Need ideas to get rid of a couple of maple stumps

[5030]

Maybe it's the dry weather, clay and high ph soil but stumps around here stay forever. Five or eight years later they look way better than they should. I could leave a couple of them but don't want to draw termites or whatever. The two that bother me are in the middle of lawn area so it would be nice if they vanished.

They are already nearly flush with the ground so I'm going to try the drill and diesel oil method with a charcoal fire on top this summer and see what happens. Can't hurt. I'll drill the top as full as I can get it with 1" holes and that ought to help something.

I lit one up yesterday. It rained today and had no impact whatsoever. Sitting there smoking away in the 55 gallon chimney drum. Half a bag of Match Light.....lol

 

[CurlyDave]

I would burn it out but use an electric leaf blower to force air for a much hotter fire. The way I do this is to buy a piece of 3" metal duct about 6' long (only a few $ at a hardware store) and duct tape this onto the exhaust of the leaf blower. This gets the air right into the fire while keeping the leaf blower back away from the heat.

Use charcoal briquettes to start the fire and add some from time to time to keep it hot.

 

[sixdogs]

I lit one up yesterday. It rained today and had no impact whatsoever. Sitting there smoking away in the 55 gallon chimney drum. Half a bag of Match Light.....lol

I would burn it out but use an electric leaf blower to force air for a much hotter fire. The way I do this is to buy a piece of 3" metal duct about 6' long (only a few $ at a hardware store) and duct tape this onto the exhaust of the leaf blower. This gets the air right into the fire while keeping the leaf blower back away from the heat.

Use charcoal briquettes to start the fire and add some from time to time to keep it hot.

I have started to drill holes and know where I can find a 55gallon drum for a chimney. Briquettes and a leafblower are in the barn so I'm good to go after things dry out in the summer. I will report back but am hoping for the best.

 

[Bigkrank]

Local guy here charges $15 a stump to grind a 12" stump down a foot or so, usually a 3 or 4 foot dia hole. 5 minute job.

 

[EddieWalker]

Only the exposed wood will burn. If you can drill holes into it, why not just drill so many of them that there is nothing left?

Back before I had a backhoe and lived in town, I would just sacrifice a chainsaw chain and dig out as much dirt as possible with a shovel, then cut the roots with the chainsaw. It usually took a few hours, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I never did anything thicker then a foot, so your 8 inch stumps sound pretty easy. Sometimes on a job I have to deal with big roots in the ground and I use tree pruning blades for my sawzall to cut them. They are cheap, the cut through wood quickly, and I don't have to dig very much dirt away to get the blade into position. Most of the time I can just push the blade into the dirt and then start cutting.

 

[bcp]

Local guy here charges $15 a stump to grind a 12" stump down a foot or so, usually a 3 or 4 foot dia hole. 5 minute job.

I've never seen prices like that here.

Copied from a typical local CL ad for stump grinding:
=================================
Stump Grinding

Minimum for front yard starts at $75.00 depending on location
Minimum for back yard starts at $80.00 depending on location

Discount for multiple stumps

Chasing of roots around stump extra

Examples of Stump prices are as follows
If you measure across the center of the stump 1" above the ground

If you have a stump that is:
1 to 2 feet across (Minimum applies on smaller stumps)
3 to 4 feet across $4.00 per inch
4 to 5 feet across $5.00 per inch
5 to 6 feet across $6.00 per inch
6 to 7 feet across $7.00 per inch
and so on
Chips from stump grinding are not hauled away, if wanting hauled there is an extra charge

 

[sixdogs]

Only the exposed wood will burn.

...

Sometimes on a job I have to deal with big roots in the ground and I use tree pruning blades for my sawzall to cut them. They are cheap, the cut through wood quickly, and I don't have to dig very much dirt away to get the blade into position. Most of the time I can just push the blade into the dirt and then start cutting.

A sawzall---that is a great idea. I could dig some of the dirt away and clean it away from the sump. Then sawzall some pieces out of the way, get the fire going as described earlier and I'll bet almost all of it will burn. So, let's add the sawzall attempt to part of my evolving plan. The stumps won't stand a chance.

 

[DT86]

Only the exposed wood will burn.

Isn't that the way all fire works?

 

[EddieWalker]

Isn't that the way all fire works?

Yes. Which is why it's just about impossible to burn out a stump that's in the ground. You can burn some of the top of it off, but you are just killing time trying to get the fire to burn anything below grade.

 

[Snobdds]

Those that don't have a backhoe...burn. Even my little backhoe gets the job done.

Seriousally...dig it out and move on with life...unless you have the time and patience to watch a fire.