Sharpening Chipper Blades

shaggs

G'day Everyone,
Just wondering how many of you out there sharpen your own woodchipper blades and how.
What do you use and any particular method?
I sharpen mine myself but get them "professionally" done every 3rd or so sharpenings, depending on their state.
I swap and change from anything between wet bench grinder(slow), bench grinder , and linisher.
Whatever process it gives me plenty of time for .
Whats your thoughts

Jeff Darby

Hi shaggs,
I linish them with a course belt, making sure they don't get to hot..Works well for us. It takes about an hour from removal to bolting it all up again.

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Tree Machine

I sharpen mine about twice a week, while they're on the machine. Three minutes each time.

I've been spanked for sharing my cowboy method (A.Lopa, Ekka) and maybe it is a little crude, raw and shoot-from-the-hip, but my knives stay truly sharp and pleasant, always. After ~ 6 months I flip em over to the new side and start over. When side 2 is worn, a new set goes on and the old ones get sent back to the manufacturer for pro sharpening.

Mine's a small chipper, very few guys use 6" machines, so I may be off the chart with nothing much of value to offer the group.
I'll just be polite and step out


(Very interested to know how others do it, though.)

shaggs

TM
Don't step out!!!! I have a 6" too! Its times like sharpening that I'm glad its a small machine.
Get back on there

Jeff Darby

Our's is a 6" and it does a big job, be proud TM, You are out there doing it and NO one gave it to you,We love our little chipper we can get to the piont of work 98% of the time,less dragging=more profit..all our gear is for restricted access.Including our Johnny Loader..LOL.

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Tree Machine

Heh, heh

A-men to that.

Tree Machine

I know Streyken got a 6" this last year, too, and he's been real pleased with it.

I would imagine sharpening knives on small machines and sharpening knives on large machines would be pretty much the same, but I don't know really for sure.

It all depends on how accessable the knives are, whether you can sharpen them on the machine, or have to take the knives off to do it.

One thing's for sure; You will feel the effects of dull knives much more readily on the smaller units. Bigger power lets you get away with not staying on top of this quite as tightly.

Therrin

This is a little off topic, but I'm looking to pick up a chipper in the next couple months. Is a 6" a good machine to start with?

Jeff Darby

Hi Therrin,
A six inch chipper is a good little machine,It takes care of all the canopy and a fair share of the wood usually whats left is fire wood, But you have to match your chipper to your truck..If you have a small truck a 18" chipper would fill the truck in a blink of an eye making it more work to process your by product.Just be realistic about what you do and how big you need to go.

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Tree Machine

That's the big question. I have guys lined up to come get free firewood.
I LIKE cutting firewood, I like not having to handle the big wood myself, I like not having to go dump chips very often and overall, I like having a small truck and chipper.

This is not for everyone. It makes me a load of money, but if you had three guys on the ground, mostly takedowns and just needed to move from job to job as fast as possible, my setup would cost you your butt.

But if it were a facet of your overall machinery lineup, a key part of your truck/chipper artillary it would serve a priceless function, swiftness, maneuverability, economy.

Seen like this (in perspective) awesome chipper for the beginner or the highly advanced.


(and dang easy to sharpen the knives!)

ronnyb

We have a Bandit 90XP behind a Dodge 1 ton dump truck. The chipper is a 9inch, with a 86hp Perkins diesel. I really like this set up, the chipper pulls easily, and I can cut down on my chipping time with a slightly larger chipper. I've used the 6 inchers before, and it takes quite a bit longer between cutting more wood and cutting the branches so that the chipper will take them. 12 inch chippers are a couple thousand pounds heavier, and you can really notice that when driving. We started buying our chipper knives from Zenith Cutter, they are cheap ($17) x4 =$68/set. It was costing us $20/ knife to have them sharpened. Now we just flip them and then throw them out.

Eric Frei

Hmmm, dont recall could you share that method again please.

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shaggs

I know its a little off topic but;
My opinion 6" make a great first chipper. Be aware there are a big difference in type/size of whats classed 6" (like some guys!!!). Infeed openeing is a major one. Some have 6"x6" others like bandit have 12"x6". The differences are quite big and do your research.

I think the best thing about starting with a small chipper is that it teaches you to look after a machine like that and whats involved, just on a smaller scale. Everything from blade sharpening, belt tensioning, oil changing, filter servicing, dealing with blockages etc etc. Basically your not jumping in the deep end.

Therrin

Hopefully it'd be more difficult to get sucked in the deep end as well...

I'm starting to look for used chippers for sale in my area.
As far as the amount of operational hours go, whats "slightly used" "moderately used" and "this thing's almost dead, used" ?

Mmm, lemme know if I should re-thread this question.

TrevMcRev

When i sold my bandit 6" it had only 980 hrs and was excellent. Low hrs really for a 5 year old machine, coz i ran it efficiently as decribed in the bandir intimidator thread in the video section.

12" wide infeed is a major + over other 6"machines.

P.L.

A 6" chipper is a good way to start, but you spend a lot of time cutting the wood to fit and handling branches. My Morbark will handle 18" and it makes the job much easier, less cutting less handling material and less time on the job. My motto is if it fits, it's chips!

arbdog

My cousin does ours at work, as hes a engineer so we dont have to worry about that ( i think he just uses a linisher on em ). Our chipper is a timberwolf 150hd 6", and its perfect for us. Its light, it processes to the maximum size we want as all else we sell for firewood and you can get parts 6 miles from where we live.

Eric Frei

Hey Trev, how much did you flog it off for?

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TrevMcRev

I think it was $13K or so. Not worth selling really, shoulda kept it, it was a ripper.

I miss it

newguy18

wouldn't a hone do the trick?I'm asking because I don't have a chipper.

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Streyken

TM, do tell a bit more about what you find works. I tried putting an edge on them while on the machine, but it didn't work too well. I think they were a bit too dull for hand sharpening.

Anyway, here is another point of view: I've decided it's not worth it for me to sharpen or get them sharpened. New ones are about 30.00 per knife (including shipping and duty). It costs 25.00 per knife to get them sharpened (plus driving time), plus anvil adjustment time if they needed to be taken down a bit. I just flip them or put on a new set; this takes about 30 minutes, as I have a small machine and only two blades. I judge cost and time against what I could be making cutting. If it's outside of work time I double the cost, then do it in the morning - my family time is worth more than a few hundred an hour.

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Drouin Tree Service

I know of people unwittingly paying more to sharpen knives than what they are new!!

My machine runs 3 knives which are $100 each so paying $70 to have them ALL sharpened properly is worth it,I have tried T/M way and yes it works for a touch up.At the end of the day they are another consumable no different than a chainsaw chain.

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Eric Frei

Just like it cost me $15 to get stump grinder teeth re-tipped and new ones are $20 so I just ditch the old ones, bugger it.

Of course you can buy the stuff to do it yourself and re-tip for maybe $5 but I got a life too and hanging out in the shed does get old you know.... got a forum to hang out on ya know.

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Steve Tipton

Don't you sharpen them? I sharpen on a green wheel, and get many sharpens before replacement. I used to make my own teeth, but like you I decided it wasn't worth the time. Buy hi ten bar, mill the step and silver solder on the tip.
The novelty wore off!

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arbdog

I bet grinders teeth take some doing as there so hard. We only hire them now or if its a big stump we get a bloke with a bigger machine to do the grinding, ours got stolen and wasnt insured.

ARGTrees

Run the 18" chippers, get my blades sharpened professional each time. $50 per set and they pick them up from my house and drop back. All in the price!! When you get four or five sets a week its just easier.

Do find the opeing on the 6 " a little restrictive but the 12" does give you the advantage of a little less cutting

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arbdog

we had 3 * 7.5" tracked timberwolfs on hire for 7 weeks for a job we done and the difference the 1.5" extra made was great compared to our 6". But our 6" is fine for our normal work in the uk.

ARGTrees

Yeah was talking to a couple of blokes from B'ham yesterday hiring my gear. And I think six inch is as big as you'd want to go. I don't think you would get any of my gear within a mile of a job in the uk. except of council parks etc.

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arbdog

You sure have got some good kit there! How many chippers are in your fleet?

newguy18

The only chipper I ever had was one you get from a lawn mower shop.5 horse tecumseh and it would chew 1/12 in diameter max.friggin beast.

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