With a market full of different wood chippers, all from different brands with varying specifications, it’s not always easy to know which model to choose.
The most obvious choice you’ll have to make is whether you want an electric or petrol wood chipper, which has been covered further in the ‘Choosing Petrol or Electric’ section above.
Aside from picking between electric and petrol, there are various other specifications to look for, depending on the type of job you’re hoping to do.
These are some of the main factors to consider, and some may be more or less important to you depending on your intention for the machine:
Engine Power
If you choose an electric wood chipper, likelihood is it won’t have quite as much power as a petrol model. But that’s certainly not to say that it won’t be useful in the garden.
Electric wood chippers with a motor of approximately 2500 W should be sufficiently powerful for the majority of standard garden tasks. However, they likely won’t be able to cope with such large branches as a large petrol wood chipper.
Petrol wood chippers can vary significantly in the size of their engines. Models with engines between 100 – 200 cc tend to be able to deal with branches of around 40 mm in diameter. You’ll need a larger engine of around 400 cc + to properly get through branches closer to 100 mm in diameter.
For the most part, wood chippers of 2500 W or 100 – 200 cc will be sufficient for most gardeners. These should be able to cope with most standard prunings and clippings – although they may get clogged by a lot of green material.
More powerful chippers will be needed if you are trying to dispose of bigger branches that have been pruned from a tree, for example.
Maximum Branch Diameter
Before buying a wood chipper, take a look at the type of things you’ll want to put in it.
Whilst it might be tempting to go for a machine that can cope with branches of 100 mm in diameter ‘just in case’, you might end up paying a lot for a machine that’s more powerful than you need.
Branches of 50 mm can actually be larger than you might expect, so it’s worth checking how large the branches in your garden are. If you only need a wood chipper that can cope with branches 50 mm in diameter, you could save a lot of money over a larger one.
However, on the flip side – there will be no point trying to force branches that are too big through a machine that can’t cope.
Tip: Although manufacturers often state the branch size that their wood chipper can cope with, it’s worth checking customer reviews online to get an honest opinion. Some wood chippers might state that they can manage branches of 100 mm in diameter when really that’s their absolutely limit. First-hand opinions can be invaluable for getting a proper feel for the chippers capabilities.
Ability to Handle Green Materials
Most wood chippers are better at dealing with hard wooden branches as opposed to green materials.
If you’ve got more green material to shred than hard branches, you might be better off with a shredder rather than a chipper. However, there are some machines that can manage both to a certain extent.
For example, Bosch’s AXT 25 TC Quiet Shredder is able to handle branches up to 5 cm as well as smaller, softer prunings from bushes. However, it doesn’t cut the soft prunings into ‘chips’, instead leaving them at a slightly longer length.
Most wood chippers will struggle and jam if fed too much green matter like leaves. Often, even when feeding in longer ‘green’ branches it’s a good idea to mix them in with some harder branches to encourage them through the hopper.