A stump grinder helps as we finish building our overflow wood storage area
I’ve just about finished establishing my new overflow firewood storage area. It’ll hold a little more wood than I thought — at least 6 cord. Since I can already store about 4 cord under cover, and my average winter use is about 2 cord, that will give me about 5 years worth of firewood storage, 2 years of which will be under a wood roof and the rest under a tarp. Not bad!
I gave up using my chainsaw to get out the stumps and roots in the middle of the spot I had chosen for the overflow area. There were too many rocks and dirt embedded in the roots. A running chain just needs to touch dirt and it’s dull. So I hired a neighbor, Shawn Crouse, to bring up his stump grinder and take the whole mess out.
A stump grinder is one of those super nifty machines that have an ingenious, but simple, design. Made by Carlton, it weighs 1600 pounds and its 27-horsepower motor turns a grinding wheel that contains 20 carbide teeth. The set of teeth cost a hundred dollars to replace but Shawn said he can get through about 10 big stumps with one set. Rocks tend to dull the teeth.
He operated it with a remote control attached to a long cord so he could guide the action of the grinding wheel up close. One carbide bit worked its way loose during the grind so he had to stop and replace it.
Once he was done, my sons and I laid out the rest of the skids on the ground and over the steel fence posts I put up on either side. This will keep the wood contained and off the ground. It’s nice to have a good use for the stacks of skids I have around
here. Every time BHM gets in a shipment of magazines or anthologies, they are on skids (pallets), for which the magazine is charged $17 each. Highway robbery? I agree. I’ve given lots of skids away, burned some, and my kids have used them to build a clubhouse. This project used up 22 skids.
