Oaks (do you leave the stump or yank the roots?)

I've just spent two hours this evening sawing in half a mean bulbous holm oak root that somebody dumped near my dad's house. I swear it is the last time that I get myself into so much trouble. I have no powertools so the task became a test of endurance (just an arch saw and some iron wedges and taking my time turning the beast) just on account of not wanting to let it go to waste.

Efforts aside, this got me thinking. I pressume that most people in this forum may leave the stump for convenience, however I'm curious are there any of you that, for hardwood removal such as oaks, you take care of the entire tree structure including the roots? And if so, do you also process the roots for firewood?

P.S: continuing with the tradition of debating with my dad the whole effort vs reward, he said that I shouldn't have bothered with the root and that I should not pick up the remaing roots that were dumped. This time I must fundamentally agree with him.

 

I leave stumps.

Arch saw - is that a hand saw?

 

If nothing else, roots are dirty and dull saws. Poor return on investment in my opinion.

 

So if I am understanding the question right
I only deal with logs no roots
I would say all my logs use to be yard trees
Now if you are talking about tree removal I would say 95 to 98 percent of the stumps are ether left to rot or ground

 

Never mess with roots. The embedded rock/dirt will destroy saw chains.





BTW- arch saw=

 

I leave the stumps. Problem with most oaks is the heartwood takes forever to rot.

Ill sometimes save an old chains for one last cutting...roots.

 

You understood correctly and indeed it is what buzzsaw says:

They are going to stay there for a looooooooooooooooooooong time.

 

AKA bow saw.

 

It is. I don't user chainsaws, don't have that much volume and I enjoy the exercise

I had to learn that the hard way with one of the roots that got a tiny little rock stuck that I didn't see. Completely ruined one chainsaw. As another user said, poor return on investment.

 

Figured I might aswell share the spoils of yesterday's splitting.


And these are the roots that have been dumped and that I need to remind myself not to pick up

 

I will (and yet this is my brain's internal discourse=:

but...
but.......
but..........
but.............
.........................free wood! Take it!

I actually have thought of a plan B to avoid letting them go to waste, I do a bit of gardening so I might repurpose them if I ever need them for a raised bed and try the Hugelkultur approach:

 

The grain gets all wonky at the butt. I almost always leave at least one round attached to stump when I cut blowdowns off. If there is no taper or spurs I usually go lower. Can for sure say that I've never burned root wood before other than in a brush pile.

 

I've burn quite a few roots of holm oak in the fireplace. There are pros and cons:
- PROs: it will last somewhere between 6 to 7 hours and give you a consistent heat source.
- CONs: you have to turn it from time to time, otherwise it will not burn and usually when you do you have to add a bit of smaller pieces of wood because the coal bed is not enough to keep it burning. (in addition to the whole cutting process which takes a bunch of time)

Is it worth the effort in the end... probably not, but I hate seeing "good" wood (as in hardwood) go to waste. Specifically, for the stumps I posted above they are also a bit sore on the eyes.

 

Friend of mine had a white oak taken down in his yard back in 2019. He asked me but it was a little too dangerous for me so I declined. He had the stump ground after. Normally by now it would've rotted and a sinkhole would be there. Nope. still a speed bump in his yard.

White oak heartwood is reknowned for its durability and longevity. Commonly used in truck beds for floor boards.

 

My step daughter and BF garden this way. He showed me pictures of the logs they buried and I nearly keeled over when I saw them.

 

I never got around to posting that about the saw. You beat me fair and square!

BTW, that's one heck of a way to process firewood..... Now I understand why pine is so appealing to him!

 

IMO, burying wood will eventually result in mushroom growth.

 

I feel your pain, I'm only considering this because these are root that I won't be able to process, otherwise there is no way that I'd use good wood for that.

I think I'd be happy with that mushrooms = healthy food soil web.

 

Decaying wood ties up a considerable amount of nitrogen. Trying to grow a garden over buried wood could be a disappointment. In the ag world it is a bad idea to spread un-composted sawdust or wood chips on crop land.