Grinding trees is one of the heavy-duty jobs to do. However, for various reason homeowners or professional needs to do this quite frequently. There are services available that may take care of your tree grinding needs for a small amount of money.
However, it’s only cost-effective when you need services for a lot of trees. For only one or two, this will be a loss project.
Buying a stump grinder and doing it yourself is not that bad as an idea. So, let me tell you how to use a stump grinder and get rid of those corpse of trees easily. Put on your seat belts, here we go!
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The Whole Thing About Using Stump Grinders
So, I’ll include steps to make the process easier to understand. You need to get a few things that I’ll mention below and we are good to go. Here’s what you need to know about the entire process:
Things You’ll Need
- Stump grinder.
- Huge gloves
- Protective goggles.
- Face mask.
- Safety helmet
- Earplugs
- Working boots.
- Saw
Trimming the Stump
- There should be some stump of tree close to the ground at beginning. You need to trim those off.
- You should chop off the stump as much as possible This will make sure there is less amount of stump left that needs to be grind.
- Once you finish the trimming, stump will be almost at ground level. This will practically lessen down the amount of grinding you’ll need to do later.
Clearing the Area
- Clear out space where you would be grinding. Make sure there is nothing harmful available near the grinder.
- This is to make sure that your stump grinder does not get ruined in midway. There may be debris or rocks near the stump. Clear them out.
- Use a bucket or something to hold garbage or rocks near the area, you can later deal with them. Keep them aside till then.
Bare it Out
- You need to clear the yard beforehand. With the stump, there is a need to get rid of surface roots also.
- These roots of the tree’s surface may run for several feet away from trunk. So, you need to start chopping away at drunk. Usually, this is the spot where all surface roots stay or could be discovered.
- Together with the stump, simply grind these roots thoroughly and cleanly.
Grinding
- First, wear your safety gears properly. Make sure to keep a note of every security measurement early.
- Now turn in the power of your stump grinder. Do this after positioning grinder’s wheel right above the stump.
- You need to wear earplugs of good quality. Because the stump grinder at this phase is likely to make a disturbing sound.
- Now once stump grinder is turned on, let it touch the spot. Once it touches stump, the machine would begin to eat.
- You can easily use the level if there is a need for moving wheel from right to left or vice versa. Keep on doing so until you find every portion of the stump has gone.
- Now you need to let the grinder get settled within stump. It should be able to make a hole of around ten inches in depth.
- You need to keep your feet away at this point. This is because your grinder is now digging into the stump and it’s risky to have any body-part near.
- You should never force the grinder. Especially when you are working on the hardwood. Always make sure to let the blade skim. You need to allow the machine to skim through stump’s top. It will get feed slowly and that’s the best method to operate a stump grinder.
- You’ll need some time to complete the process. However, this is always better than falling into injuries. Gradually work so that there is no damage to you or the grinder.
- Now it’s time to work over the exposed roots of tree. You need to be methodic here. Just grind exposed root starting from the stump and follow to where it disappears in soil.
Removing Chips of Wood
- Technically the process is done, once you grind the stump and exposed roots are gone now. The only thing left to do is putting away left-over particles. These are called wood chips.
- You need to gather all the wood chips that were created during grinding process. Simply have them in a composite pile.
- Now you can allow them to rot in a suitable spot. You may want to go with decaying the wood. This is excellent for soil’s nitrogen source.
Verdict
So, that’s all about using a stump grinder. These can be a great tool for your overall business and a source of good income. Or maybe you just need it for your regular home chore.
No matter what the reason and circumstances, using a stump grinder involves being technical about the tool and steps included. So, don’t shy away to ask me anything about the overall process.
I want you to get rid of those stumps in a safer way. Let me sort out any confusion you have in the comment sections. Good Luck!