Agreed...there are better and very much safer accelerants than straight gasoline. What got my attention was the method of using a wood auger for drilling holes to create a Swedish Torch effect. If it is a large stump drill holes around the circumference of the stump...get multiple torch holes burning at the same time. When I was a child my father felled a large Jacaranda tree, leaving a stump of about 2'. He drilled multiple holes over the top of the stump, and my mother would fill the holes with spent cooking oil and fat. Over time the frequent burning of the stump reduced it considerably.
Mix 75% diesel with 25% petrol for fire starting. I’ve got some big stumps I burn, I pile the smaller branches around it.
Burnt motor oil works pretty well also ,, mix with a little diesel fuel if you want to ,, doesn't hurt any .
Back in the olde days my uncle` had an elm tree stump about 3 feet across in his back yard and had some dynomite in the milk house. We took a bar and snake holed under the stump and put a stick in and fired it. There was a dull thump and he smiled. When we came back to look, been around to the side of the house to take cover, the stump was still intact and nothing looked changed. He was mad and made a new hole and put two sticks in the hole. We lit the fuse, retreated around to side of building and waited, There was a heck of a boom and we went around the house and the stump was gone. Like we didn't see it anymore, just a big hole in the ground. My aunt came out asked if there was anything wrong. He told her that everything was fine. She went back into the house and we started to very quietly look for the stump. Found it about 75 feet in front of the house. Took the tractor and got it back next to the hole and he told her it worked just as he planned. We figure the first shot must have broken the tap root and the second shot just lifted it up into the air and over the house. Well he was a WW2 vet from the merchant marine and had one ship sunk under him so I guess it was no big deal to him..But it sure was to a 10 year old kid. I always drill holes in the stump and use saltpeter, potassium nitrate, to burn them out. After the stump is burned down below ground level, I always soak the ground good as I have seen stumps relight in the swamp. after a fire, several days later. It had been smoldering in one of the roots. I use the nitrate in my greenhouse and buy it in 20 kilo bags, but you can buy it as a stump remover at about 50 times the price per pound as a stump remover at the farm supply. I have seen people drill some holes or make cuts with a chainsaw, and build a fire over it and let it burn down. Soaking it with kerosene, etc first also helps. If it is in an area where you can not burn, next to house, etc, then I cut it off as close tom the ground as I can and use copper sulfate. That at least keeps them from sending out new suckers.
That's funny there Mr Duane ,, I see that picture in my mind ,, especially the part about Grandma coming out to see what the hells going on . I remember a few times hanging out with my grandpa,, when things didn't go as planned,, and Grandma coming out to see what's going on ,, grandpa says everything's fine ,, she goes back in the house ,, grandpa tells me ,,, don't say nothing to Grandma about this . And I never did . It shows how much pull some of them women have ,, sometimes meaner than the ole school marm ,,
I used an old Chevrolet Blazer I stripped down to its frame back in the 80's...I would tie up the chain and rip out stumps all day. Way more fun than digging them out or burning. Granted, there was this one, big old monster that had to be burned down. Good times.
Ya. I had an old GMC 4 wd pickup. Got it in a trade for a rifle. Rifle wasn't much good, but the GMC had the engine apart in the bed. Put it back together and drove it til I could tell when to stop backing up by looking thru where the floor was supposed to be. Finally traded it to the junk yard for some parts. He took the bed off, welded in a couple cross members, put in a floor and an A frame winch where the bed used to be and a set of tanks and used it as a yard truck for 5 years. It would pull just about any stump and good sized ones if you used a tractor tire rim to get some lift. Got a new ford 250 4wd truck and went to pull a stump with the tow ball, been doing it for years with the GMC and the step and tow bumper come with the truck. Well the fancy step and tow bumper was laying on the ground and the stump hadn't moved. Someone in their great wisdom at ford, won't do them the honor of capitalizing it, decided to make the frame for the 6 foot bed and the 8 foot bed the same. Just add some heavy sheet metal brackets to hold the bed on to the frame. I pulled them out straight and then pulled the bolts thru, Went and ordered some new brackets and gave up and used the tractor after that. The new plastic bumpers hardly hold up to running thru the grass in the pasture. Like the new Jeep, the WW2 one would die of shame if it knew what had happened to the brand. Speaking of Jeeps, Phil Bethune, was a second Lt at the proving grounds when they tested the new GP trucks. Willys won with the Jeep, he liked the GM entry better, but the Army selected the Jeep. He said they named it after the Jeep in the Popeye cartoon and selected the Dodge power wagon as its big brother. It was always as far as I know called the weapons carrier or at least in the 1950's in the USAF. Classic Popeye: Jeep is Jeep | Watch me meet Eugene da Jeep for da first time! #Popeye #PopeyeStrong #StrongtotheFinish #PopeyeandFriends #Jeep #SweePea #Magic #Classic | By Popeye | Facebook
