Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[jmfox]

jab-law , An old heavy duty flail with cast hammers is what you need

Here's a photo of the hammers on the Bobcat Flail.

jmf

 

[powergod]

that is quite formitable looking

 

[swampvol]

IronHorse, didn't you suggest using the hammer blades over the y blades for cutting grass when using a flail with only 28-30 stations?

The cut with the y blades, to me, is worse than with my hog.

 

[J_J]

I believe the flail mowers are made for certain situations. For finish cut, I believe the Y type blades are mad for just that, where as, the hammer type flails have a different number stations on the drum, and the blades are wider. My flail has 88 sets of blades, and is designed for finish mowing. You can put a heavy duty blade on the finish mower to cut heaver and trash type stuff. On the hammer flails, you can not reverse them also. Some of the blades have three categories. reg, harden blades, and cast. I have also used a slicing blade on mine for lawn regeneration/dethatching. Cuts little slits in the sod. Supposed to help the root system to expand.

 

[J_J]

IronHorse, didn't you suggest using the hammer blades over the y blades for cutting grass when using a flail with only 28-30 stations?

The cut with the y blades, to me, is worse than with my hog.

How about a picture of your blade setup, and tell us how you are using the flail. Flails use a thinner blade, and should give a better cut than a bush hog. You should not be trying to cut to much, and going to fast. Some flails are designed to cut in the forward direction, mostly heavy duty stuff. I believe most finish flails turn in reverse of tractor wheel direction. With my hydraulic driven flail mower, I can reverse direction if needed, since the blades are sharp on, front and backside.

 

[Eagleview]

These are the normal duties of my flail mower , I first pluck all the trees out with the excavator and lay them in rows . Then I scoop them up with the stick rake grapple on the tractor and put them into burn piles . Then I mow the area with the flail , hidden rocks and farm rubbish are a constant threat . I missed a short stump sticking out of the ground while i was on the excavator and caught the flails rear roller on it , you can probably see the Banana shape it now has . The flail pulverises the rocks and sticks and turns the area into usable land .

As can be seen , a scruffy paddock covered in regrowth turns to lawn when I'm done . With this method , the grass cover is not even disturbed unlike the mess a dozer would make .

Flails are very versatile , one day I'm using it in rough country like this , the next day I'll be using the same flail in town on housing estates .

 

[IslandTractor]

I missed a short stump sticking out of the ground while i was on the excavator and caught the flails rear roller on it , you can probably see the Banana shape it now has . .

Doesn't that banana affect the evenness of your grass cutting? I can see it doesn't affect brush cutting generally but for fine lawn work I'd think it would matter by raising the cutters an inch or two every foot or so. Can't you take it off, then do something like wedge it in a V shaped trough, drive over it and straighten it?

 

[Eagleview]

It didn't stay like that , I made a new one out of a piece of steam pipe that evening , it only happened that morning .

 

[Believer]

On a flail, is the rear roller at risk of being damaged or bent in pasture mowing? One of my areas has some rocks.

 

[IslandTractor]

On a flail, is the rear roller at risk of being damaged or bent in pasture mowing? One of my areas has some rocks.

Yes and no. Real damage like what happened to Iron Horse's roller is pretty unusual but rear rollers definitely get dinged up when they hit rocks. Mine has about six or eight well defined dings. It makes no difference to function, just cosmetics. These types of dings occur when you bounce the roller over rocks. The type of damage that Iron Horse had happens when you hang the roller on an immovable object (stump/rock) with the tractors momentum being enough to bend the roller into a banana (to use Iron Horses terminology). That requires repair/replacement. These "banana" incidents are unusual and may occur only with larger heavier tractors traveling at relatively fast speed(greater mass/momentum).