so you want to remove a stump but you
don't want to hire a stump grinder or
heavy machinery to get it out or perhaps
you just want to test yourself man
versus stump and see if you have what it
takes to pull a stump by hand well this
is the video for you g'day I'm Mike from
self-sufficient me and in this video I'm
going to show you how to remove a stump
by hand using the wedge or wedges system
let's get into it if you've been
following me for a while you'd know that
I successfully grew a dragon fruit vine
in a container right in this spot here
on the stump that I have now removed but
I'm in the process of concreting this
area behind our shed so it can be used
as a nursery and the stump had to go the
first thing I did was cut the stump off
at ground level the closest you can go
to the ground probably the better the
next thing to do is dig out around the
stump and you're doing two things you're
clearing the area plus you're looking
for where the main root system is most
stumps have a base secure root system
with four or five main roots coming out
from the base of the tree and what they
do is stabilize the tree in place
find those stabilizing roots and dig
around them as much as you can to open
the area up so that you know what you're
working with
you won't also dig out a bit so that
you've got room to work with your
chainsaw the less you're cutting into
soil and gravel the better it is for
your chainsaw chain and the bar because
the next step is to cut through those
main base roots so that all you're left
with hopefully is a stump with probably
a major test route going straight down
next is the crosscut cut across in the
top of the stump all the way through to
the base and hopefully right down to
where the taproot starts on the base of
the stump this will make four quarters
now this is a fair job and it's
I said at the beginning you want to cut
as much of that stump to the ground as
possible because you basically have to
make a plunge cut or a side cut
whichever way you go to get that
crosscut and of course make sure you
think safety when you're doing this
because it is a risky job once you've
got that quarter cross cut done now is
the time to make your wedges I just use
scrap but good quality hardwood that was
left over from our deck renovation
you'll probably use quite a few pieces
so fill your boots by cutting as many as
you like maybe even ten and also
different sizes thicker smaller to
accommodate for widening out those gaps
as you hammer the wedges in and then
with a nice sized sledgehammer drive the
wedge into the cut between two of the
quarters and keep using bigger wedges to
increase the gap until one or both
quarters of the stump give way once
you've cracked the quarter and you felt
that it's given way you can then do the
rest by using a crowbar and in my case I
use the prong tool to lever it out might
take a little bit to leave with a broken
piece out because you still got soil and
whatnot kind of cemented in for a long
time around it so if you do have to dig
out a little bit more fine
but if you've done the digging
appropriately in the first place it
should just come right out once it
snapped off that tap root and then it's
just a matter of repeating the wedge
process for all the other quarters if
you find the last quarter is still stuck
solid in place you might have to split
it further in half since there's nothing
to wedge it against obviously and I have
to do that in this case I just split it
one last time with a cut down the middle
and that was easy enough to jam the
prong down and break it in half and then
a sledgehammer finished it off after
that you can fill in the hole and the
job's done
but in this case because I'm concreting
this area I just filled it a little bit
and that's gonna be dug out anyway but
at least there won't be any problems
trying to deal with a stump in the way
when laying the slab just a few last
points to make this process works best
with older stumps he nearly cut down
trees the stump might be harder to wedge
out due to the extra flexibility in the
fresh wood and it will be harder to
break or snap
to stamp off from the taproot some trees
have easier root systems than others and
the size of the tree makes a difference
naturally the bigger the stump the
longer and harder it's probably going to
be to get out are you just going to have
to use more wedges and the other thing
about wedges you can use the steel ones
now I'm no professional tree lopper or
stump remover guy so I just cut these
because it was handy for me but you can
get professional steel wedges that the
loggers use and that and they would
obviously do a much better job so you
might want to consider buying them but
for me just cutting my own was good
enough always wear eye protection
perhaps even a full face protection in
case the wedge Springs out and hits you
in the mouth
I mean don't want to lose your front
teeth do you're trying to get a stump
out that would be pretty awful I
probably should have taken my own advice
with that and finally be happy to do an
upper body workout because that's what
you're gonna get it's no easy thing this
took me over an hour to get out myself
and it wasn't an easy process but at
least I didn't have to use anything else
except for brute force and my own hands
having said that this wedge system of
removing a stump makes it easier than
trying to chop it out but yeah you'll
still feel it the next day I hope this
video helps you if you're trying to
remove a stump by hand or at least gives
you some ideas on how to do it and then
you find your own way if it does make
sure you stump up and give it a big
thumbs up subscribe if you haven't
already and share this video around
because that helps a lot thanks a lot
for watching bye for now good luck it's
hard Yakka but hey it's well worth it
and this stuff it will go in the base of
some of our garden beds or be used as
firewood he just about done that - maybe
I could have been a karate expert lethal
hands