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Best shredder for very large borders

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  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904

    https://www.ransomspares.co.uk/parts/chopper-spares/bosch/helix/497045.htm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwpynhN3b1QIVorDtCh2j_AHUEAQYAiABEgIgi_D_BwE

    Ha! Found it here for £82.35. image I've had mine donkeys' years and it's the one piece of kit I wouldn't think twice about replacing. That and my trailer of course. image

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    Impact shredders cope much better with soft green material than 'quiet' shredders which use a screw-type blade and/or crush the material.  Go for a design with a straight-through path which helps to avoid blockages.  I bought an Al-ko about 20 years ago and it's still going strong.  A pair of replacement blades are about £20 - I'm on my 3rd set.  The blades can be removed and sharpened on a flat oilstone.

    However, shredding technique (which is something you will soon learn!) is as important as design.  I keep 2 piles - one soft green stuff and one branches and dried material such as perennial stems and put some green stuff in followed by a branch or some dry stuff.  As well as minimising blockages, doing this also keep the shredded material mixed properly in order to minimise the time needed for the composted material to decompose.

    This is what I mean about the "straight-through" design:

    image

    'Industrial' chippers are another matter and can cope with just about anything but cost is upwards of £1500.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    thats a good blade Bob, ours are made from metal that you can't sharpen, however, they last quite a long while.  It won't cope with soft stuff though, just jams up and you have to take it to bits and clear it out. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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