Wood Chippers and Shredders

Wood Chippers and Chipper Shredders: What This Collection Covers

Two brands are represented here: Yardbeast with eight machines and Boss Industrial with three. The lighter end of the range suits property maintenance, orchard work and seasonal cleanup. The upper end is built for crews that feed limbs for hours at a stretch. Between them sit combination chipper shredders that take round branches through a chipping chute and soft material through a separate wide-mouth shredding hopper.

The practical distinction is chipper versus chipper shredder. A dedicated chipper reduces round wood into chips. A chipper shredder adds hammers or flails that break down leaves, vines and stringy green material that a chipping drum handles poorly. The Yardbeast 2090 lists 24 steel hammers and 6 Fullshred flails alongside its 3.5-inch chipping capacity. Boss Industrial's CGR50 and CGR60 both publish a 10:1 reduction ratio between what goes in and what comes out. If most of your volume is leaf litter and brush rather than limbs, the shredding side of the machine will do more work than the chute.

How to Size a Wood Chipper by Capacity and Engine

Buy for the largest diameter you cut regularly, not the largest you have cut once. Rated capacity assumes favorable conditions: straight, fresh, reasonably clean stems fed one at a time. Crotches and forks, seasoned hardwood, and stems dragged through dirt all load the drum harder than a clean limb of the same diameter. A machine sized exactly to your typical branch will feel undersized in real work, and operators will start forcing material, which is where damage and injuries come from.

Engine output matters as much as throat opening, because it determines how quickly the drum recovers after a heavy bite. Compare the two ends of this catalog: the Yardbeast 2510 pairs a 2.5-inch capacity with a 277cc 9.5 HP Kohler, while the Yardbeast 7027 pairs 7 inches with a 747cc Kohler Command Pro CH752 V-twin rated 27 HP. That is not a small step up in either dimension.

Gravity Self-Feed vs. Hydraulic Feed

Most machines in this range are gravity self-feed: the operator places material in the hopper and the rotating drum pulls it through. The Yardbeast 4521 is listed this way. Self-feed is simple, has fewer components to service, and works well when limbs are moderate and the crew is small.

Hydraulic feed changes the work pattern. The Yardbeast 7027 uses a hydraulic feed system with electronic control, a 10-inch feed roller on an 8-bearing carriage, and feed roller torque up to 2,500 ft-lb. The roller pulls material at a controlled rate and can be stopped or reversed, which lets one person load continuously without wrestling the stem. On production work that difference shows up in fatigue and in how consistently the engine stays in its power band.

Towing, Transport and Site Access

How the machine reaches the brush is a real constraint, not an afterthought. The Boss Industrial CGR50 and CGR60 both use a 2-inch ball coupler, and the CGR50's tow bar is removable without tools. The Yardbeast 3514 is offered in an ATV tow-behind configuration for properties where a truck cannot get to the work. Several units ride on ATV-style or pneumatic wheels — the Yardbeast 2090 lists 15-inch pneumatic wheels — which matters on soft ground and gravel.

Before you buy, check the gate widths, side-yard clearances and slopes you will actually cross, and confirm your tow vehicle's coupler and hitch height match. Also plan where chips go. A machine with an adjustable discharge chute, such as the 270-degree rotating chute on the Yardbeast 4521 or the dual-direction chute on the CGR50, lets you blow directly into a trailer or bed rather than double-handling the pile.

Safety, PPE and Operator Training

Chippers are among the least forgiving machines on a job site. ANSI Z133, the safety standard for arboricultural operations, sets safe operating practices for brush chippers, including feeding procedures and how operators position themselves relative to the infeed. OSHA 1910.266 covers logging operations and applies where chipping is part of that work. OSHA 1910.147 governs lockout/tagout during servicing and maintenance, which is the rule that matters most when someone reaches in to clear a jam — the engine comes off, and the drum must be stopped, not coasting.

For personal protective equipment, OSHA 1910.133 covers eye and face protection and OSHA 1910.95 covers occupational noise exposure; hearing protection and a face shield are baseline around a running chipper. Loose clothing, cuffs, drawstrings and gloves that can be caught by material are all hazards. Machine-level features help but do not replace procedure: the Boss Industrial CGR40, for example, lists a locking system to prevent accidental start-up.

Blades, Maintenance and Cost of Ownership

Purchase price is only part of the picture. Blades are the consumable that drives chip quality and fuel use. Dull blades tear rather than cut, load the engine, and make the machine feel underpowered long before anything is actually worn out. Several units here use reversible dual-edge blades — the Yardbeast 4521 lists two reversible dual-edge hardened tool steel blades, and both Boss Industrial CGR models use dual-edge steel blades — so an edge swap buys time before resharpening or replacement.

Beyond blades, budget for belts and clutch wear on belt-driven drums (the CGR series uses double-belt driven drums, the CGR60 with a centrifugal clutch), plus routine air filtration and oil service on the engine. Dusty chipping is hard on intake filtration; the Yardbeast 7027 addresses this with a cyclonic air filtration system. Small off-road gasoline engines sold in the US are certified to EPA emissions requirements, with additional CARB requirements in California, so confirm the configuration you need if you operate there. Warranty terms vary by model — the Yardbeast 2090 lists a 2-year limited warranty — so check the individual product page rather than assuming a common term across the catalog.