Looking for Ideas on the best chain for cutting stumps out

[jason6586]

I have about 20 acres of land that has grown up over the past 10 years with small to medium saplings (2"-10" trunks) and I want to cut the brush and trees down, cut the stumps and pull them out. What chain is going to be the best for this type of work?

Thanks

 

[ratso]

I use my old worn down but still sharp chains.

 

[TreePointer]

How many trees?

The best chain may be the safety chain hooked to a trailer that's carrying the backhoe you rent for a day.

Many times it's MUCH EASIER to push over smaller trees (roots and all) than it is to fell them and try to get the stumps out

 

[leeha]

If you have that many dirty stumps
to cut out of the ground. Then i would
invest in a carbide chain.



Lee

 

[Slamm]

We cut about 100 acres of pulp wood the contract was for everything 5"-36" in diameter to be cut 6" off the ground or lower. We used modded 441's, 361 and even a couple of modded 660's with 20-24" bars and we had 3/8" full skip semi chisel on them all.

That chain is slow to dull and fast to sharpen. Make sure it is Stihl chain, as that lasts the longest of all chains in harsh conditions. We used Stihl ES bars with roller tips, which had no problems with that.

One suggestion though, don't know your finacial situation, but you will be time and effort ahead if you just get a bigger dozer than is needed in there and in a few days it will all be over, root balls and everything. Otherwise you are just making a nightmare for yourself, by cutting the tree off and then getting the rootball out later, that is just a bad idea, typically.

Again, pay more per hour for a too large of a dozer to get in there and they will save you hours and hours of poking around with a little "proper" sized dozer.

My $1.50 on the project,

Sam

 

[jason6586]

Maybe I should explain a little more on what I am doing. This land is going to be planted with farm crops next year and there are maybe 8-10 trees that have a 6-10" diameter and the rest are from 6" down to 1/2" brush. I just want to go in and cut down everything that my brush mower wont take and cut the general stump out. I'm not worried about getting all the roots since the farmer that is planting said he only plants no-till and wont be going lower than 2 inches. I thought about using my worn out chains but I just think that they wont last plus im going to be changing them every 5 mins. The project is not big enough for a dozer so i just want to cut out the majority of the stump, wrap a chain around it and pull it out with my tractor. I looked at carbide chain but is there any that are far better than the rest? Or does anyone have other ideas

 

[Stellarex]

controlled fire?

 

[jason6586]

Can't do fires, really dry here and its in a grassy field. That would prob work if the conditions were right

 

[Slamm]

Is the farmer okay with driving through those stumps? No till or not I can't imagine he wants to drive over that. I have a MTL20 track loader that is pretty amazing as to how much/size of a tree it will push over/out. A normal backhoe will push the whole tree over, probably the best for that small operation. I personally wouldn't go cutting the tree off the stump, as it is sure easier to get the roots out and make everything right.

Sam

 

[Stellarex]

You'd be better off getting a Sawzall or Reciprocating saw with a long blade and a couple batteries, it will last alot longer than a chainsaw.

 

[TreePointer]

I attach a Brush Grubber Extreme to my utility tractor to pull the small ones. Some of the Brush Grubbers can be pulled with a pickup truck.

If you have no heavy equipment, for 8-10 trees under 10" diameter, I'd even consider going old school with an mattock (and a chainsaw with old semi[chisel chain if you wish). Dig/cut the roots around the backside (away form any lean or center-of-mass) and let the tree fall, pulling our the rootball. The weight of the tree canopy prying on the rootball takes the place of heavy equipment pushing it over. As a youth, we cleared a lot of land this way.

I strongly advise you to get the stumps with the entire tree attached (or at least 5-6 feet of trunk attached for leverage). At some later time, if you need to have the stumps out, it will be a lot more difficult.

 

[paccity]

grind thoughs little buggers out.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Go rent a Bobcat 435 or similar sized mini excavator with a thumb for a day and pack a lunch.

 

[TreePointer]

Take out the stumps (sorry for getting repetitive). If you later wish to plant it (or rent it out to a farmer), you don't want simply to grind them. Even a plow with a relatively shallow 12" bottom won't like the stumps.

Another thing to think of is that a stump grubber can cost about the same as or even less expensive than a carbide chain.

 

[zxcvbob]

Chipper chain (if you can find it) and a non-sprocketed guide bar. Carlson "S" chain is chipper, but I don't know who sells it.

 

[fearofpavement]

I think you are underestimating the difficulty in removing stumps of even modest size. The previous advice to push the whole tree out with a piece of tracked equipment is probably the best suggestion. Pulling stumps with a tractor can get you on the ground with the tractor on top of you. A dozer with a blade and a root rake would make short work of this task. the per hour cost may be high but the per job cost...

I wouldn't use any chainsaw to cut off roots as it is hard on both the chain and bar. (I've done it and wasn't pleased with how it turned out.)

Even a no till grain drill needs to dig in the dirt and if there are subterranean roots it is going to damage his drill and he will be a very unhappy camper (farmer)

 

[lfnh]

cut to the chase quick. 20 acres is a fair chunk to prep with a chain saw.
suggest a test strip for "no til".
let's say 24 feet wide by 500 feet deep.
get it clear, call him in and see what happens.

having done this like others, get a machine with knock over power.

 

[jus2fat]

Seems to me all that small stuff could easily pulled out of ground with the tractor.
The larger stuff...cut to about 2-3 foot above ground and then pull that out of
ground with tractor. You can't get hurt pulling a 2-3 foot tree out of the ground.
This assuming your tractor is up to the task...otherwise apply 2 tractors..!!

J2F

 

[Slamm]

Seems to me all that small stuff could easily pulled out of ground with the tractor.
The larger stuff...cut to about 2-3 foot above ground and then pull that out of
ground with tractor. You can't get hurt pulling a 2-3 foot tree out of the ground.
This assuming your tractor is up to the task...otherwise apply 2 tractors..!!

J2F

Pulling individual saplings is quite wasteful of time. Too much getting on off, hookup, unhook then you still have to pile.

Doze that stuff into a pile in a matter of hours wait one week maybe two and light it a'fire. Otherwise you are asking to perform some sort of horrible manual labor that would be better spent volunteering at the local homeless shelter or helping an old lady out or something. It wouldn't take a good dozer but a few hours maybe 8 to clean that mess up and it would be clean, smooth and ready to farm. There is no need or economical value in using a chainsaw at any point on a job like that.

My opinion,

Sam

 

[zxcvbob]

Seems to me all that small stuff could easily pulled out of ground with the tractor.
The larger stuff...cut to about 2-3 foot above ground and then pull that out of
ground with tractor. You can't get hurt pulling a 2-3 foot tree out of the ground.
This assuming your tractor is up to the task...otherwise apply 2 tractors..!!

J2F

Actually, you can get killed trying to pull a stump with a tractor. (the tractor can flip itself over backwards on top of you) I don't think you can get hurt *pushing* it. If you try to pull it, pulling with the tractor in reverse is safer.