# Wood Chipper Question



## plazaman

A while back i was amazed to see how a wood chipper literally chewed logs into mulch in seconds, i never seen it before first hand. 

But i have a question, if i were to feed old barn wood siding into it with nails, would that be a problem for the chipper?

Not that im going to attempt this, but im curious about the limitations of the machine.

Thanks


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## SLSTech

First it depends on the machine - the larger commercial machines can easily handle it (even some resi models) but I can almost guarantee you that you would damage the blades thus shortening the life of the equipment and it would not be a real good idea. 

I would recommend finding someone that buys reclaimed wood truthfully & make some money off of it


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## plazaman

SLSTech said:


> First it depends on the machine - the larger commercial machines can easily handle it (even some resi models) but I can almost guarantee you that you would damage the blades thus shortening the life of the equipment and it would not be a real good idea.
> 
> I would recommend finding someone that buys reclaimed wood truthfully & make some money off of it


I tried... many many many interested people.... none came through.


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## chris n

I operated one for many years and ANYTHING except wood will dull the blades. Nails would take chunks out of them, not good.


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## Tom Struble

you probably need a tub grinder
some recycling places will take wood for free,they grind it up and make mulch


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## plazaman

tomstruble said:


> you probably need a tub grinder
> some recycling places will take wood for free,they grind it up and make mulch


would the tub grinder be able to handle the nails?


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## Tom Struble

yea they use them to chew up pallets and such
some municipalities have them,check your town recycling center


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## Iron Man

I saw a Doppstadt 3060K grinder tear up HUGE logs like it was nothing. That thing was impressive.


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## concretemasonry

Just don't put your ex-wife in a wood chipper, especially if you are in CT since they are wise to that tactic and got famous for the forensics a few years ago.


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## Treeandland

With a regular brush chipper nails would dull the blades kind of fast, they could take a few no problem but when they get dull they feed much slower and chip much worse. 
A tub grinder has carbide tipped hammer type teeth that just pulverizes everything, no problem for them. Our county grinds pallets with one of their machines.


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## JD3lta

Treeandland said:


> A tub grinder has carbide tipped hammer type teeth that just pulverizes everything,


That's the kind I was thinking of, I've seen this type where it just eats

The cyclinders with teeth rotate and bang tight to each other and can open to about a foot


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