My name is Patrick Perry I own ‘A Worm’s Tale’ in Jacksonville Florida, Coos Bay Oregon, Cedar City Utah, Vancouver British Columbia and other locations. We are the largest producer of organic worm castings in the world. I live in Salt Lake City, but I evaluate each location every year. I have been using WWGrinder, TroyBilt, Craftsman, MTD and other chipper shredders for over 30 years. I prefer the basic WWGrinder design that has been coppied by others. I currently have over 20 machines that work well. I like extra heavy made flails with the exit screens these machines use for reducing the size of materials. After shredding, we sift using an expensive 1/8” trommel and reshred the larger materials. A worms mouth is 1/40 of an inch, so we regrind all shredded materials after they pass through a 1/8” screen. We also have at least 10 commercial grinders; we prefer burr grinders. We stock parts and know who manufactures parts for all these shredders. We usually buy hundreds of flails, chipper knives and have 10 screens of one size custom made at a time (1.5”, .75”, .25”, 125”); they usually cost $150 each. At each location we have mechanics that overhaul and maintain our shredders. We also have HUGE custom built chipper shredders that output material smaller than 1/8” If you need advice, parts or want to sell a working or broken machine, we buy and sell them after reconditioning. Most of the chipper shredders with exit screens are no longer made in the USA. The Chinese replacements are cheaply made with inferior steel and parts; they do not work very well; parts and exact engines become unavailable very quickly. Most people throw them away when they break. We keep a bone yard of obsolete machines for parts if you want to discard one and help others to repair their machines. We believe organic nutrients are the healthiest way to live and we encourage shredding organic materials for growing nutritional foods. (385) 202-4446 texts with a picture is preferred

Smarsh, I'm a bit late to this forum (just joined today) but I have an old Kemp Chipper/Shredder that has a tired centrifugal clutch with shoes that look very similar to yours. I am about ready to replace it b/c it slips more & more even at full engine RPM. My cluch is mfg. by NORAM. I have found their specific info at www.noramclutch.com You can also find other mfg. by googling 'belt drive centrifugal clutch'. Let me know what you end up doing. btw: your chipper/shredder looks very similar in constructions style and color to the the Kemp Chipper/Shredder I picked up 2 yr ago. I replaced the engine w/ a greyhound from aHarbor Freight and now need the clutch. I will need new shredder 'fingers' sometime too. Let me know if you run across any Kemp chippers.

One of the reasons I bought the chipper was that I was hoping I could just feed the blackberry canes into the chipper and have a pile of chips to use as a base for my compost hills.... but they just wrap around the chipper and needed a half hour to clean out. They can be chipped SLOWLY holding them back and not letting the chipper pull them in. But by that time, I can just cut them in four foot lengths(fits in the tractor front bucket) and have a whole clump cleared before I have a few handfuls of long canes shredded. I've also found that as long as the ground underneath is relatively level, I can head the riding mulch mower straight into the patch and have it cleared in a few minutes. Mower set on highest setting, the subsequent regular low mowing will kill it. But even with a small forest behind the house, buying the chipper wasn't really cost effective. I think it would be cheaper to rent after having gathered all the chippables to manageable piles. ... Don

I've had a number of them over the years and have disliked more than I liked. I especially disliked the really tall grinders and those that left salt/pepper debris when stored. The OXO at the link below is my current favorite for grinding both salt and peppercorns. Short enough to easily store in a cabinet. Easy to change the size of the grind with your thumb. They store with the grinder up so you don't have salt/pepper residue all over the cabinet/counter. Easy to refill with a nice wide opening on the base, and it's easy to see how much is in the grinder. Great for anyone who has a small hand or arthritis in your hands, with a nice soft non-slip grip. I found mine on sale at K-Mart. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: OXO mill