spencer_perry77•1d agoProlific Poster

Just realized a stump grinder isn't always the fastest option

I spent 6 hours grinding out a massive silver maple stump in a tight backyard last Thursday. Everyone kept telling me to just rent a bigger machine and plow through it. But the roots had wrapped around an old irrigation line and I had to stop every 20 minutes to dig around by hand. Ended up using a chainsaw and mattock for the tricky parts and it went faster than the grinder ever could. Has anyone else found certain stumps just aren't worth grinding?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_ramirez1d ago

Dug out a monster oak stump last fall that had roots tangled around a old septic line. The grinder kept catching and throwing rocks, so I finally ditched it and went at it with a digging bar and a pruning saw. It was slow going at first but once I got the main roots cut I could roll the whole stump out of the hole. The grinder would have taken twice as long with all the stopping to clear the blades. What kind of setup did you end up using to dig around that irrigation line?

shane7511d ago

Yeah, I noticed you said "not always the fastest option" and I get what you mean, but I think people mix up "fastest" with "easiest" sometimes. A grinder is still the quickest way to get most of the wood gone IF the stump isn't tangled up with stuff. But for roots that weave around pipes or rocks, you're totally right that a chainsaw and some hand tools can actually move faster because you're not stopping every five minutes to clear debris. I've had stumps where the grinder just bounced off the roots and I ended up digging more than grinding. So I'd say the grinder is the fastest for the main mass, but not always the fastest for the whole job.