I have a few old laurel stumps to remove and having baulked at the cot of a stump grinder, I was thinking about buying an axe and just going for a bit of manual labour (and I would get future use for the axe as we have a log burner anyway and always find myself with an occasional need for one).

But my concern is – would I knacker the edge by smashing it into roots (ie, by hitting the inevitable stones etc in the ground) and render it useless very quickly?

I tried using an axe and it really didn’t work very well. Good exercise though. The tool to use is a sabre saw. Get a cheap pack of blades and plunge it into the ground to the side of the root and cut through. Does the job really nicely but does kill blades. Remove a section of root, ie cut close to the trunk and another cut 200mm out. Lets you dig down to the next one. Mattock is handy for the digging bit. In fact get a pick-mattock and you can use the pick end for levering bits of root out

Hmm that is a very interesting option – much cheaper than the hire and will come in useful in the future.

I have a big pick axe that I have been using (in my experimenting with removing the first few) which I can use for prying things out.

Yes, you’ll kill an axe. Mattock‘s the tool for the job. Or a mini-digger.

Nah the tool you need is a mattock.

One with a chopper on tuther side if the head

Edit. Bugger

How much would a mini digger cost to hire? HSS don’t have prices online.

I used a pair of northerners.

£200 later and they had demolished 6 serious tree roots, a garage, the rest of the garden and a packet of chocolate hob nobs. Best value for money, ever.

How much would a mini digger cost to hire?

More than a stump grinder probably, the cost of which you have already baulked at.

Digger is £75 for a day where I live – it’s great fun too!

More than a stump grinder probably, the cost of which you have already baulked at.

Yes, but – DIGGER!

The little ones are loads of fun.

More than a stump grinder probably, the cost of which you have already baulked at.

But I have a load of levelling out to do too so a digger would drastically reduce how much work I need to do.

Just rung a local place and it’s £120 inc. delivery/collection, fuel etc for 24 hours. Hmmm….

Build some dirt jumps too!

spade , fork , pruning saw and what my dad called a digging stick (six foot iron bar with pointy end) break up and dig out soil with fork and spade I root that survives the fork saw through , you can create room around the root for the saw to work with the digging stick get down under the root ball try and hack the tap root with the spade . lever it out snap remaining roots and loosen soil with the digging stick.

an axe is going to not work be dangerous to use and get ruined.

Tie a chain round it and pull it out with your Audi.

Post video.

pull it out with your Audi.

Happens all too frequently around here.

Can’t get the Audi down the side of the house 🙁

Longer chain obvs.

Feed it through house windows if necessary.

crankboy

an axe is going to not work be dangerous to use and get ruined.

Having dug out a couple of medium sized stumps from hard gravelly soil with an axe I can tell you that an axe will work, will only be as dangerous as any other hand tool you might use and it’ll make little difference to a cheap axe. Now a decent axe is a different story altogether.
Most superstore axes come from the shop completely blunt with a profile that’s not much use beyond rough donkey work and they won’t take or hold an edge anyway.

It wasn’t my first choice of tool for the the job but it will work. Ideally treat the stump with stump killer and dig it out easily in 6 months.

Mattock,pick, Sabre saw as above.

Using an axe on stuff near your feet like roots is possibly the most dangerous
thing you can do with it , one glancing blow and the axe is chopping into your foot/leg .

Big fire on stump !

Mini Digger (<2 Ton) will handle stumps upto about 12-18″ diameter.
Digger makes sense if you have other stuff you can do with it and you are a quick learner on it.

Mattock or chemical removal otherwise.

Mattock works to an extent but you’ll be cussin and spitting blood.

I’ve used a hand saw but your blade(s) will dull.

Mini digger would be my tool of choice if you can swing it cost wise and time wise.

Same issue here.

B&Q do a mattock for £20…

Get a stump grinder or someone else to do it. Removing tree roots is one of the hardest most unrewarding frustrating jobs in the garden.

When you try to saw/chop the earth gets in the way, when you try to dig out the earth the roots get in the way, or a stone does, so you try to lever the stone out of the way but it’s wedged in by a root. So you try to chop the root but can’t get at it with the saw due to the earth etc etc.

Don’t get me wrong, splitting logs and sawing firewood is proper real fun.

Removing tree stumps is hell

hard and frustrating, yes, but you always win, and it’s very rewarding when you do.

mattock (take a file to the axe edge if you want a more fragile blade but sharper, quicker cutting) pry bar/digging stick as above, pick axe can be handy. little folding saw does the job of you don’t want to get hold of a sabre saw.

This might be 20/20 hindsight for you now, but leave 4-6 foot of stem for leverage if you’re thinking you’ll get the stump out.

Just looked back to see if this was the same laurels as the thread the other day – are those the stems going into the ground, or have you got much bigger stems that have been cut back and those have grown out more recently?

If those are the originals, those should be relatively easy to get out (relative to 30cm diameter stems, anyway). You’ll still be left with long roots trailing under the rest of the garden. Your choice as to how far your chase those out after you’ve done the stumps!

I’ve removed multiple leylandii (sp?) If various sizes with one of these:

http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/8483243239556943905?lsf=seller:87981,store:11061024590426871141&prds=oid:11810851335319251228&q=digging+bar&hl=en&ei=oT4LWeeKF-bZgAa91Y6wDw&lsft=gclid:Cj0KEQjwoqvIBRD6ls6og8qB77YBEiQAcqqHe_5mnlYHbfZk48hXPN9uhBC2dWaVyOSItMCu-98Nvn8aAvZV8P8HAQ

Brilliant things. Will go through roots as well as a cheap axe and provide the leverage to pop the stump out.
Any really thick roots were severed with one of those flip-out pruning saws.

Using an axe on stuff near your feet like roots is possibly the most dangerous thing you can do with it , one glancing blow and the axe is chopping into your foot/leg .

If you’re using an axe to cut below ground level, below the level of your feet, your legs are going to be spread very wide, and if you miss/miss hit, the axe/mattock is going straight into the ground. Really can’t imagine any kind of ricochet sending it into a leg/foot.

I’ve probably grubbed out 30 small trees like johndoh’s in the past 6 months. The most dangerous aspects for me are doing your back in from heaving too much/too badly, pulled hamstrings from similar, and flicking stuff into your eye while you’re digging, cutting.

If you’re using an axe to cut below ground level, below the level of your feet, your legs are going to be spread very wide, and if you miss/miss hit, the axe/mattock is going straight into the ground. Really can’t imagine any kind of ricochet sending it into a leg/foot.

I’ve probably grubbed out 30 small trees like johndoh’s in the past 6 months. Ive watched people who dont use axes often do some stupid stuff. With roots its hard work to bend down to hit the target so you’ll see people half climb in the hole and brace a foot against the root 🙄

Took out 7 leylandii with a mattock and ratchet winch. Leave trunks high for leverage. Still have both feet.

I’ve watched people who dont use axes often do some stupid stuff. With roots its hard work to bend down to hit the target so you’ll see people half climb in the hole and brace a foot against the root

Fair enough. Anything’s possible if you’re an idiot!

As someone just said – next time cut them off at chest height. This gives you leverage to rock them to see where the roots run. These you can hack through with a mattock.

Did a pretty big laurel stump a couple of weeks back in the front garden, really hard work. Didn’t have an option of getting any kind of machinery in as there is no access. If I had a few of them to do and the means to get a machine in there, I’d pay someone to do the stump grinding in a blink.
RM.

As others have said a mattock and drainage spade, done a few in the past with these.

The key is to take your time digging out soil and cutting roots. You’ll get there and a nattock should be the only tool you need. Sharpen it with a grinder…use the axe end for chopping bigger roots and the hoe end for cutting out soil and smaller roots. Between digging trails, my business and my own garden I feel like I’m digging out stumps non stop!

But my concern is – would I knacker the edge by smashing it into roots (ie, by hitting the inevitable stones etc in the ground) and render it useless very quickly?

That’s a trick question, right?

what my dad called a digging stick (six foot iron bar with pointy end

a very handy item, I spent a few hours digging post holes with one for a new garden fence, the soil around here is thin a sits on top of brash, basically like horizontal drystone walling, you prize one stone out to find others laying under it. Sodding hard work, but a long 1″ steel bar with a pointy end is a perfect tool.

Alternatively, there’s not much harm in just leaving them is there? I am just growing stuff over/round a few stumps that I really don’t see the point in moving. They will rot eventually. Of course it depends if they are really in the way.

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What could possibly go wrong?

3rd scenario in this ad explains how it’s done in NZ.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RfAYnCxkK0[/video]

Yeah in hindsight I should have left more stump in but we had a change of plan (and my FIL cut them before I could say no) so it is what it is. I did consider buying topsoil and covering them but hat would cost the same as hiring digging stuff.