Please help identify tree

[Steve Bullman]

Your first mistake was cutting it so low, you should have left it high so you had leverage to get the stump out. It’s only a small one though so more digging and axing the roots out should see you good 

[doobin]

Stump grinder would trash the wall also. You need a sharp digging bar and some willpower.

[Mick Dempsey]

A grinder would be ok for that, if the operator was careful, wall is already cracked at the back.

[David G]

Thank you very much for the advice everyone.

I have been using a scorpion saw and axe to cut the roots. Due to the earth being very stony, the saw is blunting rather rapidly, and at £10 per blade this is an expensive problem. To solve this I have ordered online a Makita reciprocating saw as the blades are much cheaper. 

 

For a job like this you definitely need a lot of willpower. When I've given up on willpower the stump grinder will be the next course of action.

[nepia]

I'm not sure what you're going to cut with a reciprocating saw without a lot more digging.  The classic digging/hacking/cutting tool is a grubbing mattock.

It would work on its own but would be easier in tandem with a crowbar for levering the rootball about.

[Paul in the woods]

I removed a bigger ash stump. It involved clearing the roots with a mattock to start with then cutting them with a cheap Lidl hand saw. Then I had to undermine the stump and I used one of the cheap hand picks you can pick up (Roughneck Micro Mattock). Typically there was a very big root right under the stump. At least I left 10' of trunk on the beast and I eventually winched it over.

 

Now I know why someone invented stump grinders.

Edited August 16, 2020 by Paul in the woods

[se7enthdevil]

if it suckers as much as some people say i'd try to poison the stump first...

 

what have you done with the trunk?

i'm a woodturner and norway maple is a lovely timber...

[David G]

9 hours ago, se7enthdevil said:

if it suckers as much as some people say i'd try to poison the stump first...

 

what have you done with the trunk?

i'm a woodturner and norway maple is a lovely timber...

I think poisoning the stump will take to long. I'm almost there now. With the help of a farmers jack and winch the stump will hopefully be forced out.

 

Some of the wood I will be using to make wooden border fencing for the garden, maybe some wooden coasters as Christmas presents. There are a several logs 10cm - 18cm diameter and 24cm in length that are left over. I might leave them by the driveway entrance for anyone to pick up. 

[se7enthdevil]

12 hours ago, David G said:

I think poisoning the stump will take to long. I'm almost there now. With the help of a farmers jack and winch the stump will hopefully be forced out.

 

Some of the wood I will be using to make wooden border fencing for the garden, maybe some wooden coasters as Christmas presents. There are a several logs 10cm - 18cm diameter and 24cm in length that are left over. I might leave them by the driveway entrance for anyone to pick up. 

it's not a durable wood so i would not make a fence from it.

 

as long as the wood is not going on the fire that's good news to my ears.

[David G]

Mission Accomplished !

 

Finally finished removing the stump, very happy indeed.

During the digging process I was suspicious that some roots were growing beneath the foundations to the retaining wall. This was later confirmed when I was trying to use the farmers jack to push the stump away from the wall. I was using so much force the shear bolt to the jack snapped. As the roots were impossible to get at using a mattock, I instead used a 5 ft. chisel digging bar to break these roots. Eventually with a huge sense of relief the stump came away.