. It is available on Amazon for £500 and is much more suitable for your needs and with it being petrol you can move it about much easier as no need to run a power lead to it. I believe he plans to do a review video of it soon.
He must be very rich to spend £500 on a chipper!
@@ProperDIY Not really, for example he lives in a house a fraction the size of yours. I suspect he saved up for it. It is an odd comment from you given your recent lawnmower purchase was circa £2,000! You must be not very rich but extraordinary rich to spend that on a mower with your logic!
I bought the Aldi special one for £70 it cuts the pieces a lot smaller like a bark mulch but it is a lot noisier than yours, and mine has a bag collector not a solid box collector. I love it though apart from the noise.
Cool
Nice one Stuart, what do you reckon is the biggest diameter stuff is you can put through? More that 25mm/1" or was about the limit?
I've got the Macalister equivalent and it's fine with 45mm branches although I don't know how it would stand up to this all day! A mixture of sizes with some 45mm would be fine though
going to need something a lot bigger
I suggest you grease the axle that goes into the cover plate you removed to show us the cutter at least twice a year or it will seize. Probably not mentioned in the manual the you don’t read but very necessary. I know this is necessary maintenance from bitter experience.
I've broken and returned two of the Screwfix McAllister versions of this on a garden nowhere near as big as that paddock of yours. We just about managed to fill a 4x1x1m compost bin with a mix of chippings and grass cuttings before the second gave up the ghost.
I managed to kill one as well but I was pushing the limits of what could fit in. After that it just kept slipping even on smaller stuff. Is that what happened to yours? On my second and I'm much more cautious about putting larger stuff in, I tend to cut it up as kindling.
you need a master plan Stuart. messing around with DIY stuff is not the way to go
We have similar. It just does not like any damp material.
Then the availability of spare blades...?
Unless the teeth were tighter it’ll not mulch it any finer. Maybe it coming with another closer toothed cutting would help? Seems okay for small jobs. Can’t beat a Green Mech mind!
I used to buy the Aldi specials but almost without exception, they didn't last very long before scrapping. I suspect this new toy of Stuart won't stay the distance and he won't be able to find parts to repair it. Good luck anyway but you have some serious work to do there and unless you are going to spend a good deal of the rest of your life shredding, hire a big gun!
Hi Stuart, you would be much quicker using something like a Stihl 491/561 Clearing saw. More expensive but much less time consuming
I'm actually using something similar on the brambles. What you saw mainly comes from all the overhanging trees and branches.
before you put the main machine on top of the base I did honestly think 'that could be a canny seat'
Nice!!😁 Stuart
Thanks! 😃
Ever consider doing a Q&A video about yourself / DIY ?
That is the type of thing I do with on the Patreon platfrom
Nooice!
Take care putting brambles down the chute as very small pieces will start growing and you will have lots of babies
Brambles either burn or skip
I have a rotating "impact" shredder and it does pull the wood down. I think the blades are angled so as it shreds it slightly pulls it as well. I would actually say it pulls down a branch quicker than the this "silent shredder". As you mentioned it also shreds finer but it is noisy. I'm very impressed with the cheaper shredders so not sure what else you get if you spend more.
Yes, I would agree. I have a Bosch Shredder AXT Rapid 2200 and it is certainly appears to be much louder but it does indeed pull in most branches - the bigger the better in that regard. That said, my Bosch was £200 - almost double the price - however it did SEEM to be much more powerful and could handle handle bigger branches at a much quicker rate than the Ferrex.
Shiny fings !
I think it would be better for garden maintenance but not landscape clearing.
This takes all day 🤣🤣🤣
Stuart, you missed the bin mate.
At least it came with a decent length of power cord, unlike the cement mixer.
in France most cement mixers don't come with cables, just a socket you plug your own extension lead into. It's very safe and keeps the connections away from any water splash
Yes exactly - I should have mentioned that!
Great for someones garden but surely for what your doing it would be worth hiring out an industrial one?
Does this have an induction motor? Anybody?
shame its no longer available
It will come around again - or just go to screwfix and buy a Macalister which is the same.
Looks a bit of a toy! I bought the Cobra petrol shredder which does heavier work
Chuffed for you mate
Why thankyou 😁
Surely with the size of that paddock it’s false economy to use that, wouldn’t you be better hiring something more industrial?..... do another tutorial fixing the motor when you’ve burnt it out!
As a DIY'er, a re you going to buy " something more industrial "?
@@patm8622 Hire......
That might be easier said than done. I enquired about doing this in Ireland it was prohibitally expensive due to machine cost and insurance.
I agree. People should know these things are extremely limited and the temptation is to always add bigger and bigger branches. Don’t buy if you have anything thicker than a finger to chop up and then allow plenty of time to do it all one little branch at a time. Zzzzzzzz
85-90 quid a day from jewson will get you something you can smash through chipping instead of cutting tiny bits
11:34 👍🏻
👍
Dig big hole dumb all these in it after sometime u got nice compost
why the cheesy distorted background music? (But love your vids all the same )
11:40 Stickman, no!
I wonder if they do one in "mother-in-law" size ????
It will take a year to shredder for your new garden, u gonna need a bigger one
Go commercial grade for that much mulching
terrible unboxing music Stu. great video though.
Using a shredder for wood chips? You need a chipper a shredder is for breaking down small shrubbery for composting not for chippings. People don't please don't use the cheap shredders for wood chippings.
I o not have patience with this product