Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

--

Jeff

In article , lid
says...

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

If you can trowel out a small access to the roots I'd use a small axe,
or loppers, to sever them. But before doing that, I'd treat the raw tops
of stumps with a systemic brushkiller, to make sure there's no
resurrection.

Janet.

On 24/02/19 09:24, Janet wrote:
In article , lid
says...

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

If you can trowel out a small access to the roots I'd use a small axe,
or loppers, to sever them. But before doing that, I'd treat the raw tops
of stumps with a systemic brushkiller, to make sure there's no
resurrection.

I'm ahead of you with the weedkiller! Earlier this week I drilled a
couple of dozen holes about 5 cm long from the sawn tops near the edges
and put in a few mls of glyphosate concentrate in each. With the warm
weather the sap should be rising and the glyphosate should be taken down
into the roots.

I'd used a small axe on the ceanothus roots, but it wasn't easy and I
had to be very careful to avoid damaging the paving which was barely 10
cm from the trunk. The cornus is even closer to granite setts edging the
drive. The roots are too wide for loppers (mine extend to about 40mm,
and anything wider is too difficult to cut through). One other
possibility is to use a power drill with woodbits and drill vertical
holes carefully in the roots, and then cut between the drill holes with
an old, but sharp, wood chisel. Unfortunately, where the cornus is the
previous owner had put down a weedproof membrane, and covered it with a
double layer of 2 - 5cm pebbles. Over the years somehow a few of these
have migrated under the membrane by the trunk, so I have to be very
careful to remove these before using an axe!

--

Jeff

On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

Have you considered a reciprocating saw?

You might wreck a couple of blades but they are good for rough cutting.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allis...reciprocating-
saw-220-240v/625fx

as an example.

Cheers



Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 24/02/19 17:34, David wrote:
On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

Have you considered a reciprocating saw?

You might wreck a couple of blades but they are good for rough cutting.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allis...reciprocating-
saw-220-240v/625fx

as an example.

Yes, but those pebbles (see my reply to Janet) are a pain for anything
cutting where you can't really see what's there. I've found I can use
loppers on fairly wide roots by using them at an angle and cutting
wedges out of the root until I can progress to cut all the way through
it. It's very tiring, though.

--

Jeff

On 24/02/19 18:48, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

Dare I suggest the uk.d-i-y universal stand-by, an angle grinder?
Equipped with the right blade, stones shouldn't trouble it, and I
imagine it would make short work of roots. It would need a steady hand
so it didn't jam, and a face guard would be essential.

Interesting thought! I do have a 9" one, and metal and stone-cutting
discs. I'll have to get a face guard - I only have shatterproof glasses
and ear protectors. Though I do wonder if it might have a tendency to
jam when cutting through green wood.

--

Jeff

On 24/02/19 20:08, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 24/02/19 18:48, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.

Dare I suggest the uk.d-i-y universal stand-by, an angle grinder?
Equipped with the right blade, stones shouldn't trouble it, and I
imagine it would make short work of roots. It would need a steady hand
so it didn't jam, and a face guard would be essential.

Interesting thought! I do have a 9" one, and metal and stone-cutting
discs. I'll have to get a face guard - I only have shatterproof glasses
and ear protectors. Though I do wonder if it might have a tendency to
jam when cutting through green wood.

It almost came to the angle grinder - and still might!

I decided to drill a large number of holes almost horizontally through
the main trunk, and then use a wedge to lift off the top. After a dozen
or so 10mm holes were drilled with a brad bit, it suddenly would not
advance. A new bit was the same, and both sounded a bit odd. On
examination, the cutting edges were rounded. So I tried an old HSS bit
in the same hole in case there was a nail or other bit of metal in the
trunk.. That, and a new one, ended up like the brad bits - blunt. So I
decided to cut down with a hard-point saw, cut under the saw holes, and
use a splitting axe to remove a chunk of wood to see what was causing
the problem. The first blow of the axe drew a spark. On examination,
there was a 2cm pebble embedded almost completely in the trunk! No
wonder the drill bits were blunted. I've seen trees grow round iron
seats, etc, but never round a stone.

Still, what's left of the trunk is more-or-less level with the surface.
I'll try to saw - or maybe angle-grind - more of the trunk away, and
perhaps use an old axe to slowly remove wood chips.

--

Jeff

On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.


You might find the similar type of saw, made from a single-width of
chainsaw-blade-chain attached to two handles better at the sawing than
a wire saw.

On 02/08/2019 20:36, chris hogg wrote:
On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.


You might find the similar type of saw, made from a single-width of
chainsaw-blade-chain attached to two handles better at the sawing than
a wire saw.

Never used either type, but the wire ones were around when I was young
over 60 years ago so can't be to bad to have survived so long.

On 03/08/2019 07:41, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:36:21 -0300, chris wrote:

On Sun, 24 Feb 2019 09:00:04 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

Anyone got any experience with these? There are lots available on Amazon
but there are some very poor reviews, mainly of those which really are
made of wire. There are better reviews of those made like chainsaws.

I have an old Cornus I have to dig up, and have limited access. I've cut
it down so there are only half-a-dozen trunks left; they are about 7 or
8 cm in diameter and 30 cm long (left purposely that length to help with
leverage). The main problem is that some of the roots go under a tarmac
drive. Previous experience removing a ceanothus suggests a lot of hard
work in on the way. I wondered about using a wire saw to cut through the
roots, as it should be possible to use a small trowel to dig a channel
under the roots wide enough to pass the wire saw through.


You might find the similar type of saw, made from a single-width of
chainsaw-blade-chain attached to two handles better at the sawing than
a wire saw.

This wasn't posted by me. We have an impostor here.

Even so I think they possibly make a valid point.

My instinct is that a wire saw will tend to snap the first time it snags
on a knot or stone whereas something a bit more robust will survive.

I tend to use a scaffold pole and brute force for getting roots out once
I have broken up the soil with a fork to two spade depths. Cutting roots
as a last resort with my heavy pruning sheers or if I have to with a
standard pruning saw after digging space round the root to make the cut.

Give me a lever and a fulcrum and I will move the Earth - Archimedes.
(don't get your fingers in the nip)

--
Regards,
Martin Brown