Got chipper

The broccoli in the backyard are finally big enough to eat. Here is a breakfast I had last weekend, 100% homemade.

The most tender broccoli I ever tasted. Just harvested.

The forest plot "flattening" is turning out to be such a never ending task, and as I mentioned before, it produces way to much bamboo and the forest "floor" is impossible to walk on. I considered burning the bamboo but that will pretty much kill the ground/spot where I make the fire.
Soooo I just took the leap and bought a 13 Hp shredder/chipper. Yeah, I have had enough of worrying about all the bamboo. I will chip it all up, spread it all over the forest floor and then still be able to dig out bamboo roots if I want to.
I placed an order for shredder in Amazon, and it said it should arrive 3 days later. Recently it has been pretty much raining every day here, so I looked at the calendar and was super happy to see that the day after the shredder's arrival it was going to be clear and sunny all day, and then the rainy misery would continue for another week after that at least.
So in my head I planned to head for the forest on the sunny day and start chipping wood. Surely that whole day would be a big progress. My truck is still not here, but the chipper has two wheels and I could just walk the 500 meters to the forest I figured.
The reason I wanted to start chipping as early as possible is that the longer the bamboo branches lie there on the ground, the harder they get (unless it is raining constantly) and the harder to chip...
Waited and waited but there was no "we have sent your item" mail that whole day. Same thing the next day. I started to worry that my perfect plan was going to be failing before it even started.
On the 3rd day, the day before the sunny day, the day the chipper was supposed to arrive, I got a mail saying "Sorry for the delay but it was not possible for us to make your shipment on the planned schedule, you will get a mail once we can ship". D'oh!
Late night, I got another mail saying they have shipped. And I could track the chipper online.
The sunny day came, and what a sunny day! Perfect, especially after all the rain. Only I had no chipper prepared. But I was not going to give up so easily. Tracked the chipper and it said it has arrived in Chiba, but still not out for delivery.
I thought to myself that I should grab the opportunity and use the nice weather to put in some potatoes in the ground in the land I am borrowing. Then hurry back and receive the chipper and then hurry to the gasoline stand, get oil and gas and rush back and head for the forest with my chipper and spend the afternoon at least, chipping.
In the farm land, I dug up a second row, and put in the potatoes. I also covered the first row with black mulch sheet so weeds would not come out. That took 1,5 hours, and I was super tired after.

Just hope the wild boars don't eat them all up

Back at home, it was almost 11 A.M. and the home page still didn't say anything about delivery time. Just as I was closing the browser, the door bell rang and there it was. 100 kg package. The delivery guy needed my help to haul it down and inside.

Mystery box

This was not your usual cardboard box. It was wooden with proper frames and nailed shut. Just my luck, when I am in a hurry the boxing is different than I thought.
Starting at the corners made most sense, so that is what I did.

Nailed and bolted metal

It took some effort to get those bolts up...

But the rest were just tiny nails

Tiny nails, but oh so sharp.

Gloves necessary

Once the corners were off, it was easy enough to pry open the top. I was in hurry. Some stupid wooden box was not gonna stop me.

Top/Off

Hmm...this doesn't look like a ready to use out of box chipper though.... let's get those walls off and have a closer look.

Yep, definitely not ready

Damn damn... OK, still it can't take more than an hour or two? I can still get a couple of hours of light to chip....? or?
Read the Japanese manual as fast as humanly possible and putting together the beast. It was quite straight forward, but it weighted nearly 100 kg so turning it around and lifting it to fit parts under without putting it down on its side where the motor is.... took some strength and time to say the least.
It was gradually dawning on me though that today, there would be no chipping. With luck I could assemble the thing and put it in the shed before the rain came pouring down for another week.

Almost there.. just the wheels missing

Once I attached the wheels, I saw that the tires were not fully pumped... in fact they were flat so wheeling it around as I thought was not going to be such a good idea. In fact the wheels refused to move without air. I tried to pump some air in there to remedy this but it turned out to be impossible because the valve was not the type to fit my pump... great.

All put together. What a beauty!

The short distance around the house, between the front door and the shed in the backyard seemed like miles now. Again, I was lucky to have a flat cart. Together with my girlfriend we loaded the chipper on the cart and started slowly pushing the cart toward the shed. The worst part was the west of the house, it is narrow just enough to fit the cart, there is the water tank and the air conditioning unit, as well as the whole side is covered (by me) with pebbles to make the path non-slippery in the winter. Great! that turned out to work against me too.
Once we arrived at the shed, my whole body and its muscles felt like it has been through the chipper.
I was in pain for 2 whole days after that... not used to use my muscles 100% I guess.
Anyway, the next day which was rainy as hell, as preparation I bought a valve converter and pumped the tires. I also bought oil and a 10 liter gas can. But I won't be attempting to chip until my Kei-truck arrives. In the meantime I will prepare the rest of the forest plot by cutting more branches off the felt bamboo.
Of course, wheeling the chipper back and forth between the shed and the car won't be so efficient so I will be keeping it in the car port instead, and cover it with sheet to protect it from wind and weather.
I also realized that the big thing will not be easy to load into the truck, even if I use a ramp. So I ordered a mini fork lift, that can handle 200 kg. I am sure it will be handy for more lifting than just this. I should give my back a break. Well not literally.