Cutting roots with sharpened scarifier?

[40_acre_mule]

I have some old scarifiers with broken tips.
Has anyone ever put a sharp edge on one (like a sickle) to cut through the roots around a stump?
I was thinking I could grind down the leading edge to sharpen one, then hang it from the outside mounting hole on the bb.
Would dragging it beside the stump cut through roots?

 

[RonR]

Sounds like all you would be out to try it is some grinding time and material. I mean the worst that could happen is you would break an already broken scarifier...........

Let us know how it works. I thought about adding a 1/4 x 4" sharpened piece of metal to bolt onto a scarifer when I use it to pull sprinkler line in my lawn. It would be a little in front of the shank. I thought it might cut through some small roots from my maple trees.

Good Luck,
Ron

 

[bczoom]

Interesting concept.

Instead of shaving, can you weld some pointy thing on it to make it stronger?

What sized roots are you going after? If small it might work but if it could cut them, I would think a regular scarifier would rip through them.

Honestly, it may come down to the type of tree. Some of the harder root systems (oak, elm...) might not like it. It's like taking a log and trying to run it through a log splitter sideways. Roots are generally pretty dense and I think either the tractor would stop or something would break.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[Glenn9643]

I had a 18" diameter tallow to remove a couple of months ago. I cut through the roots surrounding the stump with my loader bucket/toothbar with no problem, but after all that the stump still wouldn't budge. I dug around a little and found that there were several 4" diameter roots going straight down underneath the perimeter of the trunk. Not a "tap root", but several around the tree. I put my pallet forks on the FEL and pushed them together, making about a 10" wide "shovel", and used the grinder to get a good cutting edge on the ends. After cutting through those remaining roots the stump gave up. Hope you don't have any like that under your stump!

 

[greg_g]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Would dragging it beside the stump cut through roots? )</font>

I can't see how you could avoid the root simply slipping to one sid e or the other as the BB moves forward. An edged notch may help hold a small root in place briefly, but I forsee a lot of wear and tear on your clutch this way.

One or two stumps, I might take them out by hand. More that - depending upon size - I'd call for a backhoe or bulldozer

//greg//

 

[gabby]

A sharp edge will help, but it's mostly brute force that breaks roots. The combination of pulling while lifting is the most effective. If that doesn't break the root quickly, the root wins. Be careful and back off right away if the tractor bogs down.
gabby

 

[40_acre_mule]

Interesting thoughts. I appreciate them. I wasn't sure I fully grasped the dynamics involved. I was hoping to hear a definite Yes or No, so I could decide if it would be worth my time to do all that grinding.
I've got two pine stumps (one = 30in., one = 10in.), and a handful of small yopon (sp?) and privet tree stumps with lots of tough 2in roots. I was thinking this would make it easier to dig the stumps out with the fel.

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue">then hang it from the outside mounting hole on the bb. </font>
If you do go ahead with this project, I would suggest that you put the sharpened shank in the middle of the box. If you put it on the outside, you will put a tremendous strain on the A frame of the box and also on the three point hitch which wasn't designed for lateral stain. I have seen several TPHs and A frames mangled by hanging the outside edge of a blade.

 

[bczoom]

40_acre,

I use my FEL to dig out stumps. I just use the leading edge of the bucket and push it into the root at an angle. Apply pressure by drive forward with the tractor. If it snaps, good. If not, curl the bucket and rip off however much of the root the bucket grabbed. Repeat as necessary.

Brian

 

[Harry c]

I pulled in sprinkler lines with a homemade ripper. Sharpening the leading edge definitely made a difference. The root is forced to bend much more sharply at the sharpened edge and tends to break there. Also, if approached at an angle will actually cut the root. Obviously power is the limiting factor as to root sizes that can be cut. The sharpened ripper took less power to pull through the ground leaving more power available to break or tear out the root.

 

[bx23barry]

We used a rome plow blade (basicily an angled dozer blade with a knife edge blade along the bottom) to cut jungle in vietnam. Could slice 12-18 inch tree trunks on the move (of course a D7 has alot of force/weight). We sharpened them every day.

 

[Highbeam]

I've seen some fantastic photos of rome plows and the dozers used to push them. No wonder that they were the target of many enemy shooters since without jungle, there was nowhere to hide.