Fellowes PS 70 Deskside Strip Cut Shredder

Having worked in an office, I've discovered the big problems most shredders have. First off, they don't handle enough paper at once. Invariably, a machine with a five page capacity is asked to handle eight pages. The machine jams up and must be unjammed.

Another problem is that of paper clips and staples. Many machines do not like these items. When shredding large numbers of documents, I remember going through and carefully removing staples and such, only to find the one that I missed dinged the teeth of the shredder and it now doesn't work properly, or that the one I missed would jam up the whole works.

Well, it was time to get a paper shredder for home use.
Everyone buys the doohickeys, doomaflatchies and thing-a-ma-jigs around their house for a different purpose. When I bought mine, I had in mind all the issues I'd had when working in office over the years. I was also interested in a machine that could shred tissue paper. The final decision was to purchase a Fellowes PS 70 Deskside Strip Cut Shredder. It was a good choice.

The Fellowes PS 70 Deskside Strip Cut Shredder is a terrific machine. It advertises the ability to handle 12 sheets of paper at once. This is a terrific feature. Though I still try to limit my shredding jobs to less, the times I asked it to do 12 pages, it did so without even a hiccough. I haven't tried 13 pages, but I don't often need to do that much shredding from home anyway.

The shredder can handle small paper clips and staples. While I still try to pull these items out, sometimes I'm just rushed. Other times, someone else might use the shredder. Happily, it just does its thing and ignores the wee bits of non-paper.

The shredder sets up over its own wastebasket. Since I put only shredded paper in here, I don't even have to line the basket, though you can. The can has a good capacity. While this might not be sufficient for an office that has to deal with many documents, for a personal, desk-side shredder it's more than adequate. I empty the paper out once every two weeks when the recycling bin is picked up. Our household probably shreds about the same as an average household.

The machine will only run with the basket in place. This is terrific for avoiding the mess that might otherwise occur if one was to shred without it.

Though I've had the machine now for about 4 months, I've not found jamming a problem. The couple of times the machine has jammed, I've just hit the reverse button and it clears itself. Then I just reduce the size of what I'm sending through and try again. It has never jammed twice in a row on me.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted this machine also to run tissue paper through. I am terrible at wrapping presents. As a result, I tend to give gifts in bags or baskets. I like the look of shredded tissue paper, but not the price. I've solved this by using my paper shredder to shred the tissue paper. I cut the sheets in half and then run through 1/4 of a full package at a time. Most of the paper comes out great. There may be a few less than perfect sections, but people looking at the gifts never notice. In this way, I can spend my money on the inexpensive tissue paper and get a more expensive look.

I have also used the shredder for the same purpose with two-sided wrapping paper. That was very cool. Finally, I've used the shredder on newspaper when I was getting ready to do paper mache. The strips turn out thin and even with no rough edges.

The machine does not come already put together. It requires some assembly. The instructions can be found in the users manual, but for someone who is reasonably handy, it's a fairly intuitive put-together.
The only problem I have found

I would recommend this shredder for any small office, household, or crafter. It has not needed any maintenance since I got it. It fits in the keyhole under a desk easily. It doesn't jam unless the human feeding it does something stupid. Even then, it unjams easily. Overall, an excellent machine.