Chopping up a tree stump

[stealthwolf]

I’ve managed to extract five tree stumps that had been left behind by the previous owners. Four of them were small and light enough for me to carry one at a time. The fifth one is too heavy to lift and needs two people. The local recycling centre won’t allow more than one person out of the car nor will they help. So I will need to cut up this tree stump. It’s approx 1m by 1m and frigging heavy.

Options as I see them:
- chop with an axe (might take a while)
- hire a chainsaw (HSS will only do one week hire at £136)

Any other clever options?

 

[EddieM]

I’ve managed to extract five tree stumps that had been left behind by the previous owners. Four of them were small and light enough for me to carry one at a time. The fifth one is too heavy to lift and needs two people. The local recycling centre won’t allow more than one person out of the car nor will they help. So I will need to cut up this tree stump. It’s approx 1m by 1m and frigging heavy.

Options as I see them:
- chop with an axe (might take a while)
- hire a chainsaw (HSS will only do one week hire at £136)

Any other clever options?

Burn it. Like this.

 

[bernardgreen]

Using wedges might work

As a one off some homemade wooden wedges might work depending on how strong the stump is.

 

[JohnD]

setting it alight with charcoal can work, the difficulty is getting air into the seat of fire.

I have seen it done using a small blower, and metal tubes such as some vacuum cleaners have, pushed into a hole.

Some vacs have a "blow" function but it would probably work even with a hairdryer or hot air gun.

The length of the metal tubes separates your blower from the fire so you can protect it from heat.

Forced air into a furnace gives a much hotter burn.

 

[bernardgreen]

setting it alight with charcoal can work, the difficulty is getting air into the seat of fire.

sacrificial copper tube can deliver air to the seat of the fire, used that method to get rid of a swollen gate post without having to dig it out. Long ago and I cannot now recall what i used as a blower but I do recall sacrificing only a few feet of 15 mm copper pipe

 

[endecotp]

The local recycling centre won’t allow more than one person out of the car

Wait until that changes.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Check out Lidl/Aldi chainsaws on offer
Buy a chainsaw at b&q - keep the receipt

 

[conny]

Our local tip will allow 2 people to remove something thats heavy but will not help you themselves.
When I went a few weeks ago there was a man and a woman both unloading the same car and no one said anything to them.

 

[lostinthelight]

Do you have a picture of the stump?

 

[StephenOak]

- hire a chainsaw (HSS will only do one week hire at £136)

As @lostinthelight says a picture would be very useful.

A rule when using a chainsaw is not to let the chain touch the ground as you will blunt the teeth very quickly. So a horizontal cut through just a clean part of the trunk above the roots should be okay. Any sort of vertical cut that involves the roots anything that was below the ground may well kill the chain.

setting it alight with charcoal can work, the difficulty is getting air into the seat of fire.

I've never done it but I have seen videos when people have drilled two holes that meet. A vertical one in the top and a horizontal one in the side. The former acts as a chimney and the latter as a source of air. That needs a long & wide drill bit.


You could try offering in on a local reuse group (e.g. Freegle). Anyone who collects it will either want it for a garden project or will already have the tools to break it up for firewood.

 

[stealthwolf]

I’ll try and get a photo up. I’ve already removed the stump out of the ground. Just needed to cut it up into smaller pieces for transport. I’ve booked an appointment slot and it’s at the end of this month so I’m hoping to get the stump sorted before then. Don’t really want to wait as it’s taking up space and I don’t know how long the restrictions will be in place at the recycling centre.

 

[stealthwolf]

So I measured it and it’s more like 70cm x 70cm x 70cm.

 

[scbk]

It's not the prettiest, but some people pay good money for stumps, to make a "stumpery" or habitat pile

 

[Bodgedbuild]

Tree stump "Rocket Stove", basically you would need to drill 2 big holes so you might need to buy a drill bit or auger but once it is burning nicely, from inside, it should just keep going. Worked for me on an old cherry tree stump..

 

[stealthwolf]

Tree stump "Rocket Stove", basically you would need to drill 2 big holes so you might need to buy a drill bit or auger but once it is burning nicely, from inside, it should just keep going. Worked for me on an old cherry tree stump..

Duly bought some drill bits for this. Drilled 1” holes. Whatever I try to use as starter for the fire snuffs out I’ll try again with larger holes.