# Tomorrow morning, I am going to destroy a gnarly stump that has been giving me grief for a year.



## area_man (Oct 15, 2014)

It's going down tomorrow morning.  I buried two wedges, an axe, and two wrecking bars in this monstrosity a couple weeks ago and I still couldn't get it apart.  It has 12 hours to exist, starting now, before it's components are thrown onto a stack of sticks to dry out.

Then I'm gonna have a turkey burger and hit the books until I have a short stint in clinical practice tomorrow afternoon.  My driveway will be clear of this thing before I leave.


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## KindredSpiritzz (Oct 15, 2014)

I got a HUGE stump next to my driveway. It's amazing what 3 or 4 years of weathering did to it. So rotted now its literally falling apart and grows mushrooms like nobody's business. 
Kinda bummed to see it falling apart cause i use it to put potted plants and yard decorations on.


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## BruceNorEast (Oct 15, 2014)

Area Man, need pictures, preferably before and after


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## velvetfoot (Oct 15, 2014)

Isn't this what stump grinders are for?


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## laxin213 (Oct 16, 2014)

pics!


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## zzr7ky (Oct 16, 2014)

I let them season a few years most of the time.  I don't like trying to free up steel stuck in a stump so I use lengths of Elm or Beech cut into large wedges, 2-3' long.  Then I can cut the pieces free if needed.


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## Charlie2 (Oct 16, 2014)

I'm betting the stump won that battle. Stump vs a turkey burger eater?


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## Kevin Dolan (Oct 17, 2014)

area_man said:


> It's going down tomorrow morning.  I buried two wedges, an axe, and two wrecking bars in this monstrosity a couple weeks ago and I still couldn't get it apart.  It has 12 hours to exist, starting now, before it's components are thrown onto a stack of sticks to dry out.
> 
> Then I'm gonna have a turkey burger and hit the books until I have a short stint in clinical practice tomorrow afternoon.  My driveway will be clear of this thing before I leave.


Area man stump,101
Dynamite to get the stump out of the hole
Bull dozer to push it out then load into a truck and remove 
Failing the above, get six friends and a case of beer and whack away with axes.
Grenades are great for this but hard to come by usually. Don't use your chainsaw on the roots because they will get dulled too fast.
Let me know how you make out.


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## Knots (Oct 18, 2014)

Subscribed.  The vagueness of your post leaves us speculating on what sort of mayhem you have planned.  Please take pictures (and video if appropriate).  Off to make popcorn...


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## Kevin Dolan (Oct 18, 2014)

Knots said:


> Subscribed.  The vagueness of your post leaves us speculating on what sort of mayhem you have planned.  Please take pictures (and video if appropriate).  Off to make popcorn...


This could be a new realty tv show - busting your stumps!lol


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## BrotherBart (Oct 18, 2014)

30 years ago when we bought this place the builder left two huge Poplar stumps next to the driveway. One day a neighbor was up when I was looking at them. He asked how I was going to deal with them and I said a quarter stick of dynamite would handle it just fine. He freaked talking about their windows blowing out etc.

I just busted them up with a maul and dragged them out with the truck but that and the gunfire when the beavers dammed the bridge on the driveway sealed the "crazy Texan" label in the neighborhood forever.


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## woodsmaster (Oct 19, 2014)

Apparently the stump won since we haven't heard back...
Next time try a BEEF burger first.


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## Knots (Oct 19, 2014)

We may have to read about this in the papers...


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## Knots (Oct 19, 2014)




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## David.Ervin (Oct 21, 2014)




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## dougand3 (Oct 21, 2014)

As Judge Smails said "CHOP! CHOP!"


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## Knots (Oct 22, 2014)




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## mass_burner (Oct 22, 2014)

Yes, I gotta monster spruce stump to remove, about as big as a diesel truck tire, and large above ground roots, what can be done about those?


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## weatherguy (Oct 22, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> Yes, I gotta monster spruce stump to remove, about as big as a diesel truck tire, and large above ground roots, what can be done about those?


I found some guy that did stump grinding on the side on weekends. I had 5 stumps and two estimates were around $1,000, this guy did them all for $150.


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## Knots (Oct 22, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> Yes, I gotta monster spruce stump to remove, about as big as a diesel truck tire, and large above ground roots, what can be done about those?



I've heard of people building fires on top of the stump.  Never seen it done.  Depends a lot on your specific situation though.

A vaguely remember hearing of drilling holes in it and then pouring some liquid in that accelerates the rotting process.


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## dougand3 (Oct 22, 2014)

Knots said:


> I've heard of people building fires on top of the stump.


I did that once to a 2' diameter stump. Sawed vertical slots 8-12" deep, poured kerosene on, lit, got lawn chair and watched...for ~18 hours. You can get ALOT of thinking in. LMAO.


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## DoubleB (Oct 22, 2014)

Bought my house 3 years ago.  Big old stump out back I wanted gone.  That's been my burn pile ever since, and now no more stump.  I don't really like that location though, and wanted the burn pile more by that big willow tree.  The same willow tree that I didn't like anyways and then blew down last week.  I already have a big fire planned this weekend on my new burn pile.  We'll see how long it takes the big willow stump to disappear.


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## captjack (Oct 22, 2014)

I bore into them with an old chain on a saw then dump diesel fuel and drop a match and wait for it to disappear !  haha


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## TreePointer (Oct 22, 2014)

I had a neighbor who always burned them out with charcoal briquettes.  It took a couple days, but it worked.  On the liquid method, I heard some old-timers talk about pouring buttermilk into the holes to increase the biological activity.


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## Bigg_Redd (Oct 23, 2014)

OP - do you mean "stump" as in "still attached to the roots"?  Or "very difficult to split round of wood"?


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## Danno77 (Oct 23, 2014)

TreePointer said:


> I had a neighbor who always burned them out with charcoal briquettes.  It took a couple days, but it worked.  On the liquid method, I heard some old-timers talk about pouring buttermilk into the holes to increase the biological activity.


I have used the charcoal method, it really worked well.


Bigg_Redd said:


> OP - do you mean "stump" as in "still attached to the roots"?  Or "very difficult to split round of wood"?


I wondered if that's what he meant, as well.

Seriously, I think the stump killed him. I've lost a lot of sleep about this. I just need to see how it turned out.


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## Shane Collins (Oct 23, 2014)

I keep checking this post as well.  Maybe one day we'll find out what happened!


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## mass_burner (Oct 25, 2014)

Do the stump grinders grind the above ground roots too?


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## mass_burner (Oct 25, 2014)

I was thinking of making an aluminum dome using some metal hoops and HD foil. Then burning under the dome.


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## Seasoned Oak (Oct 25, 2014)

Just built a road on my land,had a huge tree right in the middle. Sawed off the tree at ground level and now part of the road level with the stone.
Other stumps wether in the ground or out ,i just build a fire on top of them or under.


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## Hoozie (Oct 26, 2014)

I have some property where I had some slash piles to burn.  I put the piles over some of the (long dead and very dry) stumps, burned the pile, then making sure there was no way it could spread, just left the stumps alone to smolder.  Came back a week or three later, and it was like the stump got teleported out   Holes 2-3' deep where the main roots were, leaving a perfect negative impression of the root that used to be there.  

Then they got back filled and you can't tell there used to be a stump there.

I also saw something somewhere about building a fire over the stump, then putting a metal trash can upside over it to contain some heat.


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## maple1 (Oct 26, 2014)

Hellllloooooo OP?


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## Charlie2 (Oct 26, 2014)

Back when, we had a white oak stump on the farm, it was at least three feet across, we had been cutting drainage ditches with dynamite all day and as we where heading home, my old man said lets blow the bastard out. I'm 16, so I'm the dynamite rigger of course. I find a spot where I can pound the steel rod deep under the stump,  I put as many sticks as I could into the hole, then I put a 150 pound rock over the hole. Now we're all set, my dad was always cheap, so the detonation cord was only about 30 feet, we hid in a ditch on the opposite of the hole, my friend, definitely aware that my dad and I were not to be trusted screwing around with dynamite stationed himself about a 100 yards away. I touched it off, there was a hellish explosion, the stump didn't move, but the rock was shot out like a cannon and split into three pieces, it was shot high into the air, straight at my friend. He looked like a ball player trying to catch a fly ball, except he wasn't trying to catch those rocks. 
   No tofu eater would reek havoc on that stump! D9 maybe.


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## STIHLY DAN (Oct 26, 2014)

Hoozie said:


> I have some property where I had some slash piles to burn.  I put the piles over some of the (long dead and very dry) stumps, burned the pile, then making sure there was no way it could spread, just left the stumps alone to smolder.  Came back a week or three later, and it was like the stump got teleported out   Holes 2-3' deep where the main roots were, leaving a perfect negative impression of the root that used to be there.
> 
> Then they got back filled and you can't tell there used to be a stump there.
> 
> I also saw something somewhere about building a fire over the stump, then putting a metal trash can upside over it to contain some heat.



How does a stump dry if its in wet ground. I read on here about burning out stumps, had about 10 fires on 1 and almost no difference. Saw a ford commercial about pulling a stump, tried that with my awesome tow chain, hook is more like a spear now. Excavator or grinder is the only thing I've seen work.


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## weatherguy (Oct 26, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> Do the stump grinders grind the above ground roots too?


Yes, grinds everything below ground level, put loam on top and plant grass seed.


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## Hoozie (Oct 27, 2014)

STIHLY DAN said:


> How does a stump dry if its in wet ground.



I guess I should have clarified; it was cut down probably 20 years ago, and is in the high desert.  In this area, I can dig a couple feet down and the dirt is only cool; not damp.  

At my parents place (wet side of Mt. Hood), a stump would rot faster than it would burn


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## David.Ervin (Oct 30, 2014)

Let's just wait


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## Knots (Oct 30, 2014)

Maybe OP is not who we think he is...


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## Archie (Oct 30, 2014)

Knots said:


> View attachment 141689


Well...we're waaaiting...


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## firefighterjake (Oct 30, 2014)

I think the stump might have got the better of him.

Area Man: 0
Stump: 1


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## Knots (Oct 31, 2014)

Laying down on the job?  Too busy buying pizza for the help????


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## smokedragon (Oct 31, 2014)

TreePointer said:


> burned them out with charcoal briquettes.


This is what we always did, especially if you can put some sort of barrel or other chimney type device around it.


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## laxin213 (Nov 11, 2014)

Toro makes some nice riding stump grinders like the stx-38. Considering he's got a few pounds of metal stuck in there the burning with charcoal option is probably best..


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## Jags (Nov 11, 2014)

Almost makes me a bit concerned that Area Man hasn't logged on since his OP.  Makes you wonder who got the best of who?


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## mecreature (Nov 11, 2014)

I have wondered if I would ever make it back too.


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## Knots (Nov 12, 2014)

Maybe he decided it was too much and is ashamed of his defeat.


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