Picked up a new (to me) Flail Mower... very cool

[TSO]

Just picked this up last week at an auction for a ridiculous price. Couldn't pass it up. It's a Ford 918h, 8 ft mower. That's still the original paint, in very good condition. I'm still trying to learn more about it, but I believe it hails from the 1990s. Cuts really nice. It's a good contrast to the 8 foot Ford brush hog that I have. The brush hog cuts faster, but the flail leaves a much nicer cut, and lower to the ground. Cutting relatively short grass leaves a fantastic striped finish. Looking forward to picking up some new and varied knives and experimenting some more with it.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Looks a lot like the one I got a couple weeks ago only mines a 13' Verisimo. What knives are on yours now? Did you mow that tall stuff in the background? Mine came with scoop knives which are for regular maintenance and shorter grass and gets a smoother cut i guess but what I needed it for is maybe semi-annual field mowing of 2' and taller grass and blackberries so I changed all the knives to heavy duty side cutters. 80 stations and 2 cutters per station cost $300.

You can definitely get the "golf course" look with a flail. Change directions each time you mow for either a square look or you can increase the angle and get a diamond pattern.

 

[TSO]

Yeah did a few passes in that tall stuff. It's probably 75% grass and 25% mixed weeds. Grass is likely a Fescue & Rye mix. It's probably about 30" tall right now in spots. Thick. Usually keep it manicured with my zero turn in the spring, but didn't have time to keep up with it this year (it serves as my driving range & our chicken pasture).

The flail definitely mulches better than my brush-hog, which would just knock that grass down and leave some clumping. But I'm traveling much slower, around 2 - 2.5 mph.

The current knives are upside down Y ... I need to turn them around to the fresh side of the knife.

So, what's the cut difference (and intended design difference) between the upside down Y and T knives?

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Congrats on the flail mower. All you guys finding deals on flail mowers are making me jealous.

 

[kebo]

Looks a lot like the one I got a couple weeks ago only mines a 13' Verisimo. What knives are on yours now? Did you mow that tall stuff in the background? Mine came with scoop knives which are for regular maintenance and shorter grass and gets a smoother cut i guess but what I needed it for is maybe semi-annual field mowing of 2' and taller grass and blackberries so I changed all the knives to heavy duty side cutters. 80 stations and 2 cutters per station cost $300.

You can definitely get the "golf course" look with a flail. Change directions each time you mow for either a square look or you can increase the angle and get a diamond pattern.

NWOutlaw, you got one heck of a view to look at while you are mowing!! I would probably drive off the side of the hill or something if you let me cut it lol!!!!

 

[NWOutlawMX]

Yeah did a few passes in that tall stuff. It's probably 75% grass and 25% mixed weeds. Grass is likely a Fescue & Rye mix. It's probably about 30" tall right now in spots. Thick. Usually keep it manicured with my zero turn in the spring, but didn't have time to keep up with it this year (it serves as my driving range & our chicken pasture).

The flail definitely mulches better than my brush-hog, which would just knock that grass down and leave some clumping. But I'm traveling much slower, around 2 - 2.5 mph.

The current knives are upside down Y ... I need to turn them around to the fresh side of the knife.

So, what's the cut difference (and intended design difference) between the upside down Y and T knives?

The upside down Y's are the ones that i put on and are more heavy duty and are 2 pieces for each station. The ones I took off were the scoop, or T depending on how you look at them. They weren't very thick gauge and the cutting edge runs horizontal. I think they are more for regular mowing of shorter grass, they didn't look like they would do well if you had small sticks or gopher mounds. I never even tried them so I couldn't say which is better, a couple of the flail company's that I spoke to when pricing out new ones recommended the side cutters for tall thick grass.