Shredder

phildig

Hello and thank you for reading this message.
Would you be able to suggest an efficient garden waste shredder? It would probably be for smaller branches, twigs, and to chop up leaves into smaller compostable sizes. Probably not for bigger branches as those are used for building a compost enclosure, but maybe in due course shredder could turn those into mulch?
Hopefully looking for last seasons type model that might be appearing second hand for sale on the internet. Preferably not too noisy.
Thank you.

Hostafan1

I got mine free on freecycle. 

Posy

You wouldn't want one like ours - a very noisy petrol driven one, but I would suggest that you are likely to find that you wish you had bought something more powerful. It's like greenhouses - they are never big enough! Go for the more rather than less.

Nanaboo

I bought mine from Aldi a few years back takes everything I need to shred. Yesterday I knocked over some screws and one went down the shoot, we did manage to remove it and now I have covered it with and old but clean compost bag. Would be lost with out the shredder.

Pete.8

I have a Bosch AXT 25 TC and I'm very pleased with it.
It takes branches up to 45mm and munches through them quickly, efficiently and very quietly.
It works fine with twigs and dead perennial material too but it's not going to deal with piles of leaves or general weeds.
I did have a cheaper one previously which was forever getting blocked and was incredibly noisy too

a1154

Mine is from Screwfix a mac allister. I think you have to be a bit gentle with it, it’s not that robust. It’s not brilliant for anything that’s not long and fairly straight, like a twig. You couldn’t do leaves with it. I’m pleased with its output though, much easier to compost. 

Lyn

We got this one, bought in 2011 as you see,  it gets a lot of hard work here, we’ve replaced the blade once, you can turn them over but not sharpen them.  Will buy another blade this year probably.
if you can get a good 2nd hand one it should be ok,  no telling with that though, someone may be getting rid because it’s knackered.

Muddle-Up

We've had our old Bosch 2000 for donkey's years.  Tough, reliable, not that noisy.  Other brands are available, of course...but the more powerful the motor, the better.  We've never had to replace blades.
Don't expect a shredder to deal with leaves, or mountains of freshly pruned  fibrous prunings of, say, willows, because they need drying out first, otherwise they clog up the machine.

If ours packed up tomorrow, I'd be investing in the same brand.

Pete.8

Have a look at the shredder page on Freds Shed - lots of good advice and I've never been disappointed with any of his recommendations for any garden tools

TimmyMagic

I bought the same Bosch shredder pictured above (AXT Rapid 2200). I got it off eBay for £60. The lady who sold it said it hadn't been used much and it looked in very good condition. Unfortunately it was quite blunt when I first used it, but I turned the blade over and it was fine afterwards. I think a new blade costs about £25, so will probably get one at some point.

These get snapped up quite quickly on eBay though. I was outbid on two before I won the third auction. 

The Bosch AXT 25 is superior, but costs quite a bit more. 

Posy

Some shredders have two 'shutes' one for branches and twigs and one for leaves and soft material.