Kitchen Garden Forum

Thanks for the photos. I didn't think it would be as chunky as that when it had been crushed. My ordinary shredder does do it a lot finer than that but like has been said it is very noisy and tends to clog if I do a lot of green prunings. I is better on stuff that has dried out a bit, or a mixture.

Both the crunchers and the spinning sharp blades that cut more finely get blocked with wet or fresh-fine materials.

The consistency of those wood-crunchings is perfect for the walk-ways between beds but far to course for composting.

The more expensive machines have better cutter-blocks that limit the depth of each cut of the the bales rotation so you get finer cuttings and less blockages. if you look at a modern circular saw blade it has what is called, "Chip-limiters" in between the cutting teeth. This is what's missing on cheaper shredders.

A partial blockage just above the cutter creates chip limitation for a while until the whole lot is cleared-out.

I haven't used this machine properly yet though I had a similar one before and you do get a knack. And of course, the material has to be dry.

Sometimes not taking the risk is the bigger risk, I didn't really want two machines for two reasons. Cost and storage.

To do what I wanted to do means having the two types of machine, a cruncher for the walkways and the spinning blade type to get compostable material. This £90 machine from Screwfix is fantastic for composting, yes it'll block up you shove to much damp stuff through though all-in-all it a cracking machine.