manual leaf shredder?

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Hi!

I grow cut flowers and am looking for ideas to shred ALOT of leaves to use for mulch. It would be great if I could find some piece of OLD farm machinery or something like that. Keep in mind that I use an antique cultivator and am a spinner, weaver and restore antique sock knitting machines. So think anything that cranks, treadles or pedals...Any ideas?

Thanks! Terri DeJong Baldwin, Wisconsin

-- Terri DeJong (dejong@baldwin-telecom.net), August 31, 2001

Answers

See if you can find an old power mower with a bagger. Put your leaves in a pile or row and start mowing over them. It shreds them up and you just dump the bag where you want them.

-- Dan (hoppingator321@yahoo.com), August 31, 2001.

There used to be a machine called a hammer mill. I have seen old ones almost as small as modern garden chipper/shredder. Actually modern chipper/shedders are very simular, but lighter duty. Still dont remember seeing any hammer mills hand cranked. Most had the big wide flat belt pulley to run off small tractor or stationary engine. Who knows, might have been one that ran off a mule going round in a circle. I have seen such for sorghum mill and even for a stationary hay baler. A hammer mill would have had to turn fairly fast though so if mule powered, the mule would have had to input to some sort of overdrive gearbox.

I would think that anything totally human powered would be too small or too slow to shred any great number of leaves. An power mower as previously suggested would probably be most effective for least cost although the old relic hammer mills tend to go for scrap prices at least last time I saw one sell maybe three or four years ago.

-- Hermit John (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), September 01, 2001.


I have a manual leaf shredder. When we bought this housse I spotted it and the owners gave it to me.It works great for small piles and dry piles [ and its nice to have no noise unlike my big chipper] but it is SLOW. Check ebay and you might pick up a manual one cheap.basicly you could make one by getting the insides of a push fertilizer and adding a handle to turn it faster. you could probably get it cheaper on ebay then to make unless you have a old spreader laying around.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), September 01, 2001.

Wear protective eye gear and put leaves in a garbage can . The stick the weedwhacker in and let 'er rip. Then throw in more leaves and repeat.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), September 01, 2001.

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