Root Cutters?????

[dogdad]

What do you guys do to cut roots if you want to remove the stump completely?( Besides grinding )

 

[Tree Machine]

Got just the thing

Silky Root Saw. Do your best to keep it out of the dirt. Care for it and it will last and serve you in more ways than you knew possible. This little saw will be your friend, besides just pruning roots you will be pruning limbs, cutting ANYTHING wood. You will thank me sometime in the future.

The Silky Root Saw.

 

[dogdad]

I have one of those already. Got it when I bought the new 20' pole saw. But I was looking for something else that you could use in the dirt.Thanks

 

[Tree Machine]

A big 'ol set of loppping shears and an axe, a hatchet and a maul. Don't overlook the power blower for root work for necessary occasional clearing of dirt.

I'm not sure what kind of root work you are doing. Depending on the stump size (you mentioned removing them) maybe you need an 'Alice'.

 

[Redbull]

TM, got any close up pics of the top of that device? I'd like to make one.

 

[Lawn Masters]

Hey TM, if you would, Send me some diagrams of how you did that and what you used to build that thing.

 

[Tree Machine]

The manufacturer sells the head, winch and special chokers for $450, you add the legs.

If the manufacturer were to sell plans, and you botched a weld that would cause this thing to hurt yourself, manufacturer gets in trouble. This thing is NOT for pulling stumps, it's for pulling fence posts, concrete and all. However, as you see from the pics you can choose however you want to use your own tool.

It's a good money maker, no doubt about that, a little off the beaten Arborist path, but in 9 years it's payed for itself a hundred times over. Indestructible.

 

[Lawn Masters]

Ok, well, thats a cool unit. I can see where it could serve MANY uses from pullin stumps to all sorts of other stuff.

 

[Fireaxman]

I use a Kubota 3130 4wd with a box blade and a front end loader. The front end loader handles about 1300 lbs, but if I hook a root with the scouring teeth on the box blade it's pretty sure to move or break any surface roots left behind by the stump grinder, assuming the guy with the grinder did his job. The tractor is small enough to make it into most back yards.

Still, $22,000 for the tractor, front end loader, and box blade is a pretty big expense compared to $450 for an "Alice". Looks like a great tool.

I have used a step ladder with a Maasdam Power-Pull in the same fashion as the Alice is rigged, but you have to stay under the load limit for the ladder. You can only get about 300 lbs that way. I've bent some ladders, too. Hard to estimate the load without a dynamometer. It helps to put a 2X6 across the top of the ladder and under the sling to distribute the load. I get a bind on the root, then cut under it with a double bit ax. Or, for fence posts, I get a bind on them and then hit them with a hammer to vibrate them. The combination of load and vibration brakes out steel fence posts pretty easily if they are only driven, not cemented.

 

[Tree Machine]

Grippage

Fireaxeman has done this before. Pretty good innovation with the 2x6 on the ladder.

If you've ground the stump and want to pull the lateral roots out, gripping them is part one, pulling is part 2. Pulling can be done with 4x4, ladder and 2x6, Alice, Allis Chalmers, forklift, tow truck, winch.... a lot of different ways to apply the force. Gripping around what it is you're gripping is key. I've spent years trying different things. The last two images are what I consider 'Da Bomb' of the choker cable world

 

[treeman82]

If I need to have a stump removed without grinding, I simply call up one of my friends and he brings over this. Guaranteed to pop just about any stump it comes across.

 

[jimmyq]

lee valley english digging spade does fine for most stuff I encounter. bigger stuff gets the tug strap on the Ford tow hitch. or more time on the spade and perhaps the pick.

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&cat=2,44813&p=46956

 

[Tree Machine]

Dynamite used to work really well, but it its discouraged in most places any more.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

The manufacturer sells the head, winch and special chokers for $450, you add the legs.

Got link?




You could use a farm jack, but that Alice is probably more stable.


I sure could have used that thing this weekend, trying to get a 900 pound generator off my truck with nothing but a come-along and a couple of 2x6s!

 

[treeman45246]

TM-
You have a link for this Alice tool? I've googled it to no avail, and I think you've convinced more than one of us that tool will come in handy...
-MD

 

[Tree Machine]

As a matter of fact, I have one better. I have the DVD of over 150 pictures and video of the unit in action. Would you like to see it?

 

[treeman45246]

I would, but i'm also interested in purchasing the unit, which is why I was searching for a link. I found nothing searching 'alice', or allied combinations of words from your description on google, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there somewhere... A good old fashioned address would work for me as well. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tree Machine]

I got the info. The instructional DVD / image / video gallery costs $450, and they throw in an Alice for free. This is shipping included, and tax. Fo hunna fiddy. This is the Alice head, 2 slide chokers and the super-bomb two ton dual-pawl ratchet winch.

They're on back order right now, but there is assurance the unit will ship within 10 days.

ALICE
1607 Kessler Blvd, East Drive
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46220

 

[treeman45246]

Thanks for the information. I appreciate the follow-up!

 

[Tree Machine]

The manufacturer, for legal reasons, requires you sign a safety acknowlegement. Alice is built, designed and intended to pull fence posts. It is grossly overbuilt for even the largest of fence posts or basketball poles, flagloles, etc.

Since it has the power and ability to yank just about anything out of the ground that it can grip around, guys will use it for whatever purpose they have.

Since the manufacturer does not wnat to be held liable for men and their own stupidity, Alice is NOT RECOMMENDED for pulling anything other than fence posts. The disclaimer simply requres that you are aware of this, and you will accept responsibility for anything that would happen if you use it outside those intended purposes.



I don't want you to do as I do. Just because I show you a bunch of pictures of Alice hogging out some major rootballs does not necessarily mean that THAT is what the device is to be used for. I sign the disclaimer and do with Alice what I wish. I transplant trees and lift mondo rocks with it too, but that's not what it's supposed to be used for. For the most part I swiftly and powerfully pull roots with such absolute authority that using Alice to do such stuff is a complete kick in the pants. Bushes and saplings. It is fun, and I know I am risking my life and face every time it is used to pull a root.