Anyone hired a stump grinder for home use? Worth it?
Discussion
Morning folks
I have taken a few trees out in the garden and have a few stumps I'd like to deal with. Hiring in a tree surgeon is likely cost prohibitive at the moment so I'm hoping to do it myself.
Local hire place has a Camon SG30 (I think 13hp) you can hire for £100 a day which seems reasonable. I have never used one before but have seen them in use. I have my own chainsaw so have suitable PPE I can use.
Have heard hire machines can be a bit rubbish but I'm sure it very much depends on the supplier.
I have this cluster of bay stumps to deal with- the one closest to the camera is quite chunky. Is it likely the type of grinder you can hire will deal with these adequately?
Also have two ash tree stumps to lose, biggest one approx 12 inches across.
Any thoughts/opinions much appreciated.
I have taken a few trees out in the garden and have a few stumps I'd like to deal with. Hiring in a tree surgeon is likely cost prohibitive at the moment so I'm hoping to do it myself.
Local hire place has a Camon SG30 (I think 13hp) you can hire for £100 a day which seems reasonable. I have never used one before but have seen them in use. I have my own chainsaw so have suitable PPE I can use.
Have heard hire machines can be a bit rubbish but I'm sure it very much depends on the supplier.
I have this cluster of bay stumps to deal with- the one closest to the camera is quite chunky. Is it likely the type of grinder you can hire will deal with these adequately?
Also have two ash tree stumps to lose, biggest one approx 12 inches across.
Any thoughts/opinions much appreciated.
Cow Corner said:
Not used the model you’re referring to, but it looks a typical type, so i wouldn’t have thought it would have any issues with the stumps you’ve pictured.
Is rebuilding the wall next weekends job
Thanks hopefully the little machine will cope with them!Is rebuilding the wall next weekends job
Haha luckily theres a couple of brick piers built the other side to support it. I'm assuming the bay trees I took out knackered it!
Having had a stump ground out by a chap with a machine I'd say do not hire one - look around for someone to come in with his machine & do it. These machines are beasts & if you get a kick back (& they do kick back) then you stand a chance of serious injury. The guy I used was working on his own because his colleague had & machine kick back & it broke his hip.
andy43 said:
Dig down six inches around the stumps and ruin a chainsaw chain getting as deep as you can into the stumps. Even a hammer and chisel and a decent sized wood drill bit in a cordless would be less faff than hiring something for stumps that size.
This…..but i use a reciprocating saw to cut the roots off underground My brother once hired one…….he couldn’t move his arms the next day.
An hour here and there and you’ll soon have those out……..but i think I'm a bit odd as i quite like digging stumps out.
FilH said:
Hired one 10ish years ago, with no clue what i was doing!
Watched some American youtube videos on people using them.
Had the day penciled in to remove 6 big stumps.
About an hour later they was all gone.
That's good to hear! I think I will go down the same route, being very mindful of the injury quoted above!
I can't face tying to dig these out, I simply don't have the time and have already dug lots of smaller ones out with a mattock. I can get them a little lower with the chainsaw though
Thanks all for the advice, I'll report back with how I get on
Watched some American youtube videos on people using them.
Had the day penciled in to remove 6 big stumps.
About an hour later they was all gone.
That's good to hear! I think I will go down the same route, being very mindful of the injury quoted above!
I can't face tying to dig these out, I simply don't have the time and have already dug lots of smaller ones out with a mattock. I can get them a little lower with the chainsaw though
Thanks all for the advice, I'll report back with how I get on
Stump removal is hard graft by any measure. I hand dug about 10 old conifer stumps out of my garden last year (no access for any machinery) and it was a task and a half and I'm not new to getting stuck in.
I didn't have the budget to pay to have them removed but that would be where my money would go next time.
I didn't have the budget to pay to have them removed but that would be where my money would go next time.
I did the dig out and cut method on two trees, as chumley.mouse shows.
Trunks about 9" just above ground level. Cut the trunks to leafe a 2' trunk. Dug out, cut the roots. Used the trunk to shake the stump for loosening. Dig a bit more, cut remaining roots. Job done. Good exercise!
Thought about burning.....not done as it would take a while to prep the stumps. Getting them dry enough to burn well, drilling and soaking accelerant ......still got roots to sort out.
Trunks about 9" just above ground level. Cut the trunks to leafe a 2' trunk. Dug out, cut the roots. Used the trunk to shake the stump for loosening. Dig a bit more, cut remaining roots. Job done. Good exercise!
Thought about burning.....not done as it would take a while to prep the stumps. Getting them dry enough to burn well, drilling and soaking accelerant ......still got roots to sort out.
FilH said:
Hired one 10ish years ago, with no clue what i was doing!
Watched some American youtube videos on people using them.
Had the day penciled in to remove 6 big stumps.
About an hour later they was all gone.
thats the ticket , early 90s the one i hired had from a international hire firm . It had no guard and 8 tungsten carbide teeth, it was delivered on a trailer was bloody heavy and the stump was a 3 foot cube . I realised I needed to be on top of the stump so had to build a ramp from old pallets , it was very heath robinson and very dangerous , swaying about and sending chunks of wood flying took about 4hours to take the stump 1' below ground level , then i stupidly though why not rotivate the garden ,,,Watched some American youtube videos on people using them.
Had the day penciled in to remove 6 big stumps.
About an hour later they was all gone.
hit a stone which broke a carbide tooth , so got a bit of oil and covered over the broken bit , then phoned the hire company to collect , chap came out and I distracted him, so he signed the ticket and while he was loading i shot off to the shop to get the deposit back
worked a treat ............just dont use as a rotivator
AndyD360 said:
Will soon be looking to remove a sizeable tree stump. Is the lack of an update here a sign that I d be best to get someone in to do the job properly? 
Sorry I thought I had added the outcome! Absolutely rubbish!!
It was a small and dated machine. Despite being assured it would have sharpened teeth it arrived with dried mud on the teeth!
It was terrible. On touching the stumps half the time the wheel would stop. Can't emphasise how bad it was.
Got the company to collect it and got a refund.
Spent £300 for a pro to come. He must have done about 6 stumps and he was brilliant. His machine was huge and took all the stumps down to well below ground level.
If it's took big to dig out with a mattock I would get someone in to do it.
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