[AT] another adventure

[Cecil E Monson]

> Cecil,
> I would be curious to hear you describe how you and that monster removed one
> of your' typical large stumps.  For example, would you have to go all around
> it first and cut the roots or did it have enough weight/power that you could
> simply reach across the stump and lift/pull it right out of the ground.  I
> recall you saying you had over a hundred to pull so you couldn't be spending
> very much time per stump.  You must have a huge stump pile.  Are you going
> to wait till spring to burn?
> Thanks -
> Dudley
> Snohomish, Washington


	What seems to work best for me, Dudley, is to first break the lateral
roots on each side of the stump as I am facing it. I work the bucket into the
ground by working it down and break the root by pulling back on the dipper
and rolling the bucket at the same time. Takes a half a minute or so on each
side. Then I reach over and see if it will move by doing the same thing in the
middle of the back of it. If it moves, it is history. If it doesn't move, I
break the roots that go to the rear on each side and generally see the stump
move as I get them. Then I pick it up from the rear and roll it over by pulling
towards me with the bucket. I pick it up with the bucket if it is a small stump
and drop it a couple times to shake out the soil but mostly I have to break the
rocks out of the bottom of it with the teeth on the bucket as they are too large
to pick up. I make a windrow as I go along so I can pick them up later with the
loader bucket of a backhoe. Most of these seem to be between 6 feet and 8 feet
around as they come out and are red oak, hard and soft maple and American beech
so are too big to be picked up by the bucket of the excavator. After pulling
them, I "loosely" fill in the hole by pushing the dirt back into the hole with
the back of the bucket or sliding it side to side.

	This machine will simply pull any stump with one swipe from the rear
that is 10" or under.

	I timed what it takes to do 35 stumps to get an average and it worked
out to 8 minutes a stump of running time with this PC-200.  I don't have any
plans to burn these as I think there is an ordnance against burning stumps and
logs in burn piles locally. Probably because they literally burn for days. I
plan to make a stump fence along the property line. Should be a good home for
little animals.

	I'm also picking out the rocks that are 2 feet in diameter or so and
up and setting them aside. Smaller rocks should grade off OK later.

Cecil
-- 
The nicest thing about telling the truth is you never have to wonder
what you said.

Cecil E Monson
Lucille Hand-Monson
Mountainville, New York   Just a little east of the North Pole

Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment

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