Tree Stump Removal

Hi, could anyone offer any advice on removing the tree stump in the attached pictures? Been hacking away at it for a few days now and am losing my patience. I suspect the answer is to keep going, however, if anyone has any alternative advice (burning etc...?) I will take any suggestions. I am looking to remove the stump as quickly as possible, therefore leaving it to decompose is not an option. I did consider hiring a stump grinder but the only access to the garden is through the house and most of the grinders appear to be too large for internal doors.

 

Welcome to GC
Keep cuting away at the roots, you may find that there is a few tap roots that go straight down, under the middle part of the root you may need to dig out more soil from around the root and go down under it
Hard work but it will keep you fit, i've done lots all by hand

 

If you clean away as much earth and stones as possible you'll possibly get away with using a cahin sawon the stump and roots. We had to dig out some leylandii stumps a couple of months ago and I used a chain saw on some of them.

I have heard that drilling holes in a stump and pouring in a mixture of petrol and oil and leaving for a day or before setting fire to it works.

 

Luckily never had to remove a tree stump. Some bushes I have moved , have been really really hard work. Was going to suggest stump grinding , but poster says its not an option . Looks like its a spade and axe job . Just think though you would pay a fortune in a gym for a work out like this is going to give you

 

It also helps if you leave about 6/7 feet of the trunk to help with pushing it about to help loosen the roots

 

Hello and welcome Mike88888.

Last time I removed a tree stump, I took my pickaxe to it and just kept hitting it. But I must throw in a serious warning. If you're not experienced with a pick, bear in mind they are incredibly dangerous things. Never, ever drive the pick directly straight down. Always come down at an angle from just to the right of your head, crossing in front of your body (or starting left of your head if you're left handed). I keep remembering a poster in the physics lab at school, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction". If you come straight down and hit a springy bit, that axe is coming straight back at your head. Swinging it at an angle means if it does bounce, it will bounce clear of your head. And never over stretch, because then there's a tendency to fall forward onto it.

But serious warnings aside, if you're skilled with a pickaxe, the pick will make short work of it. Not much will happen for the first few whacks, but after a while it will start to split and once it starts to go, it wouldn't stand a chance of resistance repeated axe blows and it will just smash to bits.

Oh, and its good fun, good exercise, and a good way to vent any frustrations.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. It's a time consuming job that I should just accept will take time and cannot be quickened up? Determined to get the damn thing out and will spend another day on it tomorrow!