WEN 41119 Electric Wood Chipper and Shredder, 15-Amp, Black

I've bought a WEN product in the past (an electric snowblower). Assembly very straight forward, you'll be using it in less than 15 minutse. It's like the black & decker of products, cheap but works pretty decent. It pulls in decent sized tree limbs in just as advertised.. little bit loud, but to be expected. It grinds it to a very nice fine wood chip. I mostly bought it to reduce the volume it takes up so I can take more to the dump at a time, but I could see using some of the mulch around my property.

I got this to process the fire hazard plants in my property. It’s mostly oak and sage brush. But there are several other plants. A good variety. Part of me was worried that it may be just too weak, trip constantly or the machine would break down. I worked it entire day without any issues. I am pleasantly surprised by the quality. The manual is well written with attention to detail, with all replaceable parts listed clearly. This is a legitimate tool.My only wish would be a slightly easier feed port that can aid the branches and paddle into the hole. The straight edges seem unnecessary. Additionally, the paddle seems to be an afterthought. It’s hallow plastic, (like a toy baseball bat) so got deformed easily. Its mounting position is also too low for a tool that’s only occasionally needed. I think I’ll ditch that and use a thick branch instead.The shredded mulch is also very usable. Pieces are small enough to compost easily.Motor is only as loud as a shop vacuum. While shredding, naturally it gets louder. But I was comfortable even when not using an earpiece and did not worry about neighbors being bothered.Overall, I recommend this for any homeowner with a garden that has trees requiring annual attention. It’s a good designed and fairly priced tool.

Fantastic for HOME use! It is VERY powerful.Let me give you some hints:. Do NOT be in a hurry -. Slow and Steady - DO NOT OVER FEED - USE THE PLUNGER. DRIED OUT *Skinny* Twigs and DRIED OUT Vines (*cut into smaller pieces*) work the best!. DO NOT LET YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN NEAR THIS - IT'S VERY POWERFUL!

I've had this thing for six months now. I got it to chip windfall branches and creeper stems with which to make compost. It will chip seasoned sticks up to 3/4", but it jams up with anything green. When it jams up, shreds of wood wrap around the blade disk, and you have to remove the hopper and wrestle with the stuck debris to release it. Speaking of which, the release knob needs dozens of half-turns to open or close it, why couldn't the release not have a quarter turn catch that doesn't take several minutes to activate? So it takes hours to make about two gallons of chips, and it's mostly not chips. More than half the material you input ends up as long, split twigs that are not good for compost. Also, it does not take 1 1/2" sticks as advertised, unless the sticks are rotten to the consistency of cheese (domestic cheddar, not Parmesan) and straight as a ruler.This product is a joke. I am not using mine any more and it will probably soon go to the landfill. I discovered that tree contractors will deliver a load of chips (maybe 10 cubic yards or more) for free, that would be all the chips I'll ever need.For composting purposes, I discovered that you can make biochar using all sizes of waste wood. You can use timbers as wide as three inches, just chop them to 2-foot lengths with a chainsaw, and split them with an ax if they are too big to char totally. The resultant biochar is perfect size chips, and they have micropores which shelter the sort of bacteria you need in your compost, they also absorb any harmful gases like methane or ammonia produced in the compost, and they sequester the carbon for hundreds of years, while also doing the job wood chips do, i.e. creating spaces in the compost for air to circulate and be available for benevolent bugs.In other words, you don't need this stupid machine, and you can save yourself large gobs of time and frustration by not buying one. I'd give this zero stars if possible.Also, the plastic plunger that is supposed to push items down is fragile. Mine is repaired with duck tape.UPDATE: After reading some of the reviews, I decided to try removing and reversing the blades. A standard 6MM allen key did not work. It was impossible to exert enough force under the blade guard. I tried a t-handle driver, which usually works for recalcitrant screws, also didn't work. I was contemplating drilling out the screw heads and using a counter-screw extractor. This would probably require replacement screws for over $20. Eventually I used an allen key with a handle attachment providing leverage on the short side while allowing use of the long side of the L-shaped key, rising above the blade guard. Those screws are torqued in extremely tight at the factory. One assumes this is to avoid liability if a blade detaches at 4000 rpm and causes injury. Which begs the question: why doesn't the manufacturer provide the proper torque setting so I can keep the same level of safety as per the original manufacturer. Let alone how to get a torque wrench with an Allen adapter into the small space available. I ended up tightening it up as hard as I could. When I fired it up with the blade reversed, it did better, but there were still plenty of long split twigs needing to be sorted out.Incidentally, the screw heads had a lot of debris in them, which prevented the Allen key making a good fit. I had to clean out the heads with a small brush and some alcohol. And I also put some WD40 on the screws the day before.They say that the blades can be sharpened, but the damage to the used cutting edge looks quite deep and there might not be enough case-hardened meat left on the core steel to properly sharpen the blade.[Update] I got that free delivery of wood chips from a local tree surgeon, so the 12 cubic yards is a lifetime supply, and I can always get another truckload if I run out. My windfall wood now gets made into biochar, so this wood chipper is retired and taking up room in my shed until I figure out how to recycle it or reuse the parts. Imho the thing is built down to a price with the cheapest possible components, so there's probably not much in there with any reuse value. I will say that this wood chip delivery is about 50 wheelbarrow loads so it will take a while to move it from my front lawn to a corner to store it in the back, but it's excellent exercise.