There’s a big chunk of exposed tree root that rises above ground level enough that I’m afraid the mover is going to hit it every time I mow. I finally cut it down a bunch.
The original plan was to borrow Ed’s sawzall and take a horizontal slice off the top – maybe 3/4″ thick in the highest place. There wasn’t enough clearance to get the sawzall in position, so I had to excavate on one side of the root. Fine. But for reasons I really don’t understand, the saw just didn’t want to rip through the wood. Maybe I twisted the bade in the cut or something, but it just slowed down and the wood started smoking. I made a vertical cut and took the little slice I’d started off. The saw made the vertical cross cut like cutting through butter. (Why wouldn’t it rip??)
But the exposed vertical edge inpired Plan B: I got a hammer and wood chisel, and started making a series of vertical cuts down through the root. Then it was easy to crack out big hunks with the chisel. That worked very well, though it wasn’t always pretty.
I hacked quite a bit of wood off. It’s probably at least an inch lower in the worst high spot, so I think the mower is safe for several more years. I put the sod I’d removed back, watered it in, and it’s done!
Damn dirt around here is so hard tree roots mostly grow in the top six inches. My solution to the exposed root problem is dirt. I used to have an S10 pickup which had horrible traction in the snow, so I would buy 3-4 bags of top soil in the fall and carry it in the truck bed all winter for ballast. Come spring I’d open the bags and spread the dirt around the tree roots. It built up probably 1/4 to 1/2 inch each year. Don’t have the truck any more (clunker cashed it in) but still buying top soil to spread on the grass near the trees. It’s only a buck a bag.
PS
Green wood doesn’t like to be sawn.