What is the best budget shredder?

[Chicken]

I'm sure that when dons shredder hits the market..if the price is right.I for see them things flying off the shelf..

Thiers a lot of people looking for a alternative to them $100.00 carton of ciggs...

And if your gonna grow it your gonna have to shred it..

 

[Alhefner]

Hands down...the powermatic shredder is the way to go

No doubt, but at almost $300, the Powermatic does not fall under the definition of "budget shredder".

that depends on how much tobacco you shred in a year or two or more. in ct. cigarettes are around $100.00 dollars a carton. if you smoke a pack a day how many weeks does it take to pay for a shredder?

A bit of math:

1 pack per day at only $60 per carton = $2,190

Of course, two packs per day is double that and at $100 per carton it's more as well.

If you have all the other equipment the shredder at $275 is equal to almost 5 cartons of commercially made cigarettes or, at 1 pack per day, under two months of expense.

If you use whole leaf tobacco, low cost tubes, and make your own, you're spending about $1 per pack instead of $6 per pack (at $60 per carton).

The amount saved over the course of 6 months is about $912. So, 1/3 of that will pay for the powermatic shredder and give better results.

Since the powermatic shredder will likely last a few years if taken care of and not too badly abused, I would say it is probably a better deal than a hand cranked shredder (I have and use one of those too).

Yes, it's a big chunk of change all at once but, worth it.

Just my personal opinion...

 

[burge]

I ordered 12 lbs a freind of mine ordered 3lbs but decided it was too much work for him. I bought mine off of ebay for 220 162 for Dons tobacco on the buy 3 get 1 free 26 dollrs a pund for danish export 312 so 150 dollars saved from ordering pipe tobacco.

 

[burge]

I have paid for my Powermatic shredder twice over

 

[ArizonaDave]

A bit of math:

1 pack per day at only $60 per carton = $2,190

Of course, two packs per day is double that and at $100 per carton it's more as well.

If you have all the other equipment the shredder at $275 is equal to almost 5 cartons of commercially made cigarettes or, at 1 pack per day, under two months of expense.

If you use whole leaf tobacco, low cost tubes, and make your own, you're spending about $1 per pack instead of $6 per pack (at $60 per carton).

The amount saved over the course of 6 months is about $912. So, 1/3 of that will pay for the powermatic shredder and give better results.

Since the powermatic shredder will likely last a few years if taken care of and not too badly abused, I would say it is probably a better deal than a hand cranked shredder (I have and use one of those too).

Yes, it's a big chunk of change all at once but, worth it.

Just my personal opinion...

I've heard of people trying to skimp by buying a pasta shredder, but they get gummed up, jammed, and just down right don't work. You're right on track with the Powermatic.

 

[ArizonaDave]

These are pretty common on ebay. They're most often referred to as bread slicers...not sure if that's what they are really for. There are two basic types. One with a straight blade, the other with a curved blade. You'll get a much better slicing action with the curved blade.

The biggest problem with using a shape chef's or butcher's knife for cutting tobacco is fatigue. These Raadvad slicers give you plenty of leverage to reduce fatigue.

On another thread, you were once working on a manual shredder. I can't remember what the final cost to sell was, but there's got to be a way to make that affordable, even down to $100. I've been keeping an eye on all these threads with my son in mind. I may just have to buy him a Powermatic.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I want to mention as Andrew said, it depends on the application. I got the counter top mounted hand cranking one. It works great, but it does almost nothing for me because I smoke a pipe. The shred is fine and burns hotter than if I cut it by hand. The wife smokes about 2 cigarettes a week, so she likes it.

It seems durable, but I imagine if you were shredding 10lbs a year, it wouldn't last more than a year. It saved you the cost many times over though.

 

[BennyBoy87]

If I might throw one more suggestion out there, I bought the cheap hand crank shredder from leaf only for $40 and while the shred it provides is useable in cigarettes, it's not really desirable. After trying some of the whole leaf offerings and deciding I would be doing things this way from now on, I decided to spring for the fine cut table top shredder they offer at leaf only, and being $135 it's not nearly as budget as the other one, but it's a nice thin 0.8 mm shred and seems to be well built. Also, half the cost of a powermatic. So far I've run 8 pounds through it with no problems, just let it dry out every now and then. It has brackets for mounting to a surface, though a trip to the hardware store may be necessary depending how inclined one is to working with tiny little bolts and nuts. I've got it mounted to a 8"x16" piece of plywood which i then c clamp to my table. That way it's nice and stable while shredding but I can easily take it off and tilt it over a plastic tub to catch all the tobacco that falls under and around the machine. All said, I don't know what the budget is in this case, but I would recommend skipping the cheap one and saving it towards getting something that'll do a better job for you.

 

[Jabman]

I bought a cheap table/counter top mount shredder from eBay for around 40 dollars. It works good for my purposes and it is an 0.8 mm shred.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I bought a cheap table/counter top mount shredder from eBay for around 40 dollars. It works good for my purposes and it is an 0.8 mm shred.

Don't tell Bex That

 

[PeacePipe]

Been using the ultimate budget trimmer for over a year.. Kitchen shears.. Yeah its hell but I do not waste anything due to the work and time involved.

 

[grgfinney]

Electric knife from salvation army I used one for a year 5bucks then I purchased the powermatic and shredded 100's of pounds with no issues

 

[bold_as_love]

I use a micro-cut paper shredder I bought from Office Max for $40. I use a Powermatic 2 tobacco injector, so I only need I pass thru with the paper shredder. Works perfectly.

 

[burge]

I use a micro-cut paper shredder I bought from Office Max for $40. I use a Powermatic 2 tobacco injector, so I only need I pass thru with the paper shredder. Works perfectly.

Doesn't that jam up with the resin for the tobacco?

 

[bold_as_love]

Doesn't that jam up with the resin for the tobacco?

Not at all. A paper shredder is a powerful shredder. This can shred up to 15 sheets of paper and I never cram that much tobacco in it.

You want the leaves to be pliable like a piece of newspaper. Not too wet; not too dry. Generally, the leaves I get I never have to re-hydrate. Sometimes though, the tips are dried out and I just crumble those in my hand. I do 1/2 lb. each shredding and it takes me about 45 minutes. I check each leaf for mold first, so it's a little more time-consuming. If the leaves were way too wet, I imagine "gumming" up the shredder would be an issue. I've been using it for over a year and it's working flawlessly.

I'll add this too: for storage, I store the shredded tobacco in a gallon Zip Lock bag with a "Water Pillow." It keeps the tobacco at perfect moisture. I think I pay like $5 on eBay or Amazon for 10 pillows. I use for 45 days and toss. You just soak the pillow for 15 seconds in distilled water, insert it into it's sleeve and drop in the Zip Lock.

 

[FmGrowit]

El Cheapo $32.99 shredder



Heavy Duty shredder $109.99



Both cut a 0.8mm shred

 

[ArizonaDave]

Very nice to see these 2 new additions to the line-up. Anyone could even shred in a power outage

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice to see the new machines. Is your design still in the works?

 

[Jabman]

That el cheapo shredder looks exactly like the one I use.

 

[burge]

Hands down that heavy duty shredder would be the best budget shredder I looked it up you can attach a power screwdriver to it and make it a power shredder. I think that would be easy to rig so its on continuous too