Glossary term
What is Chipper?
Short answer
A chipper is a machine that feeds branches through spinning blades and turns them into wood chips.
Chipper, explained for tree service owners
A chipper is a machine that grinds branches into small wood chips. Crews feed cut limbs into the chute, and the blades or drum chop them up and blow the chips into a truck, a trailer or onto the ground. Chippers come in sizes, from small towable units to big machines, and the size decides how thick a branch they can take. They save time because brush no longer needs to be hauled away whole. The chips can be sold, given away or used as mulch, which can turn waste into extra income. A tree service owner can use the chip volume calculator to plan how many truck loads a job will produce.
Related terms
- Chip truck
A chip truck is a truck with a tall open box that collects wood chips directly from the chipper and hauls them away.
- Chipper feed rollers
Chipper feed rollers are the powered rollers at the chute that pull branches into the blades at a steady pace.
- Commercial auto insurance
Commercial auto insurance covers trucks, chip trucks and trailers used for business, which regular personal car insurance often does not.
- Day rate
Day rate is the amount a crew or piece of equipment costs for one full working day, used to price jobs and to decide whether to rent or…
- Inland marine insurance
Inland marine insurance covers movable equipment, such as chippers, stump grinders and tools, while they are at job sites or in transit.
- Variable cost
A variable cost is an expense that rises or falls with the number of jobs you do, such as fuel, dump fees and blades.
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