Stihl Garden Shredders / Chippers

Thanks to their powerful petrol engines and electric motors teamed with an innovative cutting system, Stihl garden shredders will quickly and easily transform woody and soft garden waste into mulch or composting material providing you with a natural fertiliser for use within your own garden or allotment.

Stihl currently have 7 shredders and wood chippers within their range which are designed to suit every British gardener’s needs allowing you to reduce leafy material up to 75% in volume!

Difference Between Garden Shredders and Wood Chippers

The first question surrounding this type of garden machinery is the difference between a wood chipper and a garden shredder. A wood chopper chops branches into small pieces which turns the wood into chippings, these chippers are not good at handling soft leafy material as there isn’t enough substance in the material for the blade to chop. 

A garden shredder will thrive when it comes to leafy soft material and will cut it rather than chip it although unlike the wood chipper they are ineffective with harder, woody material.

Model recommendations can be made based on the shredding material capabilities, please see the below table for a quick and easy guide;

How to Choose the Correct Garden Shredder / Chipper

A decision on which Stihl garden shredder to investment in can be decided with some basic questions.

Petrol or Electric?

The first decision to make would be petrol or electric, most shredders and chippers tend to be stationary and only moved between jobs meaning the machine will need to be set up where the chippings / material is to be disposed of or where the material is to be cut from a hedge or tree.

Electric – limited to where a 230v outlet is available, an extension lead can be used but it should be a maximum of 25 meters in length if it’s a domestic 1.5mm² cable OR 50 meters in length if it’s a commercial grade 2.5mm² cable.

Petrol – can be used anywhere without limitation of power source requirements, although they do tend to have higher noise levels than electric models. As there is no limit from the power socket they do tend to have higher power levels offering a more efficient performance.

Size of branches to chip

The second thing to take into account is the size of the branches you wish to chip as each machine will have its own maximum branch diameter which id the physical size which can be fed into the blades which does change dependent on the model. For example oak trees or apple trees have many densely packed smaller branches around 10mm in size but because of the density a machine wit h a higher maximum branch diameter may be more efficient so that there is no need to have to pre-cut many branches and feed them individually.

These two main questions will be the points you need to consider when choosing your model of shredder / chipper.

Stihl Electric Garden Shredders

From occasional shredding of small quantities of green cuttings to regular breaking up of thick branches, the electric shredder range from Stihl consists of four models; GHE 105, GHE 150, SHE 250 and GHE 35.

Other features (model dependent*) of the Stihl garden shredder range include;

Cloverleaf opening
This opening makes feeding branches into the shredder quicker and easier. Soft material can also be inserted through the wider opening.

Safety lock
The ON button and the safety switch are integrated into the chute locking screw, to top the machine immediately, you just turn this once!

Touch pad switch
On/Off touch pad switch and also a switch for when you change from shredding hard material to soft material.

Stihl Petrol Garden Shredders

Process large quantities of shredding material with a powerful petrol engine offering sufficient power reserves to be able to shred even thicker branches, without being tied to one place. The Stihl petrol garden shredder range consists of three models;