I have a chipper / shredder that I bought at Home Depot about five years ago. I use it probably 20 hours a year, maybe more, but not much. I have a bunch of fruit trees so I generate quite a bit of excess branches, which I try to mulch (rather than burn).

The engine is a "Tcumsah XL Professional", 10 HP. I don't know what the brand name is, because the label fell off years ago and I can't find the manual.

I change the oil in it every 20 hours or at least once a year (which is probably the same thing). I don't see an oil filter on it (just checked to be sure). It runs just fine, but I'd like to preserve it for as long as possible as I'm using it for things that it probably wasn't meant for (sure, it claims to handle 3" branches, but actually cramming one down it's throat is a different matter [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ).

My guess is that I need to take it apart and sharpen some of the blades. Now, I'm not asking for specific instructions, but can anyone give me general guidelines regarding the care and feeding of a small time chipper?

Thanks...Chris