How to get rid of a stump.

[sixdogs]

How to get rid of a stump when you're old school. My (almost) 80 year old friend had to get rid of a row of trees and this is how he did it. Apparently, it's how he's always done it and no big deal. He dug it out, sawed the roots off and usually waited for the wind to blow it over. He is a perfectionist like you've never seen and I should mention his family roots are Amish.

 

[Richard]

does he try to control direction of fall?

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks more like an archeological dig then what I see when I dig out a stump.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I have tried that with magnolias, but the tap root goes straight down, and getting to it with a saw is not much easier than digging it out completely. Halfway to China. My hat is off to your friend.

 

[ponytug]

Boy, you'd have to be pretty confident nobody would be in the area when it goes over. That would just seem to me to be a dangerous property condition, i.e. liability, but what do I know?

All the best,

Peter

 

[Eagle1]

Boy, you'd have to be pretty confident nobody would be in the area when it goes over. That would just seem to me to be a dangerous property condition, i.e. liability, but what do I know?

All the best,

Peter

That depends on how close you are to people. Never seen the US forest service concerned about widow makers in national forests. Neither am I in most cases on my land. Usually safer for me to wait for mother nature to do the dangerous part.
I only get involved if it can cause damage to something more expensive than a fence line.

 

[sixdogs]

does he try to control direction of fall?

I don't think so. Whatever way the wind blows.

 

[sixdogs]

I have tried that with magnolias, but the tap root goes straight down, and getting to it with a saw is not much easier than digging it out completely. Halfway to China. My hat is off to your friend.

I'm honored to know him. He is a perfectionist and on a professionally judged classic car show scored either 999 or 1000 points out of 1000. Almost no one is that good.

 

[sixdogs]

Boy, you'd have to be pretty confident nobody would be in the area when it goes over. That would just seem to me to be a dangerous property condition, i.e. liability, but what do I know?

All the best,

Peter

No one nearby.

 

[bigtiller]

I have dug around tree roots before and it never looked like that.
He must have used a long screwdriver and a shop-vac.