Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference?

   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #1  

dcyrilc

Super Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2009
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5,488
Location
Woodinville, Washington
Tractor
John Deere 2240 MFWD
What is the difference between a finish mower and a brush hog and how do you tell them apart?
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #2  
Most bush hogs have 1-large blade and 1-wheel, finishing mower has multiple blades with 2-or 4-wheels, or to say 1- wheel on each corner of the cutting deck, the differents in purpose is , Bushhog is for Field cutting or tall overgrown grass,
a Finishing mower for cutting lawn grass, pretty easy to tell them apart when looking at them side by side,;)
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #3  
Finish cut mowers give a nice, low "lawnmower" cut. They usually have 2 or 3 blades, with belts and some pulleys to spin the blades. Rough cut mowers (or bush hogs) usually have just one blade (in reality it is actually two seperate blades) attached to the same pan (or stumpjumper depending on its design).

The easiest way to tell them apart from a distance is that almost always a rough cut mower will be an almost square or blocky looking deck from a distance, and the rear "corners" may be rounded off, or the rear corners may be "cut off" for lack of a better way to describe it.

A finish mower is usually shaped more like an oval (or a tri-oval if it has three blades) because the 2 or 3 blades are mounted side by side, just like in a lawn tractor. This forces the deck to be designed very similar to decks for lawn tractors.
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thank you. I've been looking around the forum for a couple of weeks now and have seen pix various mowers, but couldn't tell them apart since I didn't know what I was looking at.
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #5  
The first picture is a finish mower and the other pic is the rough cut mower. As stated before, the finish mower is for a nice "finished" looking cut. Like you would get with a regular lawn mower. The rough cut mower is for just that, rough cutting. Like you would use in a old pasture or road ditches. The finish mower has multiple blades on fixed spindles. The rough cut mower has two large heavy swinging blades that are attached to a single spindle and are some what forgiving if you hit something hard. There are rough cut mowers with multiple spindles, but these are usually larger 7 foot wide and larger.
 

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   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #6  
Now that you know the difference, think about it's potential use for you.
If you have a LARGE lawn, or plan to mow others lawns and golf courses then a finish mower. But these have light blades and hitting a rock can damage the blade, or as I was told a gopher mound. I have one but have yet to use it.
If you have big fields, brush, blackberries and saplings to cut down and land to reclaim, then go with the Brush "Hog" I have mowed scotchbroom over 10 feet tall with mine, and hit stumps and 5 lb rocks with no damage. Lots of noise, but no damage.
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
What are advantages / disadvantages of a brush hog vs a flail mower?

Also, off subject, how do you add the text at the bottom where everyone puts their tractor and attachments?
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #8  
I don't have a flail mower, so I speak from what I have learned. A flail would be the step between a finish and a hog. The Flail mows like a tiller, so items don't get thrown 50 feet out- and that's why the road crews use them.
The flail mowers have different types of "blades" "Y" and "T" shaped being the most common, but there are "hammer style" usually 1/2 the blade count

Optimally, I'd like a flail too.. Keith at the address below said a flail mower with hammers on it would chew uo a stump, going slowly...

New 60? Flail Mower EF155 Cat.1 3pt 24HP+ Rating - eBay (item 300366921764 end time Nov-18-09 16:30:19 PST)

As far as the Sig lines, look in the user options area, your account/settings section.
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
The day after I brought my tractor home, I picked up a John Deere Model 90 Boom Flail mower with 9ft reach for mowing the drainage ditches along my driveway. Probably won't get a chance to try it until spring, but it has to beat using the gas hedge trimmer for 1500 ft of driveway! That usually took two full days and I was dog tired afterwards.

The used John Deere 2240 I bought has a couple of issues for me to try to fix over the winter, but I'm looking forward to playing with it come spring!!!

I have some understanding of flail mowers and sickle mowers; how they work; and what they are used for, but didn't really understand what a brush hog was. It sounds like the brush hog has two blades held from the end on a single shaft, so that it has some give when it hits something hard. Is this correct?
 
   / Mowers, finish or brush - What's the difference? #10  
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