Definite opening there CTE for some nightmare stories from stump grinders !
Here's one, probably not the worst but a good example -
Quoted four peppercorn stumps up to say 1.0 to 1.2 metres dia. (say 3 to 4 ft) at ground level on a vacant town block. Now a fella should be smart enough to remember that peppercorns were the trees that people threw junk under or into hollows for decades and the tree just grew out over it.
A better spot never seemed to exist for bricks, farm gate fittings and wire straining devices from yesteryear. None being obvious to the naked eye of course as they had slowly been buried under inches of decomposed peppercorn leaves which became soil like over the years.
Cutting them off wasn't to bad, full of dirt but after a few sharpens of the 066 chain they were considerably lower (less to grind).
It all went downhill from there, every bloody stump was surrounded underground by scattered bricks and bits of steel which took a frightful toll on the cutters despite considerable mattocking around them and thinking that must be the last bit of rubbish here today.
It got to the stage that on the last stump at the very start the cutter wheel connected with something that bought a huge bang from the machine and the immediate pressing of the red button on the remote to stop the motor.
Under the edge of the stump wood and undetectable with the mattock was the through post farm gate fitting of 5/8" dia steel rod with a U bend on the end and about 15" long. The grinder had picked it up and flung it upwards into the skirt at the rear of the wheel putting the only dent to this day in it.
Joy of joys it also smashed off 2 or 3 of the greenteeth shoulders at Au$25 ea. that hold the cutters and destroyed some more Au$12 ea. precious cutters.
Muttering profanities the 25km trip home to get spares was time for reflection on the advisability of the purchase of a metal detector and the habit of folks to chuck their rubbish under peppercorn trees.
I think from memory the job was quoted back then for round Au$350. It'd be a fair bit more now and would factor in the vagaries of mankind to use his evergreen peppercorn trees as a repository for junk.
The humble peppercorn tree, maybe only surpassed by the local farmers favourite wind break tree, the cyprus pine and the handiest thing they all had to keep the wind from blowing them over - the steel post - which has been found in the exact centre of huge old cyprus stumps in three consecutive trees at a job, but that's another story..........
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