Explosives: Tree stump removal

[Daniel L. Belton]

let him try it... he will have even more stumps... like stumps for arms and legs if he's lucky...

[Daniel L. Belton]

oh.... so YOU are teh one that ended up in the hospital after having the gasses ignited while trying to remove the gerbil, eh?

[Michael Baugh]

Did you hear the one about the man that woke up in the hospital after a bad accident? He screamed "I can't feel my legs!!!" Doctor comes in and says, "That's right. Your arms are gone." The tree stumps aren't eating anything, some fertilizer on them and in them will help break them down over a few years, and be done with it.

[L. M. Rappaport]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 06:18:50 GMT, Crafty wrote (with possible editing):

...snip

Well, ok. First of all, you'd get a more effective and cheaper blast using ammonium nitrate (common fertilizer) and diesel fuel. Problem is that you need to set it off with a blasting cap and that might be tough to get. Second of all, you normally dig down between the roots, make a much larger hole which you pack with the mixture above. Third of all, you don't ever do that with a sump below.

The well sump is a real problem. The folks who told you that nitrogen based fertilizer will work were quite right, but I don't know if the residue is something you want to end up in your well.

FWLIW, I'd do it the hard way - dig down as far as you can, hook your largest vehicle to the stump (use heavy chain) and pull. It's not easy, but you'll eliminate the problem of well damage which could be far more expensive.

If it were me, I'd get a friend with a backhoe and I'd stick an old chain on the chainsaw.

[Larry Bud]

Ah yes, a classic

[Stormin Mormonn]

Well, the usual answers are chemcals, fire, hire it out, dig and saw, or burn it.

Since you've ruled out all the answers, I guess you are stuck with your problem since you don't want an answer.

BTW, explosives will create all the problems you say you don't want. You obviously don't have experience with explosives, or you'd just go do it. And not bother to post to usenet.

You're still stuck with your problem. Too bad.

[George E. Cawthon]

Marketing of identical stuff under different names is one of my favorite things to bitch about. I've often compared the contents of general insecticides or fungicides with specialized products such as for roses. Often the contents and concentrations are identical (if they are all the same brand) but products for a particular plant are often priced as 2 or more times the cost of general purpose one is. In some case the contents are the same but the specialized product is at a much weaker concentration but is still 2 or more times the cost of the general purpose product.

You are also right about the blasting, that should be anyone's last resort (and might be) if they don't know what they are doing.

Michael Baugh wrote:

[George E. Cawthon]

In the common context, explosive means it burns rapidly. There are probably several different legal definitions of explosive.

Anyone who want's to see the difference between smokeless and black powder only needs to lay out a line of each and touch each off with a match. However, the burning of unconfined powder is quite different from compressed powder. If you want to see dramatic differences put the same amount of blackpowder in a rifle and compress one load then try it without compression. Or, put it in any other container and then watch what happens. There is a reason that you use a ramrod with black powder even when the ball will roll down the barrel. And if you reload cartridges, you know that blackpowder reloads are compressed and with smokeless powder there is often a lot of space between the cartridge and the bullet.

The statement that antique firearms use 4F and 3F is incorrect, pistols, small rifles, and flash pans use the finer grains. 2F is often used for larger bore rifles.

You d>

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[klm]

If renting a grinder is too inconvenient how about using a chainsaw as a gouger. That is use the tip of the chainsaw to gouge out a large hole in the stump so that you can pour chemicals into it and minimize the chemicals running out to contaminate the soil. Once the surface layers of the stump have softened use the chainsaw to remove the gunk and repeat the process until the stump can be cut back to below ground level.

[L. M. Rappaport]

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 12:21:54 GMT, klm wrote (with possible editing):

...snip

No flame intended, but that is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! Never, ever use the tip of a chainsaw to gouge - that's an invitation for kickback and serious injury. Many folks cut with the top of the bar, most use the bottom, and a few adventurous souls (usually loggers) use the bottom quarter of the tip, but never the top quarter.

[Charles Krug]

I wouldn't. Too easy to catch the wrong side of the tip and get a saw bar in your skull.

Might try an angle grinder with a wood carving disc installed, however.

[klm]

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:58:42 GMT, Charles

[Chris Lewis]

According to Crafty :

Smokeless powder will do the same thing under the right conditions.

Heck, we can get a chunk of wood or ordinary plastic to "explode" by that definition.

Does that make wood or plastic pipe an explosive?

I suspect not.

[Rotreeservice]

Owning a tree service I can tell u any of the stump rotting chemicals are crap. They take years and u need to drill the crap out of the stump. As for burning it’s just as hard. When u start a fire on a stump the wood and gas burns the very top. But do to lack of air the stump burns very little. Unless u cut deep holes and channels u will get now we’re with any large tree. If it a wet wood. Some trees have very wet heart wood like Cotten wood or elm good luck. Blowing them up is fine if u have so smarts. It not that difficult to do this if u use logic and most importantly live in a remote area. If ur a drunk hillbilly u should choose another method. If ur logical and understand science go for it. I personally would blow up a large stump a few bore holes at a time. Also I would lag bolt metal fence over the stump to hold the splinters in to some degree. Ro tree service. Dupage county illinois

[Clare Snyder]

Drill holes. fill with nitrogen fertilizer. Tamp soak with kero or diesel fuel.Lay a trail of deisel to a safe location with rapid egress. Light the trail and run like hell!!!

[Scott Lurndal]

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Detonation without a primer or tight confinement is not assured.

[Marilyn Manson]

That's why you have to stay real close to the stump to make sure it goes off as planned. /s

[bud--]

Based on what I have read... ANFO (ammonium nitrate/fuel oil) is one of the most commonly used explosives. It explodes by detonation - shock waves propagating through the material - instead of a chemical reaction (like gunpowder). Because of fast propagation it is more dangerous unconfined than a chemical explosive. Far as I know it has to be set off by an explosive - blasting cap, dynamite. It will probably just burn if ignited.

The Oklahoma City bombing was ANFO.

What was probably the worst explosion (other than 1st atom bomb) in the US was Texas City, TX. A fire started in a docked ship carrying ammonium nitrate and there was a huge explosion. It was just ammonium nitrate. My chemistry is not good enough to understand why just ammonium nitrate explodes.

More recently there was an explosion of just ammonium nitrate in a warehouse in West TX that was big news

[Clare Snyder]

Trust me, no detonator or cap is required. It is a "conflargation" - when the duel oil heats the fertilizer it produces oxygen which causes the fuel oil absorbed into the fertilizer to burn very quickly without the presence of atmospheric oxygen producing a BIG bang. It is "tamped" so it IS tightly confined.