I had over a dozen stumps in my yard left over after I had the electric co-op drop a bunch of trees that were to close to my house. All in the 1.5 to 2 foot diameter.
These are my observations and the decision I made.
I had tried those stump solutions that are suppose to rot the stump out, had no luck.
The solution were you drill holes and burn it out route, didn’t work.
Stump grinder guy wanted over $200/ stump.
One of my students wanted about a $100/ stump to pull them out with his tractor.
This is the route I took:
Bought a spare bar and 2 spare chains for my chainsaw. Dug all around the stump, would use the garden hose and sprayer to remove as much dirt and junk from around the roots as possible. When I would get roots exposed that were at least a foot underground, I would cut them with the chainsaw.
Each stump would take 1-2 evenings of work maximum after work as well as numerous times sharpening the chain. The work was not that difficult, the hose and sprayer and using the water to erode the soil under the stump worked beautiful.
In the end, I destroyed two chains and a bar, but saved well over a $1000 dollars.