Splitting Large, Excavated Stumps

[Yellowdog]

Hmm, well I got the job, estimated $15.7k. I'm getting $125/hr for my time and another $125/hr for my main guy. $50/hr for a laborer. I'll see what I can find out regarding a blaster.

The CBI splitter is made in Austria, I can't fathom why it should cost half that to make one in the US. I'm going to play with that idea in my head a bit and see what I stir out.

I do quite a bit of stump work. When I can't grind the stumps and need to pull them out, if they are too big to handle or burn, I have used a tree shear to nip at them to get them down to reasonable size. A tree shear working with the grain of a stump will start the splitting process just fine. If you have a thumb on your mini, you should be able to finish tearing it apart. I use a 20" tree terminator to split hard live oak that's been dead for a long time. I don't do it on the hardest wood unless it's last resort but it's amazing what it will split. Softer woods, of green wood may work well with a shear even if you have to take multiple bites. You might even be able to use it before you dig to start the splitting process so that the stump comes apart as you are digging it. Good luck. Sounds like a good project.

 

[joispoi]

The CBI splitter looks pretty effective in that video. Find yourself a screw type wood splitter and adapt a hydraulic motor to it. Mount it to your excavator and you're in business. I built a post hole auger for my mini excavator that I can adapt a screw style splitter head to. It's basically the same thing as the cbi splitter.

 

[lumberjack]

I'm looking into the shear, although I would think the dirt would be hard on the blade. Looks like a shear is $5500, give or take.


That was my thinking, joispoi, an auger drive with a conical splitter. The only concern I have is the slow speed of the auger drive in comparison to what the stickler is ran at.

 

[95zIV]

What about something like this?

http://www.nationalattachments.com/pdfs/excavator/stump_harvester.pdf

or this one combined with a thumb?

http://www.amulet.com/ripper.html

 

[lumberjack]

The first would be awesome, except it's far too large for my excavator. I thought about the ripper, but I highly doubt it would have the power to split a stump.

 

[joispoi]

I found this on ebay in the uk: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/hydraulic...=WDVW&rd=1&ih=022&category=11752&cmd=ViewItem

It's somewhat less than $19k:drinkup

The cone is exactly what I need for my machine.

 

[lumberjack]

The 6" max diameter of the cone seems small to me, but I agree they have the right idea and price!

 

[lumberjack]

We've been working on the job, got the biggest planned tree down yesterday and got the stump out of the hole this morning and moved out of the way. I laid it back down so the root ball could hopefully dry out a bit.

Yes, the site is overly wet! (Mud on counterweight/machine's house). That will likely be another thread in the near future.

 

[stumpjumper83]

Good job with the Kubota. Tree down, and not on mini! I have a tak 053 fr, and a big 70 hp stump grinder, myself I'd have cut the trees, and ground the majority of the stump out, then fished the small stuff with the mini.

Having fun playing in the mud?

 

[lumberjack]

Thanks! On the trees with undesirable lean we put at least a pull rope in the tree. If needed we hang guy lines as well to direct the fall.

I have an 83hp self propelled grinder.

That stump will cost the customer ~$325 to get if out of the hole and into the burn pile. The stump grinder/ex combo wouldn't have saved any money, and it's almost certain it would have got stuck more than once. Also the stump chips would be a pain to deal with.

The mud/water is certainly slowing us down, the excavator mats' cants I commissioned haven't been completed so we're stuck doing the wettest work on logs. The ground in the pictures is the best on site!

 

[lumberjack]

That tree going over and moving the stump with the ex.

http://youtu.be/ZZ4fQRwTeI0

 

[AirBornOne]

That stump prolly outweighs my TB016 3:1 !
Good job,can't wait for the burn.
Skies
J

 

[lumberjack]

I'm pretty sure that stump outweighs my KX121 by a fair margin!