Stump pullin'.....

[patrick_g]

What is it about stumps that seems to bring out the primitive beast in us? If you aren't tiling the soil as in row crops why is removing the stump required? Stumps can be cut off flush with the grade or with a whole lot less effort than removal you can dig around a stump and cut it off below grade and cover it.

You can drill large holes in the stump and pour in commercial stump chemicals or DIY with salt peter. May take a while with a large stump but salt peter repetitively added to big deep augured holes in the stump and some diesel added for good measure will over time prepare the stump for a burning event. Eventually you will be able to set the stump on fire and it will burn up if properly treated with salt peter and diesel.

I mix diesel and gasoline to get better penetration. The salt peter provides oxygen so the wood will burn with no need for air to get to the fire. ONce the upper section of the stump is burned away the lower roots are not typically in the way of anything but deep cultivation. If you want to deeply plow the stump's location then that is a good reason for removing the stump.

I can remove (sufficiently for my needs) stumps with much less effort and wear and tear on equipment and me by two or three different approaches other than digging out the stump.

If it is a recreational activity like shooting big animals you don't need to eat then go for it and post a picture of your "kill."

Pat

 

[gumtree]

When I heard about burning stumps I thought it was a good idea until I was told it was illegal to burn stumps in the county I live in. So I rented a full size Backhoe.

 

[Sully2]

I'd sure hate to buy a USED tractor from some of you guys!!!

 

[DiezNutz]

What is it about stumps that seems to bring out the primitive beast in us? If you aren't tiling the soil as in row crops why is removing the stump required?

Why is it necessary for some people to climb Mt. Everest? Because it is there. Because we can. Because we just can't have the backhoe we paid three arms and a leg for collecting dust.

All the other methods you described work too (environmental issues aside), but aren't as much fun, and don't offer the same immediate gratification. There's also that "one-upping the neighbors" satisfaction (while they're busy hand digging/drilling holes/dumping chemicals/making charcoal).

Stumps can be cut off flush with the grade or with a whole lot less effort than removal you can dig around a stump and cut it off below grade and cover it.

Eventually (OK after a long time) what's left decomposes and you end up with a soft spot and then a "sinkhole" in your yard.

If it is a recreational activity like shooting big animals you don't need to eat then go for it and post a picture of your "kill."

Something like that... except I don't know anybody that cuts down trees solely for the purpose of having a stump to dig up.

 

[Jabroni]

This is central Massachusetts, not central Oklahoma. If you start a fire in a stump out here, you'll have the police and fire at your house in a minute! We're limited to burning brush and that can only be done between January and April with a verbal permit from the FD. And there's not one stump, but over 40 of them to be pulled. This area of land was reclaimed from a portion of woods for a lawn and and an open area for a 75 foot guyed communications tower I'm going to erect. I personally don't have time necessary for chemically aided decomposition and I'm sure as heck not going to mow around 40 stumps. I will probably hire someone to grind the several monster stumps, but the rest I'm pulling myself and will backfill the depression next Spring. Hey, and BTW in case anyone doesn't realize it, the pix I posted was meant as a little humor. Geez, I didn't know it would incite such passion in some. I promise to be dead serious in the future.

 

[x703jko]

...This area of land was reclaimed from a portion of woods for a lawn and and an open area for a 75 foot guyed communications tower I'm going to erect...

Jabroni are you a ham (amateur radio operator)?

W3KL here.

Jeff

 

[Jabroni]

Sure am! K3GM here. This will be tower number two. I have a guyed 40 footer under the pine canopy up here on my land.

 

[mike69440]

I would go rent a L39 pull 1 stump with it.
Then you could show the boss that you need a bigger machine
And more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$4

Last Sunday I got the urge to level out the drop off by the riding rink to have a pad poured for a 28 x 36' storage building.

As the excavator was in the shop, I used my trusty L-39 to yank 6 stumps ranging from 6" to about 13-14". The worst pair were about 36" apart on center, one was say 13" diameter and the other 8"-9" with roots all grown together. I could not get the stumps from 360 degrees, maybe just 220 degrees. While the smaller ones came out reasonably quick, those two took about + 1-1/2 hours. Finally came out as one root ball. I had to wack the dirt off it to make it light enough to pull them out of the hole and toss them down the gully.

There are two stumps remaining, about the size of the one in the photo. I plan on leaving them where they are as they are at the edge of the drop off, not near the pad. Even my excavator would have to work at them, so let them rot.

The little BX should not be used to pull stumps the size or bigger than what is the photo.

 

[patrick_g]

K3GM here. /QUOTE]

Did I forget to mention that my favorite stump removal method was blasting? That got tougher since 9-11 due to controls put in place from overreaction. I don't think any of the major terror events used legally purchased commercially manufactured explosives.

N6AYR here (I know, a Tech call sign but I am a general) first lisc as KN5DBP in 1962 (let it lapse.) There are a significant number of ham brethren on the sister site, CBN.

Patrick

 

[don716]

Another good way to get stumps up is to start with a 55 gallon steel drum and cut the top and bottom out of it and go to the store and buy some charcoal. Then put the drum over the stump(unless he stump is too big) and pour the charcoal in the drum.Light it up and when it gets started good put some wood in there with the charcoal and keep it going and the hot coals of the charcoal and wood will do the trick. The drum will keep the heat confined to that one area and make it super hot.This could take a while if you have alot of stumps. But overall it works great.
Donny