What to do with larger woody materials?

[VAmaters]

What can I do with the larger woody debris that takes so long to break down?

I live in the city, have two garbage bail composting bins setup in my yard and grow garlic, tomatoes, cukes, etc. mostly in raised beds.
Each year I have to trim alot of hedges, bushes and trees to make sure I get enough sun for everything to grow and to keep things looking neat.
The stuff I cut started to pile up. So I built a bin out of wooden pallets - just a bottom and 3 sides nothing fancy.
I stuffed all of the bigger stuff in there - branches, twigs, leaves, etc. - all year long. I mashed it down, turned it over when I could and basically filled the thing to the top.
Now I'm in my second year of this and I start to trim trees and stuff and have no where to put everything.

what can I do with the larger woody debris that takes so long to break down?
the bin has shrunk considerably so there is room for more, but I can't even turn what is in there now.
I have a fire pit but would rather not burn it all, and its soo hot now and I don't like big fires.
I would like to make a use of this stuff but how?
I can only shovel so much into my compost bin and I try to work it in there. but I don't want a bunch of big sticks in my compost either.

any ideas? I really don't want to put this in my garbage pail for the city to take away like trash!!

[Dillbert]

I have an electric chipper / shredder - handles up to 1.5 inches. also has an attachment to shred leaves.

works great for the small stuff - produces an almost mulch sized product.

the electric is nice - no gas, oil, plug it in and it starts. . .

Steinmax is the brand - from the early '80's - I have not seen them advertised in USA anymore.

[VAmaters]

wonder why I never though of that!
and greenworks makes one too. I like their products although they typically get bad reviews on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/GreenWorks-24052- ... B0030BG1JA

thanks for the suggestions.
I suppose after I chip it up I can use it as mulch or drop it right into the compost.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup! I love my little electric chipper shredder. Anything that is too heavy duty for it becomes firewood, but all the smaller woody branches and trimmings go through the chipper-shredder. So I never buy wood chip mulch, use my own home made. I can use all the mulch I make, but if I ever have too much, it could be a brown in the compost pile.

[tomc]

Shred it as earlier posters recommend or bury it below spade depth as though it were a hugelkultur.

[estorms]

I would love to have a shredder, but I worry about shredding my body parts. I burn the woody stuff and put the ashes on my compost pile. I have lots of briers and they seem to have thorns even when everything else is composted.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know about all of them, but the kind of chipper- shredders I have and all the ones I have seen, you can't possibly shred any body parts. The shredder knives are at the bottom of a big long funnel that you feed sticks and stuff into, which is longer than your arm, so you can't get to them. The funnel is removable for cleaning stuff out of the blades if they get tangled, etc, but at that point the safety mechanism will not allow the blades to turn on when the funnel is off.

[estorms]

That would be a wonderful thing for me. We are clearing eight acres. I take a truckload of medicine and have a lot of dizziness and other nuisance side effects. I imagined my sleeve getting caught and pulling my arm into the shredder. (I grew up filling silos; If you slipped and fell into the chute, you were chopped into small pieces and blown into the silo with the corn.)

[rainbowgardener]

can't happen...

e.g.:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/t/203900058? ... b8CUUbAiZY

The whole yellow & black top part lifts off, the blades are in the bottom black part. If the yellow (and black top) funnel is off, the blades will not turn on. No way you or your sleeve can get anywhere near the blades.

They make them idiot proof!

[toxcrusadr]

We got an electric a couple yrs. ago, can't remember the brand but it might be from Harbor Freight. It works fine for small stuff. No real danger of hurting oneself.

You could try a machete, chop stuff up using an old stump as a chopping block...but that's probably at least as dangerous as the electric shredder, if not more. It does cost only 10 bucks though.

[rainbowgardener]

I would think way more dangerous. You can't hurt yourself with electric chipper, could amputate something with machete. More work also, but more exercise and fun if you are into that sort of thing.

[estorms]

Idiot proof is what I need. I am not an idiot through and through, just with tools, machinery, and the way things work. I struggle folding and unfolding a folding chair. My husband has suggested a shredder several times. If they are that foolproof, maybe we will get one. I learn a lot of good stuff here. Yesterday I cut my finger on a potato peeler so the machete is definitely out!:)

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, set it up (which is basically putting the top on the base and attaching the wheels), plug it in, push the on button and start feeding sticks in to the funnel.

[toxcrusadr]

A couple of suggestions from a user's perspective:

1) Green branches shred much easier than dry, so the sooner you can do it after you cut them the better.

2) When preparing sticks to shred, generally you cut off side branches to get the stick to go in. It doesn't matter how long they are, but rather how wide.

3) You'll need a short bucket at the outlet to catch the chips, unless your machine comes with a special bag to catch them. Otherwise they will fly all over.

4) Feed sticks in bigger end first, and hold on to the smaller end. The flexibility of the small end will absorb a lot of the vibration caused by the chipper that would be transmitted up to your hand. Doing it the other way around chips up the flexible end first and the vibration will increase to a potentially uncomfortable level as you feed it in.

5) Use earplugs or headphones, goggles, and gloves.

6) Don't feed too fast or you'll clog it up and stall it. When this happens, shut it off ASAP to avoid overheating the motor. Then unplug, open the machine and unclog. You'll learn where the limit is for your machine once you cross over it a few times.