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4
/ 5
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Great for making mulch!,
August 15, 2008
By DanielJ
from Seattle, WA
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"I purchased this unit to chip branches from my Cedar and fir trees, and it works very nicely. The chipper part works great, but when pushing branches through the chute, your whole arm will shake and rattle from the vibrations of the blade and engine. The only cons I can see from the chipper portion is that when the branch gets shorter than the chute itself, there is no way to continue feeding it into the chipper blade except for gravity and/or using another branch to push the existing one further down. Whatever you do, keep your hands out of the chute, not because your hand will likely touch the blade, but because the branches spin violently within the chute and will smack your fingers very hard (personal experience).
The shredder works okay (I don't have nice fluffy leaves to shred), but with small cedar branches and twigs, the shredder sort of half-heartedly tries to chop down on them without much success. The resulting mass is sort of like running celery through the garbage disposal.
The bagging chute (output) could be better designed. In order to prevent clogging, I just ended up taking the bag and blade guard off the unit and let the debris hit the ground. Be aware that the force of the output will dig a shallow hole in the ground (from the flying debris) if you remove the bag, but the unit no longer clogs up. It goes without saying that make sure you keep away from the output chute (arms, legs, kids, pets) because the force is very great!
I've used it for about 10-12 hours and it still runs like a charm! I did get a defective blade on the chipper portion, but NT was very cooperative and sent a replacement for it."
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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| Overall Rating: |
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4
/ 5
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Village Parcel with Large Garden,
August 14, 2008
By David2
from Pittsford
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"We use the chipper/shredder for general yard cleanup and to make garden mulch. It works well for dry leaves up to small branches. It also does a fine job chopping bark into little bits. Grass and straw (especially wet) will clog the inside. It is best to leave the mulching to the lawn mower. The bagger attachment works, but it is sometimes stubborn to keep in place. We have found the pull start takes very little effort."
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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| Overall Rating: |
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4
/ 5
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Merry Mac Shredder Chipper,
April 22, 2008
By davidd116
from Highland Park IL
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"I bought this shredder/chipper primarily to mulch the large quantity of leaves that fall all around my property in a heavily wooded area. The power of the Merry Mac is more than adequate to handle all that I feed into the large leaf shredder hopper and there is a well designed protective baffle that deals effectively with the "kick-back" of small stones that invariably find their way into the leaf pile. The engine starts easily and will run at full power for extended periods without strain or overheating. The low angle design of the leaf hopper is particularly well thought out.
I have noticed a few minor drawbacks:
- If you are shredding moist or wet leaves, the shredder unit tends to clog during extended use. This requires unbolting and removing the shredder baffle and cleaning out the accumulated gunk - not difficult, but a bit time consuming an annoying if you are trying to get through a lot of leaves. Best to turn over your pile a few days in advance and work with a reasonably dry base of material.
- All "homeowner" shredder/chippers have been designed in part with plaintiff lawyers in mind so that even the most simple minded of us will have to work really hard to feed our hands, feet or toes into the mill. This shows up mostly in the design of the wood chipper hopper which is quite narrow from top to bottom. There is also a permanently attached, scored rubber cover on the top of the hopper which makes it even more difficult for fools to stick their hands down into it when the machine is in operation. As a result, you will not be able to feed any branch that is not reasonably straight into the chipper. Thus, you will have to prepare all of your branches for chipping by breaking them into straight, feedable lengths.
On the balance, this is a great little machine that gives excellent and powerful performance at a very reasonable price ...... if your primary purpose is to mulch large quantities of leaves and chip small branches up to 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
If your primarly purpose runs more to heavier wood chipping, you are better advised to look to dedicated wood chippers - albeit at a much higher cost and with lots and lots of warning labels.
Order placement and delivery by Northern Tool was quick and efficient."
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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| Overall Rating: |
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5
/ 5
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Great little powerhorse,
July 9, 2007
By djb6969
from Long Island, NY
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"Chipper works great, good power, doesn't clog often. Bag attachment could be improved a bit but minor detail."
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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| Overall Rating: |
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4
/ 5
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merry mac shredder/chipper,
July 9, 2007
By markc15800
from olsburg, kansas
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"easy to use, easy to transport and does a great job of chipping. The shredder seems to send waste thru in large pieces but overall I think it is a very good piece of equipment"
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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| Overall Rating: |
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5
/ 5
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Workhorse,
March 9, 2007
By TimberJack
from Clayton, NC
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"I bought this to assist in some land I am clearing. What a workhorse! Although this is probably classified as a homeowner unit, I have been running it 20+ hours a week for the past 5 weeks! I have just now needed to sharpen the chipping blade. Starts first pull every time. Even my wife can start it. (she's 110lbs) Chips the 2 5/8 max. dia. with no problem. (I have even fed it larger). I have yet to use the leaf shredder side. But if it works half as well as the chipper does, it will easily cover my needs. I do recommend tight fitting safety glasses or a full face shield and ear protection while using."
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What is your level of technical expertise?:
Home Handyman
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3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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