Stump removal in the good old days

[Bigfoot62]

I liked the 1st one that said 50 pounds of dynamite.

My great-grandfather, and then my grandfather cleared the stumps this land, where I still live. It was all done with dynamite. But, back then, dynamite was cheap and could be bought at the general store.

Now, I just dig them out with the excavator. Doesn't make near as much noise, and the FBI doesn't come looking for me!!!

 

[atsah]

I had a few I drilled and filled with salt, the moose nibbled them down below the surface..

 

[/pine]

Regardless of size...there a big difference in dealing with a field of stumps and not too many...Depending on the type of tree/stump even a backhoe is not always the most efficient machine to remove a stump...
For those physically able removing even large stumps manually is not as difficult as often thought...0ften small tools (mentioned in a previous post) like a shovel that has been cut (like an cable ditch shovel etc.) works great for digging between and exposing large lateral roots...expose the supporting roots one at a time and even with a big tap root on large stumps can be easily pulled once the majority of supporting roots have been cut away...obviously a huge excavator can eliminate the need but small backhoes on small tractors are going to beat themselves up trying to dig down through heavy lateral roots without digging huge holes and making huge messes...

Sometimes the "good old days" ways are still the best ways...

Something that really helps removing roots either manually or with the assistance of a small backhoe etc...is a short barred (8". 10", 12") chainsaw (even electric)...yes they get in the dirt and get dulled but they make getting huge lateral roots out of the way a piece of cake...On a large stump exposing large roots one at a time and removing them manually is often as fast as digging huge holes, pulling roots with chains etc. with any smaller 3PH backhoe...

 

[MossRoad]

I, too, wish I could purchase dynamite at the farm store like the stories I've read. My father was a demolitions officer in WWII and showed me a lot of ways to blow things up efficiently. We had the best model ships and planes getting blown up on the block. :laughing:

 

[Thomas]

There still few stump dumps in our area.

 

[bunyip]

I remember a big stump inside a prison that was 'blown out', I was about 200m away and felt it rather than heard it, the stump just came up out of the ground and went back down again then the tractors moved in to finish the job.
The police were there checking in the explosives and watching every move, not a good place to leave some stuff behind.
I was a bit disappointed as there was no big bang and flying debris.

 

[buck12]

I can remember a local farmer having problems with beavers. When he had enough he decided 6 sticks of dynamite would take care of the hut. By the time he was ready to set it off he had bumped it up to 12 sticks. To this day I will never forget the sight of beavers flying through the air like a frisbee. 12 sticks was too much. In some ways I'm kind of sad that we can't buy it but in others, the way people are now, it's for the best. "Hold my beer while I get the truck unstuck".

The thought of beavers flying through the air like frisbees does my heart good. Maybe I need a few sticks of dynamite. 40 years ago my Grandfather used it it regularly in the same bottom that my Dad and I now do battle with the demon beavers.

 

[Diggin It]

We had the best model ships and planes getting blown up on the block. :laughing:

Did they call him Gomez or Fester?

 

[jaxs]

I'd settle for firecrackers like we had as kids. Baby Giant,Fuse In The middle,Cherry Bomb and my fav,TNT. My first experience with armadillos was when dogs bayed one beneath a stump. The dogs were trying to drag it out when we arrived. As we pulled on his tail,he continued digging and disappearing beneath the stump.
My friend tossed a cherry bomb in beside the dillo and blew him and part of the stump to bits. I believe a well placed cracker just might loosen small stumps.

 

[koshari]

A few years ago I dug a fairly large stump up by hand, about 18", it took me a week. I had a heck of a hole to fill in, people thought I was crazy. I saw it as exercise.

I did a simalar thing due to a stump being to close to a fence and lack of access to use more mechinised methods. Basically dug around it, used a pressure washer to expose roots 1 at a time to cut them then connected a 2 tonne turfer to a 4wd tow bar recovery hitch. Had to put 4wd in gear and 4wd selected , hand grake on with chocks behing all 4 wheels. From that experiance i concur with the folks that thought you were crazy. 2 weeks of back breaking work.