My husband would like to get a wood chipper for me to use as we clear our land. I'll be the one doing nearly all the work due to the demands of his job. We have two boys, 6 and 3 years old, who will be with me all the time (we homeschool). Can it be set up in such a way that I can use it without danger to them? Bear in mind that I've never even seen such a piece of equipment so I have no idea what they look like, and if they're fed from the top or side.

Alternately, will goats do nearly the same thing as a shredder over time? Meaning get rid of underbrush/junk trees without our having to pile them up and burn them, and improve the soil (which is what we'll do with the wood chips).

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), July 18, 2001

Answers

If you have no alternative (ie. someone else to watch the children) then at least wait until your husband is home to watch them. A shrreder will eat a kids arm as fast as a 3 inch diameter wood limb. Or put up a temporay fence around the work area. You will spend most of the time gathering the stuff to shred and just a few minutes shredding it. Remember that sound that the tree trimmers make when they clear out around a power line, how close to that would you want your kids to be?

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), July 18, 2001.

NO You should never operate any machinery when children are around. This includes a lawn mower. Look what a chipper is ment to do, Grind up wood into chips. What could it to to an arm or leg.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), July 18, 2001.

Elizabeth.... ditto about the kiddos. But, my BF cuts things down and then leaves in a pile and the goats feast on the leaves. Maybe you could do that and then chip after they have stripped off all they want. A chipper is such a nice alternative to burning, especially down here where we have a burn ban in effect just about all summer and there are so many uses for all that mulch. Could ya send me a trailer load? (((grin))))

-- Carole in Texas (carle@earthlink.net), July 18, 2001.

I have one and I use it a lot but I would never even consider doing it with children that small around. I think the idea of cutting and staking the brush is a good one. It chips much better when it has dryed a bit anyway.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), July 18, 2001.

Not only for the kids saftey but your also .God forbid if you should get hurt and there was no one there to call for help .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), July 18, 2001.

Always best to use equipment like that with another adult around. (see above.) We usually feed brush to our goats, what's left, the kids break up into woodstove sized pieces, and voila, kindling for the winter. Well, part of it anyway. I let my oldest use a bow saw for cutting the larger pieces ...

-- Dave (peasedj@sparc.isl.net), July 18, 2001.

Yeah, those machines are really vicious. I would say don't even consider it unless your kids are behind a fence. It is a fairly quick job.

Also, you have to make SURE the kids don't have any way of turning on the chipper by themselves. A 3-year-old boytypically is fascinated by machines. if you have a chipper you would have to make sure that there is absolutely no way that your boys could ever turn it on.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net`), July 18, 2001.

Elizabeth

No doubt about it, a chipper/shredder could be a dangerous machine, but then so are so many other thing about the home. Washing machine, cooker, hot water, food processor...I could go on and on. Small garden size chippers I have seen are fed by pushing the material down or into a tube which has an opening of about 4 inches and is about a foot long. The rest of the machine is well protected.

I would suggest you get a look at one and imagine how you would use it. You should be standing right at the input position all the time the machine is running and I can't see how it is any more dangerous than those other things.

All hitherto before not withstanding, goats sound like an attractive alternative.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), July 18, 2001.

We just recently managed to purchase a chipper/shredder. We have five acres, of which about three and a half are wooded. We have goats, and yes, goats will strip every tiny speck of green vegetation from your property, and they will strip the bark off any small trees, thus killing them. It will take about two years to complete that process, and then you still have the dead trees to deal with. Our land was full of saplings, all sizes, heights, and shapes. Also we have big trees that are continually dropping limbs and twigs, and tons of leaves. My husband wanted the chipper for chopping up the woody stuff, and I wanted the shredder to make compost.

Our youngest is seven years old. The chipper chute is so long that he couldn't reach the blade if he tried. The shredder chute is wider, and I suppose a youngster could climb something and maybe fall in it, if unattended. With a total of six children, I have learned to never say it will never happen. But I wouldn't say the chipper/shredder we have is any more dangerous than a lawnmower for a three year old.

You probably visualize, as I did, this machine pulling things into it, but it doesn't. You have to push it in. Therefore, I would say it might be more dangerous for an adult to use than for a young one to accidentally get hurt on. Even then, as long as my husband's arms are, he might barely reach the blade if he stretched.

What we have found is that when the limbs contact the blade, they are jarred by it, and when you are holding the other end in your hand, it will whip back and forth somewhat and bruise your hand. Leather gloves are a must for using the chipper. The shredder side chokes easily, and the stuff must be fed gradually into it. But we love ours. We have made really nice chipped mulch for our chicken pens, and when it rains, the water washes all the dirty stuff through, so the top layer stays pretty clean, and it dries out quickly. Also, we ran the compost through the shredder before putting it on the garden, and it just came out as rich, dark dirt. Wonderful stuff!

Even though I, as a homestead wife, have done just about everything a man can do around the place, this one thing I've left to my husband so far, and either I, or some of the kids help him. It isn't a walk in the park to use one, even for a man. It really is easier to wheel the machine to an area with the sticks and brush and work around it in a big circle, and then move it to another area, than to pile the sticks in one place. They become a tangled mess, and then you can't just pull one out, and they must be fed through the chipper one at a time.

Just a few thoughts from a family who waited long for the machine and appreciates it very much!

-- Lela Picking (stllwtrs55@aol.com), July 19, 2001.