Stump cut protocols

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
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Retired in Minneapolis
Over the years I've done plenty of stump cuts. Of course, horizontal ones are routine. Making angled/parallel to the ground cuts have been problematic.

Most cuts have some sort of step by step procedure that can be followed which leads to them being taught and learned. I do have some ways that are routine but I would hardly say that I could teach stump cuts as easily as I can tying a bowline.

Add to the tutorial list:

Horizontal
Pick the high side of the stump to start. Set the saw dogs and pivot around aa far as possible. Pull the saw and cut out the 'wedge' inside with the lower part of the bar. Set the dogs and cut more.

Parallel
Set up on high side. Have a helper level the bar and saw. Make small corrections right away before committing too much

Parallel
Resign yourself to making more than one cut and hope that they intersect or overlap enough to be broken by pounding wedges in to life the sections.
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Cone
Multiple plunge cuts so as to remove as much wood as possible for faster stump grinding or to fill with soil and nutrients and to hold moisture or expose more wood to air to speed up the decay process.
Seems to help the binding of the saw when cutting the root flares.
If you go to deep you will cut rocks/earth is the only draw back

I know, figures i wood come up with a cone cut.
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If we are talking about final cuts or cuts low, I am in total love with bore cut/cutting circumferential with the top of the bar. Packing the sawdust in to support the block. Easy to make sure you are on target for the center because the saw shoves in easy if you are right - it doesn't matter about the angle so long as you stay on plane with the cut (can be tough if the chain isn't sharpened correctly).

If I had to pick one trick that I got from the Arbormaster course that was worth the price of admission - that is it.
 
RS...'multiple plunge cuts'??? I don't know what you mean.

FA...what do you mean 'final cuts or low cuts'??? I'm talking about the cut that is left for the stump grinder...or roguish fungiis.

Pulling chain works really well for horizontal cuts...now...how do you line up angled/sloping cuts that are parallel with the ground not horizontal.
 
I swear it works any angle - practice I guess. 1.5" off the ground usually. I use cutting with the top of the bar on crane work, down logs and anyplace I would need to stick a wedge due to a closing kerf. Wedges are too much a pain and not handy sometimes. The packed in sawdust works wonders. I have seen it hold up a pretty heavy piece of wood.

We take bets whether the stump is cut or not because it doesn't move when you are all the way around.
 
Plunge the saw in say every 16" or so and lever the saw back and forth, continue all the way around until it is cut thru and free.
Pops out leaving sorta of a dish/cone.
So you take a larger plug of wood.
Cheers
 
The one thing I would add in a stump protocol is: DO IT LAST!!!

Odds are pretty good that the chain gets dulled causing a work stoppage (if your crew is typical and changing a chain is a spectator sport).

Cut higher if it is ok. The grinder teeth really don't take much of a hit grinding straight wood - though it is tougher to grind. That is also IF you aren't hauling the grindings away - far easier to pick up a hunk of wood than to shovel up grindings.
 
I virtually never cut a stump with a pushing chain cuz it will dull so easily. With a pulling chain, many stumps can usually be cut. Re pinching, I'll just use a wedge if one is handy, or shove in some twigs etc to keep the kerf open.
 
I checked out a carbide chain that'll cut rocks. They are $500. So I keep some sharp old chains on hand for stumpn'.
 
I'm also a huge fan of the bore cut for stumps. I've never had chins dull out faster from top side cutting, but I don't like it much for stumps that the bar doesn't reach through. Seems like too much chip gets packed in the kerf and cutting speed goes waaay down, sometimes even jamming the bar tip in all of the chip.

I guess what I may have to add to stump protocol would be, Safe and smart positioning. Be mindful of reactive forces and keep exposed areas of the body (feet, ankles) out of kickback path. So kneel on the right knee, feels a little funny but it also drops the right shoulder a little, making it more comfortable to keep the right hand positioned behind the chain brake.
 
Only cut as low as needed for the stumper.

Safety x2! Chaps, glasses, ears, good stance and position. (I always notice how close and vulnerable I am to that long bar when flushing)

To avoid the stump setting on the bar leave a small strap right at the end then remove the bar and finish from the outside.

Wedges! Any arborist or "tree guy" who doesn't have some plastic wedges and a 3# hammer or axe handy during felling and flushing operations may as well stay home.

The bore cut IS quite useful, especially when your bar is too short and you have to "do the can opener". It's easier to match the kerfs once you've gone all the way round by using the top of the bar. Also, the chain cuts way better on the top corner of the tip than the bottom corner.

Always be mindful and ready for kickback and pushback.

Stop often to check for rocks and dirt and to make sure you're lined up right.

If you must cut through mud, dirt, or sand then PULL it off the stump where it can fly off your chain at the sprocket instead of PUSHING it into the xylem where it will grind between the cutting edge of the chain and the wood its trying to cut.

I have also discovered that round tooth chain is much more forgiving than chisel tooth for those near the ground cuts. Not quite as aggressive but won't dull immediately like a chisel tooth that has lost it's point, and resharpens to a usable condition in minutes in the field.

Safety X3!
 
Parallel
When I have to cut a stump with the grade. I start on the high side if the grade first holding the saw as level to the grade as possible. Then start the cut, set the dogs, at this point you have to judge on your own how far to cut before you re-set the dogs. I try to keep the bar parallel to the cut the whole time, image when you make a back cut and you keep the bar parallel to the hinge, same thing just no hinge.

Parallel
If the stump is bigger than the saw then, I cut through one side as much as possible in the same way inserting twigs or wedges. Remove the saw and finish the other side with the top of the bar because of the saw dust packing technique. If it pinches it's usually at the very very end of the cut, the stump will be cut but, the weight of it when it's free will pinch the saw.

Horizontal
The same goes for a "flat" stump cut too. The only difference is if the stump is bigger than the bar I'll cut all the way around and may insert twigs or wedges.

I cut all stumps with the grade if I can, to be nice to our stump grinder operator.
 
When possible I leave it up to the tree's owner. I'm surprised at how many times I'm asked to leave a stump up at a certain height so they can put some yard art on it or use as a table. Level has been the most popular choice.

When cutting close to the ground I like to use the top of the bar so I don't have to stop to clean chips from under the saw.
 
When stumping larger stumps, I'll start with the dogs one the right side of a buttress root and sweep through with the pulling chain (bottom side of bar). Its much less work than pushing chain. When I get through the stump and my bar tip exits one the opposite side of the first buttress root, I continue to sweep through, leaving just a little wood on the first buttress root.

Pull saw out and reinsert into the same kerf near the second buttress root and repeat, working around the whole stump in the same way.

Once cut all the way around, hopefully maintaining the same kerf, I'll cut vertically, or slightly down and out, through the buttress roots. Stump drops.

Cut the remaining bit of the buttress roots from the outside, inward. Stump is free. No binding. No wedging. No accidentally cutting into your wedges. Push off.

If it is too large to push off, then I cut down the grain, but rather than ripping, I'll keep the bar horizontal and plunge toward the center, cut down a little on the edge, plunge toward the center, until at the horizontal kerf. Plunging is faster cutting then ripping with a cross-cut (standard) chain.

If I need to slide it off the stump and it is small enough to not need to quarter it, I will put some wedges in the horizontal kerf, then when it is cut free, pound them under, easily. They provide a good slick sliding surface.

If you wanted, you could hold the kerf open with wedges, then slide a dowel rod (or multiple) into the kerf as a roller. Save the quartering.
 
Tom unless I told to I usually leave 6" of the stump, must be the logger time that I am doing. Just make a hort. cut use a wedge or use twigs, on a pull pull cut too( I know it says won't jam I have seen it and done it sometimes it jams use a wedge.All of that depends on the landowner.
 
The spec that I sold followed something like this:

Low as practical
About 3" above the soil on the highest side of the dirt
Horizontal...not parallel to the ground

Addendums

If there was soil mounded on one side of the stump the customer could dig it away and use water and a brush to clean out the dirt. Chisel/shave off dirty bark. If it was clean and I didn't have to scrub any more dirt or shave off the bark the 'high side' could be measured lower now.

Angled or parallel to ground cuts cost more because they take more time.

High cut stumps cost less...I would always ask the client how they wanted the stump left. That spec was written into the proposal.
 
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