Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Brahmus]

It looks to me like you might be interested in the FTM1900FSC model which has 112 knives instead of 56 on the model that Agrisupply imports.

That is a front mounted cutter. So I'm assuming you meant the TM1900FSC.. hum.. I'll have to do more researching. Thanks for the input...

 

[Eagleview]

As i said early in this thread , i suggest cast 'P' type hammers as they do it all and do it well . It does not matter weather i'm mowing 2' tall grass or 8' tall scrub , this is the finish the cast hammers give . They have more stored energy than light weight 'Y' blades that retract against the drum when the going gets tough and also leave gaps between the blades . And also my 8' flail only has 22 hammers to replace . The photos are the before and after in the same spot with one pass .

 

[IslandTractor]

That is a front mounted cutter. So I'm assuming you meant the TM1900FSC.. hum.. I'll have to do more researching. Thanks for the input...

Yeah, I meant to list the rear cutter.

 

[Brahmus]

As i said early in this thread , i suggest cast 'P' type hammers as they do it all and do it well . It does not matter weather i'm mowing 2' tall grass or 8' tall scrub , this is the finish the cast hammers give . They have more stored energy than light weight 'Y' blades that retract against the drum when the going gets tough and also leave gaps between the blades . And also my 8' flail only has 22 hammers to replace . The photos are the before and after in the same spot with one pass .

So the key is the hammer available for the unit that limits it's ability not the unit itself....

 

[IslandTractor]

The photos are the before and after in the same spot with one pass .

Your photos are of an area I'd characterize as light brush rather than lawn. The issue is which flail blades do best with lawn I think.

I appreciate the points about the hammers but the Y blades are pretty efficient too. The Caroni finish versions just use more Y blades and don't use shackles. I'm not really sure which excels at which task though I would certainly rather have hammers if I was going to hit a cinder block. Y blades on shackles seems like it might be a compromise.

I don't have any experience cutting real lawns with my flail. Here are some photos of brush areas cut with one pass with the TM1900 with Y blades. One photo (the one where you see the mower close up) is an area that got cut a couple of times.

 

[Eagleview]

As i said , it does not matter what i cut , i end up with lawn . If i cut lawn i end up with lawn . If i cut pasture i end up with lawn . If i cut scrub i end up with lawn .

 

[IslandTractor]

As i said , it does not matter what i cut , i end up with lawn . If i cut lawn i end up with lawn . If i cut pasture i end up with lawn . If i cut scrub i end up with lawn .

I think you are saying that anything you cut is reduced to a short "lawn" height and that it is uniform. I wouldn't call the photos you posted good evidence of a finish lawn cut. I'm not trying to split hairs but I think the issue is more what happens when you cut lush grass and whether the finish cut has any rows visible or whether it looks exactly like it was cut with a true rotary or reel finish mower.

 

[GinNB]

I'm not really sure which excels at which task though I would certainly rather have hammers if I was going to hit a cinder block. Y blades on shackles seems like it might be a compromise.

Y blades on a shackle are the best when mowing rocks. You would think that hammers are tougher but they fail many times faster than the shackled Y blades. I'm a lowbush blueberry farmer so I mow rocks for a living. If you don't care about money and REALLY want to damage the rocks/cinder blocks/whatever, go with hammers. If you want the knives to survive repeated hits and don't care about how little damage you did to the rock, go with Y knives on shackles. The shackle gives added length for tip speed while still allowing the blade to bend easily when it meets an immovable/uncuttable object.

 

[IslandTractor]

That is nice to know. I somehow figured the hammers would be tougher. Glad to know I can mow rocks too.

 

[Eagleview]

Island i am not attacking your personal views on 'Y' blades . I was called the other day by a lawn contractor to do a lawn that was too large for his ride on lawn tractor . The grass was ablout 4-5 inches high , after i finished he shook his head and said it puts his gear to shame . He said it looks like a golf course and where are the clippings ? I don't have photos of the lawn work i do as taking before and after photos of a lawn would not show much . But surely you can imagine how good it does lawns if it does such a good job with scrub and with no clippings .
These are the cast 'P' hammers for those who have not seen them . You will note how sharp they are and how wide they are , it is not hard to imagine how they would cut the grass neatly . And as they are paddle shaped they create great suction that lifts the grass and leaves etc to meet them .