Incomplete Cut With Sickle

[Wingsy]

Last winter I used my new sickle to cut the growth around my ponds. Worked great. Cut everything it came up against.

This week I went out to do it again, but this time the results were awful. Clippings would pile up on top of the sickle bar so high and thick that it would push over the oncoming grass to the point where it would be pushed down and under the blades, and leave a terrible mess.

Photo 1 shows the clippings piled up on the bar.
Photos 2 & 3 show the aftermath.

I thought maybe it was due to the bar being pitched forward so the next day I extended the top link as far as I could and tried again. Maybe it was a little better but still not even close to satisfactory. I also tried going slower and faster but that didn't change things by much. This is a new mower with very little time on it. Blades are still sharp as new.

My thinking is that, last winter when I did my first cut, the growth was dried and stiff. This summer it's green and flexible, so the clippings just find a way to hang onto the bar without sliding off the back.

Has anyone seen what I see here? Any suggestions?

 

[Gordon Gould]

Spring grass is very soft and wimpy. It is harder to cut with most any mower because it bends over so easy. You may be asking to much from your sickle bar. After a few cuttings the grass will toughen up and cut better.

 

[r whitman]

bar speed is imporant pto at 540 ground speed slow. Oil the bar helps to start out.

 

[sweettractors]

Is your new mower single action or double action? From looking at your picture, I think what is happening, your old cuttings from last fall are clogging the mower cutterbar. You can check your sickle to guard clearances and if you have a gap between them, adjust your mower toe clamps downward to make for a closer fit. If the grass is wet, a single action mower will tend to clog. Double action should be ok in wet grass. Ken Sweet

 

[Egon]

Are the sections on the sickle properly meeting the ledger plates?

 

[PRCWI]

I ran into that problem with my sickle mower, but the main thing I found was the guards picking up lots of old cut from previous cuttings or just old fall down. It would catch on the guards preventing the grass I wanted to cut from reaching the knives properly and then everything would build up just as your picturing.

That was in the spring too so maybe it was a spring thing but I ended up buying a flail mower for all my needs and I am VERY happy with that as compared to the sickle mower I was using. But for what your doing (mowing banks of a pond) the flail wouldn't work unless you had a boom one and that's pricey.

 

[Wingsy]

I think it's just wimpy grass. When it's cut it just falls over the blades and is so flexible it doesn't fall over like a cut tree. There is nothing different from cutting the first cut this spring with the last (and only) cut last winter, other than stiff dried grass vs new grass. It's a brand new sickle.

And I had a flail mower before I got the sickle. I really needed something to mow around the ponds so I sold the flail to help pay for the sickle. The flail was a pretty good mower except for one thing ... straw. It would leave about 50% of it still standing, and I've got plenty of straw around here. I think I'll be looking at a plain ole bush hog next, or in addition to the sickle.

 

[hawkeye08]

Just ship it to me for extended troubleshooting. Please note, it may take years to properly diagnose it. Please advise on arrival date information, thanks.

 

[sweettractors]

I think it's just wimpy grass. When it's cut it just falls over the blades and is so flexible it doesn't fall over like a cut tree. There is nothing different from cutting the first cut this spring with the last (and only) cut last winter, other than stiff dried grass vs new grass. It's a brand new sickle.

And I had a flail mower before I got the sickle. I really needed something to mow around the ponds so I sold the flail to help pay for the sickle. The flail was a pretty good mower except for one thing ... straw. It would leave about 50% of it still standing, and I've got plenty of straw around here. I think I'll be looking at a plain ole bush hog next, or in addition to the sickle.

What brand/model is the mower? Ken Sweet

 

[Wingsy]

OK, but first you've got to help me transfer 3 million dollars from my account in Libya. I'll have to send it to you to get it to the US, but first I need a security deposit. PM me for details.