Page 20 - OPE March 2020

MARKETPLACE
Chippers, Shredders & Splitters
CHIPPER SHREDDERS BUILT TO LAST
growth through our dealers (who sell into the domestic market).”
On top of these local gains, Hansa has also just launched a global website to help serve its recent European network, mainly the Netherlands and Germany and, as of late 2019, the UK.
Chippers, shredders and log splitters rank among the outdoor machines with the longest life cycles, according to Steelfort MD, Gavin Lowndes. Their reputation for reliability and longevity is cemented by both the quality of machines sold here and straightforward servicing requirements.
He says LawnMaster sales are (excuse the pun) “evenly split between chippers and splitters” and describes the broader category as one that “ticks along” with occasional model updates and periodic innovation.
It is also, concedes Gavin, possibly ticking along a little more slowly than usual right now, thanks to the prolonged hot weather across much of New Zealand’s summer season and the initial impact of Covid-19.
End-user advice:
Walk before you run
Keen to talk to some end users, especially those outside domestic arboriculture,
it wasn’t hard to track down a satisfied LawnMaster owner on a farm in the lower North Island.
Two years back, the farmer in question upgraded from an MTD to a 22-ton log splitter.
“I use it every few months for a few days
at a time,” he reports, “and despite not being serviced yet, it works as well as it did on
the day I bought it. I do, however, regularly check the hydraulic fluid level.”
Obstacles to the said farmer’s smooth running? “Making sure it can go through knots is the biggest challenge,” he says, “but it’s proving to be good, and I have already added a four-way splitter head.
If I were to replace this model – when the body gets a bit older – I would get the 37t LawnMaster with the lifter. But, for now, the 22t does everything I need it to.”
Advice for fellow first timers? “For a first- time buyer, I would recommend starting with the 22-ton before going to a larger model.”
“Syd” sorts sections that
are out of control
Meanwhile, further north, Cyril “Syd” Simmonds of Syd’s Property Services in Matamata is enjoying great productivity from his Hansa C16 chipper and Predator 460 stump grinder.
“I started out a year ago, and bought a trailer with a three-ton hoist on it,” he explains.
“What the chipper and stump grinder allow me to do separates me a little bit from the other local guys.
“This combination really speed things up, allowing me do a full section clean-up at a cost-effective price.
“I can chip the section into my trailer and then grind the stump away with the stump- grinder afterwards.”
Most of Syd’s clean-ups are a quarter-acre in size, and often a little out-of-control for the owners, who, he suggests, have reached the point where they just can’t manage their section.
So they call Syd. “The chipper is fast and efficient, I can wheel it into a backyard, and the chute’s adjustable so I can fire it in a lot of different directions. That versatility is why I bought it, really.
“And the Predator Stump grinder is mobile enough to get into hard-to-access backyards, places where a bigger machine probably wouldn’t go.”
Any negatives to report? “I’ve had a couple of things happen, as they inevitably do, but STIHL SHOP Matamata has given me great service.
“For example, I had an incident where a piece of steel in a stump damaged the teeth on the stump grinder, but the service team was able to turn the machine around quickly.
“And the same applies with the sharpening of blades; the volume of sticks and branches does eventually blunt chippers, but the serviceability on this Hansa C16 has been quick and simple.”
Looking west for flying Finnish
Continuing north, West Auckland contractor, Roy Leney, has taken a different path, operating a lightly modified Farmi
020 NZOUTDOORPOWEREQUIPMENT MARCH2020
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