Sell Your Wood Chipper

MachineryBarn buys used wood chippers — disc and drum machines, tow-behind and self-propelled, plus stump grinders. Chippers are valued on the cutting system and the feed system, in that order. Knives, anvil and the drum or disc bearings decide whether the machine chips cleanly; the feed wheels, hydraulic feed motors and the safety bar decide whether it feeds at all. A chipper that will not self-feed is a repair job regardless of how well the engine runs.

Wood Chippers we buy

Configuration changes who the next buyer is, so it changes the offer. These are the variants worth naming when you describe your machine.

Disc chipper

Knives on a heavy rotating disc. Simpler, generally cheaper to maintain, and the common configuration on smaller machines.

Drum chipper

Knives around a rotating drum. Handles larger and more irregular material and is common on bigger machines.

Tow-behind

Trailer-mounted, towed behind a chip truck. The standard tree service configuration and the easiest to sell.

Whole tree / self-propelled

Track or wheel mounted with a loading crane. Land clearing and biomass work, and a specialist market.

Stump grinder

A different machine entirely — a cutting wheel with carbide teeth for grinding stumps below grade. Priced on wheel and tooth condition rather than a feed system.

What determines a used wood chipper's value

Roughly in order of how much each one moves the number.

1. 1

   Knife and anvil condition

   Knives and the anvil are the cutting system and they are consumable. Dull, chipped or repeatedly re-sharpened knives at the end of their life, and a worn anvil, mean a machine that chips poorly and vibrates. These are known costs but buyers price them.

   How to check it: Inspect knife edges for chipping and check how much material is left for re-sharpening. Look at the anvil face for grooving.

2. 2

   Drum or disc bearing condition

   The most expensive thing that goes wrong on a chipper. Bearing failure on the cutting assembly is a major repair, and it announces itself as vibration and noise long before it fails outright.

   How to check it: Run the machine up to speed and listen for rumble or knocking, and watch for vibration through the frame.

3. 3

   Feed system function

   Powered feed wheels, their hydraulic motors and the feed control must all work. A machine that will not self-feed, or feeds intermittently, cannot be worked safely and is priced as a repair.

   How to check it: Feed material through and confirm both wheels pull evenly, and that forward, reverse and stop all respond.

4. 4

   Safety bar and control system

   The feed control safety bar must stop and reverse the feed instantly. It is a required safety system, it is checked, and a defeated or non-functioning bar has to be repaired before the machine can be used.

5. 5

   Engine condition and hours

   Chipper engines work hard at sustained high load. Diesel machines are generally preferred for commercial work. Hard starting, smoke or low power all point at meaningful engine work.

6. 6

   Capacity and throat size

   Sets the buyer. A twelve-inch machine serves general tree work; a six-inch machine is a landscaping tool; an eighteen-inch machine serves line clearance and land clearing contractors.

7. 7

   Chute and discharge condition

   The chute rotates and the deflector directs chips into the truck. Seized rotation, a cracked chute or a missing deflector are small individually and irritating collectively.

8. 8

   Trailer condition, on tow-behind machines

   The trailer is half the machine on a tow-behind. Tyres, brakes, lights, hitch and the trailer's own registration all matter and are frequently neglected.

What gets inspected on a wood chipper

Knowing what a buyer looks at lets you describe the machine accurately the first time, which avoids the offer changing later.

What we need to price your wood chipper

You do not need all of it to start. The more of it you have, the closer the first number is to the final one.

• Make, model and serial number
• Year and hour meter reading
• Disc or drum, and throat capacity
• Engine make and whether diesel or petrol
• Knife condition and when they were last sharpened or replaced
• Whether the feed system works, both wheels
• Whether the safety bar functions correctly
• Tow-behind or self-propelled, and trailer condition if applicable
• What material it mostly chipped
• Whether it starts and chips

Makes and model families we see most

We buy wood chippers from manufacturers beyond this list. These are the ones that come up most often, with the series a seller is likely to recognise from the machine.