Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

It sounds like the flail can handle most anything under 2" if I go slow enough, right?

1 more question - Is a flail mower the same thing as a flail chopper?

1) Yes, my Caroni can deal with 2 inch brush. Not sure about 2 inch oak saplings but brush has not been a problem. You need to go slow and if it is thick I generally back into that sort of material so it gets cut twice, once in and then coming back out. The plants you showed in the photo are things I would drive over forwards and expect they would be fully cut in a single pass but as I've never actually cut that exact plant I cannot say for sure.

2) I have never seen a chopper but my impression is they are about the same thing as a rough cut flail.

The photo shows the remains of a bush that had about a 1.5-2 inch base after backing in and out.

 

[KennyV]

My Ford 917 has these knives on it.

I've sharpened them once, but how many times can I sharpen them?

They will eventually get narrow as they shorten and eventually there will not be enough overlap and you will be leaving thin strips of uncut fine grass between the blades... KennyV

 

[leonz]

thanks for all the advice yall.

IslandTractor - yeah thats just a photo I found on the internet. Its not from our property. The hayfield wont have any branches like that.

The mullein can get HUGE! I just cleared some yesterday w a Stihl Weedwhacker (metal head) and some were ~7 ft tall and had 2" stems.

It sounds like the flail can handle most anything under 2" if I go slow enough, right?

1 more question - Is a flail mower the same thing as a flail chopper?

Alec the flail shredder is the same thing but much stronger in building due to the heavy rotor and kinves -some have the P knives some have the grass knives.

understand that that means two different rotor types both are very good for shredding and heavy brush, you just have to go slower for a better close cut and the hammer knives dull a bit quicker versus the Y blades but you could use either type mowing high the first pass and lower ground- we have mullein up in new york and it shreds nicely as it is heavy grass relative like sugar cane and corn if my memory is right.

You can buy a heavy rotor for hammer knives with a new Caroni if you wish to do so, but as you are not clearing land like Iron Horse does down under with his Berti flail and hammer knives it may be a bit much.

But if you have the opportunity to buy a used one have a large enough tractor for power and its something you can afford they are work horses.


Here is a link for Used Tractors For Sale at TractorHouse.com: John Deere Tractors, used farm tractors and farm equipment, tractors for sale, Case IH, New Holland, Agco, Kubota I always end up drooling at the new stuff especially :laughing::licking::thumbsup:

There are whole herd of online frm auction services all over the internet for you to examine. There are a lot of good used flail choppers in the mid west as they shred a lot of corn and bean ground and in california its orchard brush, cotton stalks, and corn stalks as well.

Buying a used flail chopper with Y blades is not a mistake either as you can resharpen them as well. the mathews M-C flail choppers have the Y blades and the hammer knives for options.

you just have to be sure you have enough PTO power for a wide shredder- and if it has Y blades thats OK too.

The flail choppers the mathews company makes which also use the Y blades they have spring locked shackles and you can change the blades by hand compressing the hanger spring to allow passage of the damaged or dull blade out of the hanger loop and rrplace it with a sharp y blade.


leonz

 

[beppington]

Update on my dad's Caroni TM1900: Bought brand new July 1, & it's only got probably 5 hours at most on it, but it's turned out to be disappointingly unable to handle chopping up/ shredding/ destroying small oak branches, even pinky finger diameter. These thin little branches just wrap around the shaft, bind it up & bog the tractor. Don't think the belts will last long like that. So, instead he now just mows grass only, no woody stuff. It handles tall grass just fine, probably better than a regular RFM, but I think the comparisons to a rotary cutter are probably not really too justified. Seems to me it leans much closer to a RFM than a rotary.

 

[KennyV]

turned out to be disappointingly unable to handle chopping up/ shredding/ destroying small oak branches
he now just mows grass only, no woody stuff. It handles tall grass just fine,
much closer to a RFM than a rotary.

A flail with heavy knives (rough cut) will eat up about anything you roll over,...
They will shred just like a hammer mill.

The lighter blades are more suited to finish mowing... and they do a fine job.
Both types work best at high speed, if you are using a lighter blade and mowing heavier material you will get better results running above PTO RPM. KennyV

 

[beppington]

It seems to me that if you do change to those rough cut heavy knives & go to mow these same branches, as you mow into them & advance into them, if they're not quite cut all the way thru, I think the branches may still just get grabbed & wrapped around the flail's roller. Then you have to stop & un-wrap them. Am I wrong? Do you think a flail with those heavy knives will avoid a complete bind-up?

I admit to having mowed only about 1/5th acre with his new flail; It was all grass & did great. But his description of attemtping to mow those few small branches didn't sound too good. With the bush hog I could easily shred those branches.

 

[KennyV]

I've used a large rough cut Ford flail, smaller Mott and a big CTL finish (lighter knife) flail used them on everything from Bermuda grass to long heavy vines and green Osage orange limbs... so long as I kept RPM high so there was a lot of velocity at the knife, there was never any problem with shredding vegetation... Now phone line, (the burial type), that is another thing... it and fence wire WILL wind up rather fast... you will have a big ball quick. KennyV

 

[Big Bri]

Update on my dad's Caroni TM1900: Bought brand new July 1, & it's only got probably 5 hours at most on it, but it's turned out to be disappointingly unable to handle chopping up/ shredding/ destroying small oak branches, even pinky finger diameter. These thin little branches just wrap around the shaft, bind it up & bog the tractor. Don't think the belts will last long like that. So, instead he now just mows grass only, no woody stuff. It handles tall grass just fine, probably better than a regular RFM, but I think the comparisons to a rotary cutter are probably not really too justified. Seems to me it leans much closer to a RFM than a rotary.

That is just weird, I mow a lot for my father, it is in a marshy area, lots of vines, and branches on the ground. . . i mow over them just fine with my caroni. as a mater fact i have driven over trees 1-2" din diameter at bass and have chewed them up to splinters. Now the mower makes a lot of noise and i have to go slow to do that but i've had no trouble.

I also trimmed a lot of trees at the house last month, mostly oak, but some shrubs and ceder. after picking up the bulk and bring to the burn pile i ran the flail over what the grapple wouldn't pick up and it mulched it fine.

 

[KennyV]

The ONLY time I have had a problem with vegetation wrapping around was a very low RPM... KennyV

 

[IslandTractor]

I've never mowed oak saplings or branches but that size woody material in general is no problem. Sometimes I mow material twice to really mulch it but the only thing I have had wrap around my mower shaft is rubber hose. As others have noted, raise the RPM to PTO speed and see if that helps.