Compact and powerful shredders: wolverines in the garden

Who does not know Jo Beau's well-known yellow wood chippers? Garden landscapers, arborists, green services, rental companies, every professional is well acquainted with the wide range of small and large shredders that make short work of branches and other pruning waste. Also in the field of other garden machinery - from stump grinders to scarifiers - Jo Beau has become a real innovator in the sector in recent years. The innovation that put Jo Beau on the map is the patented Jo Beau drum technologyTM that gives wood chopping a new dimension.

The story of Jo Beau started in 1989, when Jozef Beauprez started working in Bruges as an independent repairer and seller of garden machinery. A few years later, he took the step of creating his own machines, after which, in 1998, the first well-known yellow mobile wood chipper appeared on the market.

Anno 2024, youngest son Christophe Beauprez is at the helm of Jo Beau. "We continue to develop a wide range of advanced garden machinery. We manufacture each machine with the utmost care and precision, each one designed to meet the highest standards. What is unique, by the way, is that we realize all steps - from design to welding and from assembly to final finishing - in our Bruges facility. Our customers appreciate that local anchoring."

Within Jo Beau's offer, shredders occupy a special place. "We have been offering these mobile machines for more than a quarter of a century, so we have built up a great deal of expertise in this field," said Beauprez. "Today we offer our customers a choice of 23 models, ranging from compact wood chippers to robust powerhouses for heavy-duty work. In terms of propulsion, there is a healthy mix of gasoline, electric and hydraulic chippers. Moreover, we can personalize each Jo Beau chipper to suit the customer's needs, including low and automatic feeding of branches and greens, ejection of wood chips up to eight meters far and machines that can pass through any doorway."

Which wood chippers would Beauprez like to highlight? It's hard to choose from the wide range. "Our gasoline-powered M400 chipper remains one of our top products," confirms the Jo Beau business manager. "This machine has a powerful 20 hp twin-cylinder Honda GX engine, equipped with an electric start. With its large wheels in the front and pivoting swivel wheels in the back and its narrow width of 72 centimeters, you can easily use the M400 anywhere in the garden. Thanks to our drum technology, you process branches from ten to twelve centimeters."

Another flagship is the M400 HighwayTM chopper. Christophe: "This is the M400 mounted on a BELUX homologated trailer-wheel chassis. With a simple B license, you can transport this machine anywhere in public traffic. So you invest in extra maneuverability and time savings for yourself and/or your staff."

Of course, the M400 Drive as the latest model cannot be missed. "We are very proud to present this self-propelled M400 that is available on lawn tires as standard," says Beauprez. "In option, tractor tread tires are available. With this new model, our customers are investing in an electrically driven chopper on a differential."

A fourth machine in the spotlight is the M600 GorillaTM chipper, a powerhouse that Beauprez says impressively combines power and compactness. "This wood chipper effortlessly processes branches up to 18 centimeters in diameter into nice usable wood chips. But what is particularly striking is that this machine is 'only' 80 centimeters wide, allowing it to easily pass through doorways. We specially designed the wide feed-in opening of 68 centimeters and a feed-in height of 62 centimeters for an even larger volume of side branches and greens."

What characterizes all these machines is the presence of the wood chipper drum technology developed by Jozef Beauprez. Beauprez: "Through this technology - composed of a heavy steel knife drum, two industrial-quality roller bearings, a set of rotating knives and a counterknife - we take branch chopping to a higher level. With blades that skim past the counter blade by barely half a millimeter and a motor that can turn at up to 2,400 rpm, our drum technology delivers higher throughput and extremely evenly shredded wood. Even wood types that are difficult to shred, such as pollarded willow or bamboo, are very smoothly reduced to chips. In addition, we have designed our machines so that branches are pulled in smoothly, so that the machine operator does not have to do any heavy work. In this way, our chippers score highly in terms of ergonomics and safety!" 

Jo Beau's patented drum technology also provides an unexpected additional benefit. Beauprez: "Because our razor-sharp blades produce uniform wood chips, these chips are ideal for use as ground cover in gardens. The result? Free residual material for the end customer and less green waste for the garden professional. Sustainability at its best!"