When I announced my 5-point plan in e2's chatterbox to remove a stump from my front yard using naught but a few basic tools and my own two arms, I received only scorn in reply. "Pish and nonsense!" they replied. "You honestly plan to pit man's base cunning against the ancient elemental strength of a tree? The man has taken leave of his senses!"
I have never been one to be put off by nay-sayers, not when I attempted to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, nor when I succeeded in squeezing toothpaste back into the tube, and certainly not now. Having a 50% success rate working to boost my morale, I set to my task. My method was outlined thusly:
- Dig hole around stump to expose the large surface roots
- Cut large roots away with a hatchet
- My brother bought the Esquire mag with the 'digital paper' on the cover. Must go flip through it and remember why I haven't looked at Esq. in 20+ years. Later.†
- Drill 7/8" hole through the side of the stump with a power drill and a spade bit
(this will be the only step requiring a power tool, unless you count the most powerful tool of all — the human brain)
- Insert metal rebar through hole and rotate the stump in place around the taproot to break the remaining root system loose
- Lift and remove stump, backfill hole
† maxClimb interrupted my string of comments here
Procedure
I set myself to my task with gusto, sure of myself and my methods. I was under no delusions as to the difficulty of the goal set before me, this tree had spent years doing nothing but securing itself to the ground, while I had frittered away my time on other, perhaps less noble, pursuits. As such it had a substantial head-start that I would be hard-pressed to overcome. Fortunately I had a set of quality tools with which to assist my efforts and magnify my meager reserves of strength.
The digging turned out to be the hardest part. A good spade and a strong back were all that were required, but it was grueling, time-consuming work made more difficult by the very roots I was set to expose. Standard shoveling methods to which I was accustomed were complicated by the complex root system I had to dig around. I also made a substantial mistake at this juncture, and dumped the dirt too close to the hole. I would have to move my pile later, nearly doubling the effort required.
As the larger roots were exposed, I set myself to hacking away at them with my hatchet. This was easier than the digging, especially with a freshly-sharpened blade, but without a doubt the most dangerous part of the task. I had decided to take to my efforts after a recent rainfall, hopefully easing my burden by digging through soft mud rather than solid earth, and the awkward angle of the chopping combined with the slippery working conditions meant that I had to exercise extreme caution lest I amputate some extremity I may later find useful. The work went slowly, and splashed mud a considerable distance, but passed without incident. There were 8 large roots in all that needed to be cut away.
Next I drilled a large hole through the stump with my power drill (connected, of course, to a GFCI outlet on my porch for safety) and a 7/8" spade bit. Because that was the size I happened to own. Unfortunately the bit was too short to penetrate the entire stump, so I had to drill from both sides and meet in the middle. My eye and judgement were of sufficient quality that I succeded in this endeavor on my first attempt.
Finally, the culmination of my efforts was in sight. I slid the steel rebar through the hole in the stump, and was dismayed to discover that I had, as earlier mentioned, piled my dirt entirely too close to the stump. I had to shovel the pile over another three feet to clear enough room for the rebar.
This accomplished, I slid the rebar back through the hole again, checking to make sure it had clearance to rotate the stump around. My first attempt merely bent the rebar, but I was not discouraged. Setting my size 10-1/2 steel-toed boots against the rebar protruding on either side, I cracked the taproot with leverage, weight, and the most powerful muscles in the body, the legs. From there it was a simple matter of using the rebar's leverage to twist the stump around, tearing away the remaining roots, and lifting it free of the hole. Success! I had defeated nature's most tenacious champion. All that remained was to backfill the hole and clean up.