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old time stump puller

Started by markd, April 03, 2012, 10:49:13 PM

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markd

Anybody ever actually used an old time stump puller? The kind they hooked horses to and a sweep log? I found one in a junk pile and I want to see if I can make it work. Markd
markd

WDH

Are you going to pull that white oak stump  ???.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

markd

That would be a sight to behold! They say these things will pull up to 3 ft stumps, but I'm not convinced of that. Those old timers did some amazing things with not much.
markd

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

sandhills

I'd like to see a picture, not sure what you're talking about but it sounds interesting.

markd

 I'll try to get this thing cleaned up and get a picture for you tomarrow, it's quite heavy and has gears and a good sized drum, I just looked at it briefly today I'll see if I can get it home tomarrow. Yes dynamite works too, but this looks like fun and not so noisy.
markd

MHineman

Quote from: WDH on April 03, 2012, 11:39:09 PM
Dynamite........
Picture this..... 17 year old boy just handed 4 or 5 sticks of dynamite, a handful of blasting caps and told to go get that Willow stump out.  That was me in 1972.
  The fact that I'm still alive with all my limbs, fingers, toes, sight and hearing is as good a proof of my steady temperment as I can show you.
  The stumps were three together and each was between 2 and 3 feet across, so it wasn't a bad idea of my dad's.
  The only casualty was the windshield of an old pickup parked about 300 feet away.
  I did get the stump out.
1999 WM LT40, 40 hp 4WD tractor, homemade forks, grapple, Walenstein FX90 skidding winch, Stihl 460 039 saws,  homebuilt kiln, ......

markd

Can you imagine doing something like that today? They would take your kid away from you and maybe brand you a terrorist. Back in 77 I cleared 2 acres here at my place with dynamite, what fun we had! All you had to do was pay $15 for a permit and go to blastin. I kept my permit renewed til 911 then things were different and I really didn't need it anymore. I remember taking my 12 yr old nephew out and hanging a stick on a string and shooting it with a .22 boy what a blast that was, I'm sure he remembers that, I know his mom does haha.
markd

tjdub

A neighbor of mine restored one and set up in his yard as a lawn ornament.  I think he passed away around 1996 though.  I imagine it ended up at the scrap yard.  I never did see it work, but it was nice to see one in working condition anyway.  Just like anything of the era, they're pretty dangerous to use.  You won't convince me to be the guy who has to drive that mule over a taught cable.  A cable snap probably turns the thing into a 6ft diameter weed wacker (and the weeds are your legs).

sandhills

I'm starting to get the picture of what this might look like now, sounds to me like Dynamite could be the safer of the two choices  :D.

Holmes

Why would you need a stump puller when you can levitate a log like that?  Stumps should be easy for you. ;D 8)
Think like a farmer.

markd

I got that thing home and cleaned it up, it's actually in working condition, I got it all freed up and turning and it seems pretty simple, I've got some 3/4" cable to put on it but I'll have to borrow a mule. I'll try it on some small stumps, I'll bet it works good. The thing weighs bout 500lbs. I'm goin to put it on skids then I'll get some action pictures for you. I'll post some shots later tonight when I get them loaded. Markd
markd

markd

It's a Swenson Grubber

  

  

 
markd

WDH

What a contraption!  This is gonna get interesting.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

tz350g

HI,
It's great to see someone else with a Swenson Grubber.

The lower bearing is babbit, easy to damage with dirt and junk.  Before you use it, I would suggest that you remove the upper bearing/casting so you can remove the wire rope drum and clean/lube the lower babbit bearing.

I have the 1906 catalog and 1910 parts list, if you want a copy let me know and I'll send them to you.

I'm still making the wooden parts for my grubber and hope to be using it this fall.

If you google 'Svenson grubber' (note the wrong spelling) you will find links to photos of people using them back in the day.

Brad_H

 

markd

Brad, I'd love to see the catalog and parts list, I'm not sure how the cable attaches inside and havn't remove the cable drum yet to inspect the babbit, I didn't know  babbit was in there til you told me. . It all seems to function but I'll have to redo the wood and the brace bolt. What demensions is the wood beam and what type of wood are you planning to use? I'll look at the Svenson site you spoke of, thanks Brad Markd
markd

westyswoods

They say practice makes perfect. If you want a place to try it just bring it to WI I have just the woods for you. Elm up to 36", oak, hickory and you name it. I won't  even charge anything just so long as I can watch. Shipping might be a bit much though.

I want to see some video of that working. Have a great day


Westy 8)
Stay Safe and Be Healthy
Westy

tz350g

Markd,
I plan on using ash for the wood as that is readily available here with no defects.  I measured the pics in the catalog and made some best guess estimates for the wood parts, I'll get the sheet of dimensions back from the sawyer and post them for you.

I sent you a PM for a ship to address for the photocopy of the catalog and parts list.

I found another Swenson and hope to go and look at it in the next few weeks. Why I'd need two I have no idea.

westywoods,
I'm in Black Creek WI and when I get the stump puller sorted out and need a bigger challenge than the cottonwoods I have, I might take you up on the offer to pull one of those big trees. chuckle

Brad_H 

markd

Brad, I will probably use ash too, I think it's very strong and I have plenty here.  This stump pullin thing is all about leverage so that beam length and cable size is critical. I have some 3/4" I'm planning to use but I can't see pullin anything over 12" to 14" without a little help from some powder. What are your expectations? I cleared a couple acres here with powder and my TD9 and it went well. I put the word out at the local pub that I needed a couple of good mules for the Svenson. Do you have any mules close by? Markd
markd

barbender

I watched one of these working at an old time logging show a few years back, they were just dragging an uprooted stump around with it to demonstrate how it worked. I'd like to see one on a real project, I love watching horses (or mules) working.
Too many irons in the fire

woodyone.john

http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/doview/nla.aus-vn4763722-p.pdf
this is a link to a device i have. i imagine there where other devices that did similar things.this shows how the set up was set out. i have pulled a tree over with it ,a cypress with a 400 mm dbh. had to try it out .a chainsaw is much easier to get the trees down though  cheers john
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

Al_Smith

I helped a guy blast back in the 60's when I was about 16 years .Really all I did was bore the  holes under the stumps,he wouldn't let me set the charges .Back then you could buy blasting supplies at the grain elevater .

Old Jim was good .He could shake an oak stump which might go 6 feet in the air if that .None of that trying to launch it to the moon like you see in the movies .

A lot of times all it took was a little shake and that big old Allis dozer he had did the rest .

Seems any more they just dig them out with a big track hoe something they didn't have back then .

markd

In the late 70's we paid the state $15 for a permitt then we could buy dynamite from the timber supply and they'd deliver it to us, we weren't allowed to haul it. I have a 4 ft long slide hammer which is a pointed shaft about 1 1/2 " in diameter with a slide weight on the top and we'd pound a hole under the stump and pop off a half stick to enlarge the hole then put in another stick with an electric cap and two gallons of diesel soaked ammonium sulfate then attatch a 300ft wire and get well back and touch it to a car battery. We cleared a couple acres of fir and oak stumps. Stumps less than 16" came out clean but some of the two or three footers split into three or four pieces then we pushed them out with my TD9. We got real dirty and had fun doin it but it scared my dog. Markd
markd

Ironwood

Cant have fun like that today, youd get arrested.

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

MHineman

  I have no idea how as a 17 year old kid, I knew how to dynamite a stump, but I did it pretty much like the guys above described.  My dad said to just lay the dynamite next to the stump and light it.  We argued a while and I finally did it his way and nothing happened except a lot of noise and dust.
  I insisted on hollowing out under the stump with a 5 foot pry bar, sticking in a half stick, packing it in tightly and lighting it.  It ripped the 3 plus foot stump in two and it easily came out.  My dad just walked away and left me to handle the rest of them.
 
1999 WM LT40, 40 hp 4WD tractor, homemade forks, grapple, Walenstein FX90 skidding winch, Stihl 460 039 saws,  homebuilt kiln, ......

markd

You were a thinker, and were able to figure out the way to get the job done and your dad new that, and that's why he turned you loose. I'll be you've done well in your life.
markd

markd

John, that looks like a fun contraption, at least you don't need two mules!!
markd

woodyone.john

 i did feel like an overworked donkey one day when i demonsrated it to our local forestry group.you cant put on a poor show when theyre all watching. you just slink off into the forest after to catch up with yourself. :-[ did you check out the link and the various ways to set up the rigging. snatch blocks can be very handy in these instances. cheers john
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

markd

Yes I did John, It's all in the riggin ain't it?
markd

tz350g

Hi markd,
I've photocopied the catalog and parts list.  Email me where you want them sent.

I'm thinking the size of tree it can pull direct, will vary a lot according to the type of tree and the soil conditions.  I agree 12" to 14" is probably the biggest it can pull with out using blocks to get more leverage.

I have 2 teams of horses, one team of Haflingers and a team of Haflinger Percheron crosses.  It takes three of them to pull a 16" single bottom plow and I've read that type of plow has about 900 pounds of draft so with that info it would seem that each horse can pull 300 pounds and certainly more for short periods of time. So with a 10 foot sweep and an 11.5" diameter drum I get about 21 to 1 leverage or about 12600 pounds of pull when a team is working the same as plowing but I'd expect them to nearly double that when asked nicely but only for a short time.

I also have three blocks so if rigged correctly I should get around 100,800 pounds of pull, still short of the 144,000 of a Cat D9 but I'm sure that'll make some big stumps move.  The blocks are military surplus and only rated at 13 tons so if I actually get that kind of pull I'll be over the rating some.

Brad_H   

woodyone.john

talking about rigging correctly there is a system here called [or was called in the days of the bullockys]' putting on the burton'. now days i thinkm the terminology used would be 'luff on luff on luff' its 3 blocks each pu;;ing the next,back to a deadman of some sort the last block to the load. uses a lot of rope but it sure can move stuff. cheers john
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

markd

Stump puller all repaired and ready to pull, I havn't found a willing team of horses, mules or oxen so we're gonna use man power. Markd

  

  

  

  

  

 
markd

Ianab

You can move a lot of weight with something like that.

They have been used for logging in the past. This one could drag a 20ton log in from a mile away!!!



Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

woodyone.john

ian i live in wech access rd,near wark worth .there are the remains of an old whim still standing about 10 k from here.round here they were most often turned by bullocks. on another point i would like to have a small and low tech harvest feild day on my property probably and the end of the farm forestry annual conference to be based in orewa next year toward the end of april.let anybody you know [preferably those with something to offer and share] who might be interested. i am sure you would be invited. cheers john
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

markd

Hadn't considered using one to yard logs but if fuel gets gone might have to.Those old guys always figured how to get the job done.Thanks for that post of the whim Ianab!
markd

ashes

Just curious about this tool. How does it work? I am not a machinery guy yet, but it looks interesting.

I guess what I'm asking is how does it attach to a stump and pull it? I can see how you could attach it to a log and drag a log, but pulling stumps would require vertical force as well i would guess.

tjdub

Quote from: ashes on May 07, 2012, 01:09:16 AM
I guess what I'm asking is how does it attach to a stump and pull it?

You attach the cable around the stump with a choker hook, which requires some digging to get the cable under enough root mass.  Then you attach the stump puller to something that won't move (usually an even bigger stump).  If there was nothing left in the area but the biggest stumps, that's where they piled brush from the tops and started a fire.  Or they just plowed around those stumps :)

There wasn't much vertical leverage except for the what the far-side of the rootball gave you.  It was just brute force.


woodyone.john

packing stuff, like other bits of sound wood, on top of the stump helps with gaining height and increaseing leveredge
Saw millers are just carpenters with bigger bits of wood

markd

I attached it to a small alder stump, 8" and two of us pushed the sweep arm around and got it tight then I hooked the tractor on it and with a little fanagglein it pulled it right out! The root ball was huge and weighed alot. It's very slow but extremely powerful. The cable I put on it is 5/8" and a choker on each end. It's not made for these fir and oak we have here, they're way too big without a little help from blasting. I read that they pulled thousands of apple stumps with them in Washington and I'll bet they pulled fairly easy. It is an amazing contraption and works very smooth and much quieter than a D8.
markd

sawmillman

I have a stump puller that will be sold in a farm auction next June in Southern Illinois. It is currently hidden in a bunch of vines and weeds so I do not know what brand it is. I can see the cable on the spool. I never saw it being used. When I get it pulled out in the open I will look for a brand name and try to get a pic.
Homemade bandmill, Stihl ms290, Stihl 440 Magnum, Stihl 101 pole saw, Poulan 3700

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