garden shredder recommendations

[jbqfc]

Hi all looking for a garden shredder mainly for small branches been looking at online reviews but they are always very mixed making it hard to choose 

so any help would be appreciated 

 

John 

[Hibelroad]

I have had a Bosch shredder for many years and it has had some quite heavy use but works well. It broke down a while ago and I dismantled it to find the cause, in doing so i found it is very solidly built. The cause of the problem was excessive leaves and soft tissue which was jamming up the works and caused the capacitor to blow. Its now repaired and back giving good service. The secret is to avoid feeding in branches with too many leaves and avoid very thin sappy pieces. The only problem is that the Bosch models are quite pricey, but if they are still built like mine they will be a long term investment. 

[Fat Controller]

Just a thought; might it be worth hiring one to see how you get on with it? Hire companies would be fairly picky about what machines they bought, I would imagine.

[micklner]

9 minutes ago, Hibelroad said:

I have had a Bosch shredder for many years and it has had some quite heavy use but works well. It broke down a while ago and I dismantled it to find the cause, in doing so i found it is very solidly built. The cause of the problem was excessive leaves and soft tissue which was jamming up the works and caused the capacitor to blow. Its now repaired and back giving good service. The secret is to avoid feeding in branches with too many leaves and avoid very thin sappy pieces. The only problem is that the Bosch models are quite pricey, but if they are still built like mine they will be a long term investment. 

Must be a better version than the Bosch one I have , constantly jams on even the thinnest branches and leaves. I got so fed up with it it is hardly used.

 

I would'nt recomend one.

[richard_t]

I've just got a Bosch AXT 25TC and it's shredded everything I've thrown at it so far. Which has been a big elder bush/tree, a Holly bush and a rose bush (not recommended as it catches on stuff as it's dragged into the crushing bit)

 

In a couple of weeks time it's hopefully going to crush a lot of laurel and beach hedging.

 

The downside was the price and it's quite heavy and not that easy to move about over gravel. 

[Ron Ron Ron]

There are two types of shredder. Drum or Disc.

Make sure you're choosing the right sort for your intended use.

 

I had a Bosch shredder a few years ago.

It only came out of the shed a couple of times a year.

At 4 years old, the motor mechanism seized up and it wasn't repairable. No parts.

Long out of warranty, I was a bit miffed after only being used a half dozen times. A complete waste of money.

Bosch's consumer grade power tools for DIY and Garden use, are a bit of a mixed bag these days, with many items being cheap Chinese made products, being priced to capitalise on the brand name.

 

Earlier this year, having looked around at various options, I bought a new shredder from ScrewFix.

The brand is Mac Allister, which may or may not be a Kingfisher group (B&Q, ScrewFix etc,) own brand.

I have an extending, pole hedge trimmer and a garden strimmer from this brand and the build quality and reliability easily matches, if not betters most of the "known brand", consumer grade equivalents.

The shredder is quite well made and and appears to be fairly robust. 

It also costs a fraction of what the similar Bosch machine costs and is currently advertised at £99.99 !!!!

 

Mac Allister MSHP2800D-2

 

 

.

[boxbrownie]

4 hours ago, micklner said:

Must be a better version than the Bosch one I have , constantly jams on even the thinnest branches and leaves. I got so fed up with it it is hardly used.

 

I would'nt recomend one.

I bought a shredder from Aldi a very long time ago, it was brilliant and I found out it was a “crusher” type with hard serrated steel rollers which mash the branches into pieces, it broke last year and I went out and bought a Bosch shredder, it’s completely different as it uses a very high speed spinning bladed cutter which shreds the (thinner) branches and leaves......to be honest the Aldi crusher was much better than the Bosch shredder type.

[gordon s]

Had a Bosch shredder for at least 10 years now and I always joke it’s one of the best things we ever bought. It’s a slow moving cutter drum that just demolishes everything we throw at it. Cuts through 1” branches with ease and works perfectly every time. It’s paid for itself years ago and shows no signs of ever failing.

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, gordon s said:

Had a Bosch shredder for at least 10 years now and I always joke it’s one of the best things we ever bought. It’s a slow moving cutter drum that just demolishes everything we throw at it. Cuts through 1” branches with ease and works perfectly every time. It’s paid for itself years ago and shows no signs of ever failing.

And that’s the type I was expecting to buy, but mine turned out to be the blade type shredder, much worse but probably a lot cheaper?

[PenrithBeacon]

I have a Bosch too. I find that the cutters are poor, they need to be made of HSS because plants are made of  cellulose but they seem to be made of carbon steel if not MS case hardened. To stop it jamming you need to mix up leaves and small branches,better to let leaves go brown first. 

[micklner]

3 minutes ago, PenrithBeacon said:

I have a Bosch too. I find that the cutters are poor, they need to be made of HSS because plants are made of  cellulose but they seem to be made of carbon steel if not MS case hardened. To stop it jamming you need to mix up leaves and small branches,better to let leaves go brown first. 

Polite way of saying useless , mine is a blade version. A big bag and a trip to the tip is far more efficient .

[Penrhos1920]

4 hours ago, richard_t said:

I've just got a Bosch AXT 25TC and it's shredded everything I've thrown at it so far. Which has been a big elder bush/tree, a Holly bush and a rose bush (not recommended as it catches on stuff as it's dragged into the crushing bit)

 

In a couple of weeks time it's hopefully going to crush a lot of laurel and beach hedging.

 

The downside was the price and it's quite heavy and not that easy to move about over gravel. 

 

1 hour ago, gordon s said:

Had a Bosch shredder for at least 10 years now and I always joke it’s one of the best things we ever bought. It’s a slow moving cutter drum that just demolishes everything we throw at it. Cuts through 1” branches with ease and works perfectly every time. It’s paid for itself years ago and shows no signs of ever failing.

 

I’ve got one of these and it’s the best garden tool I’ve got.  Gets used many times each year.  Some stuff with lots of leaves does tend to block the turbine drum blade, but similar stuff with similar leaves goes straight through.  Best if the leaves can be left to dry for a fortnight.  Once you’ve started a branch feeding it just pulls the rest in.  

 

A couple of years ago I cut down a tree for a friend.  The trunk was 6” diameter.  Whilst I logged all the wood over 1.5” diameter my son shredded the smaller stuff.  Even though I used a chainsaw we finished the job together.

[gordon s]

Checked out the web and mine appears to be a Bosch Silent AXT 2000hp. I guess it’s no longer in production. Maybe they don’t make ‘em like they used to.....

Edited August 29, 2020 by gordon s

[StuAllen]

I was looking for a shredder a few months ago as we started redesigning our garden, lots of over grown bushes and shrubs to get through - we have this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-mis2500-2500w-80kg-hr-cutting-shredder-220-240v/354fg (or an older version) it’s a few years old but has a flaw - it get jams really quickly - virtually after every branch. We decided on the Bosch drum shredder but was sold out everywhere, so had to persevere with our old shredder. Looking at it the reason it jams, leaves get stuck when exiting the shoot, then this just backs everything up and you need to open it up to clear the blockage. The leaves are getting stuck on 5 plastic spikes that go across the bottom of the shoot, think they’re designed to slow the chipped wood down. I’ve modified it and cut the spikes out, now it works flawlessly. We’ve shredded all sorts since the modification - it’s happily eaten holly bushes, rose bushes brambles, numerous shrubs. Looking back I’m glad everywhere had sold out as there is now nothing wrong with the cheap McAlister one.

Edited August 29, 2020 by StuAllen
Correcting a typo

[jbqfc]

5 minutes ago, StuAllen said:

I was looking for a shredder a few months ago as we started redesigning our garden, lots of over grown bushes and shrubs to get through - we have this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-mis2500-2500w-80kg-hr-cutting-shredder-220-240v/354fg (or an older version) it’s a few years old but has a flaw - it get jams really quickly - virtually after every branch. We decided on the Bosch drum shredder but was sold out everywhere, so has to persevere with our old shredder. Looking at it the reason it jams is leaves get stuck exiting the shoot, then this just backs everything up and you need to open it up to clear the blockage. The leaves are getting stuck on 5 plastic spikes the go across the bottom the the shoot, think they’re designed to slow the chipped wood down. I’ve modified it and taken the spikes out, now it works flawlessly. We’ve shredded all sorts since the modification - it’s happily eaten holly bushes, rose bushes brambles, numerous shrubs. Looking back I’m glad everywhere had sold out as there is now nothing wrong with the cheap McAlister one.

 

looks good and not that expensive a few of the reviews mention that they removed the spikes 

 

John 

[Guest]

Had a load of bramble and hawthorne to clear a couple of years ago.

Got this from B&Q. It's the crushing sort and much better than the spinning blade sort we had before that.

 

https://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-mshp2800d-2-corded-2800w-silent-shredder/3663602627357_BQ.prd

[BobM]

Hi,

Information on shredding woody waste here on the RHS website....

 

 

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=635

 

Regards always

 

Bob

[jbqfc]

On 29/08/2020 at 19:42, StuAllen said:

I was looking for a shredder a few months ago as we started redesigning our garden, lots of over grown bushes and shrubs to get through - we have this https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-mis2500-2500w-80kg-hr-cutting-shredder-220-240v/354fg (or an older version) it’s a few years old but has a flaw - it get jams really quickly - virtually after every branch. We decided on the Bosch drum shredder but was sold out everywhere, so had to persevere with our old shredder. Looking at it the reason it jams, leaves get stuck when exiting the shoot, then this just backs everything up and you need to open it up to clear the blockage. The leaves are getting stuck on 5 plastic spikes that go across the bottom of the shoot, think they’re designed to slow the chipped wood down. I’ve modified it and cut the spikes out, now it works flawlessly. We’ve shredded all sorts since the modification - it’s happily eaten holly bushes, rose bushes brambles, numerous shrubs. Looking back I’m glad everywhere had sold out as there is now nothing wrong with the cheap McAlister one.

 

well i went out and got one of these i must say it has done a great job of reducing my buddleia pruning to shreds only use it on dried out stuff so far so has not blocked up on me yet 

Thanks John 

[Ron Ron Ron]

On 29/08/2020 at 18:04, Ron Ron Ron said:

......Earlier this year, having looked around at various options, I bought a new shredder from ScrewFix.

The brand is Mac Allister, which may or may not be a Kingfisher group (B&Q, ScrewFix etc,) own brand.........

 

.....The shredder is quite well made and and appears to be fairly robust. 

It also costs a fraction of what the similar Bosch machine costs and is currently advertised at £99.99 !!!!

 

Mac Allister MSHP2800D-2

 

 

 

The price has gone back up to £129.99.

That's still a very good price for a pretty decent machine.

I had a look at a Bosch in B&Q last week. I didn't think it was as well made as the Mac Allister.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Ron Ron Ron