BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts

[joebobbill]

Here are a couple of images I found on this site that suggests the issues that make me interested in the BCS:

Raw terracing (from Terraced Vineyard)

Finished rock work and planting(from Terraced Vineyard)

This terraced hillside is all dirt. My hillside is a bit shorter (25' from top to bottom) and the slope is flatter. The top 1/3rd of my hillside is exposed chalk with lots of layering. The middle 1/3 is loose rock and soil. Native chalk layers are 1 to 5 inches below the surface. The bottom 1/3rd is largely soil, though rock is a large component. Native rock is 3 or more feet down.

Small rocks are constantly rolling down from the upper levels. Two or three big rocks (3 cubic feet or so) seem to be slowly sliding down the hillside, moving an inch or two a year.

I started growing grapes at the bottom of the slope, but have moved up the hill each year. The vines seem to like the rocky stuff better than the 'normal' soil where I started.

I'm trying to characterize the scale one has to maneuver amongst the rocks and vines. Don't get me wrong. This isn't what my hillside looks like. This example is a work of art. Mine is a collection of odd gardening projects. The rocks, weeds and debris are in control.

JoeBobBill

 

[farmerboybill]

Hey Jobobbill,

You're farming the way the Italians farm - on steep, terraced hillsides. This is what the Grillo and BCS machines (among several other European manufacturer's machines) are designed for.

I just posted a new thread regarding the Del Morino mowers as I didn't want to step on Bill in NC's very good posts on his thread here.

Bill in WI

 

[PGC]

First post! I think it will work at least.


Gents, thank you for this thread. I have an 832 on the way (4 more days!) with a 30" tine box and have been looking at all the various mowers.

Throwing blades? Holy ****. There is a reason to get some insurance if I've ever seen one.

If it turns out I have anything else to say maybe I'll post again, but in the mean time I'm going to look through more of these threads.

Cheers!

 

[PGC]

First post! I think it will work at least.


Gents, thank you for this thread. I have an 832 on the way (4 more days!) with a 30" tine box and have been looking at all the various mowers.

Throwing blades? Holy ****. There is a reason to get some insurance if I've ever seen one.

If it turns out I have anything else to say maybe I'll post again, but in the mean time I'm going to look through more of these threads.

Cheers!

Thought of something. I had first purchased the BCS 718, but have returned it (and paid dearly) for the big 832. Why? The 718 is an awesome little machine, but I found out right away that it is exactly that...little. Tiny. The 18" tine box would have you rototilling for days. For contract work, no go. I also found out, when working my own potato patch, that it cannot straddle a furrow made by the standard BCS furrower, which I just couldn't agree with. I'm hoping the 832 will be the one. She'll be brand new and hopefully stay with me until the day I die.

 

[BCSSHOP]

Using the appropriate mowing attachment for the mowing task saves many problems. If you are reclaiming an old field where the vegetation is tall and the underlying ground is unknown, using a sickle bar to perform the initial cutting is good practice. Running the sickle bar slowly will discover the rocks, stumps and hidden treasures fairly quickly and safely. With the knowledge of what the ground is like you can decide what mower is best for maintaining the field. A rocky surface suggests that flail mower set to the highest cut can be used to mulch the debris. If it is very rocky continued use of the sickle bar may be a the best approach.

If you can clear the rocks and stumps, using the rotary brush mower will leave the field looking like a continuation of the lawn. Repeated mowing with the rotary brush mower will eventually make the field become very lawn like.

The trouble comes when you use rotary brush mower in totally unknown conditions which turn out to be full of rocks. Setting the mower at the highest setting helps a little but knowing what you are mowing helps a lot.

I'm a great advocate of initial mowing with the sickle bar but there are hazards that can damage cutting teeth. You must avoid steel fencing, metal fences posts, property markers and reinforcement bars someone may have used to mark something. Also from experience, hitting a wasp nest will test your running ability like few other things.

 

[PGC]

Excellent advice. As luck would have it the first mower I have found used is a combination bar.

Do you think that just a little fence wire would damage the teeth? At the least they must be as hard as a pair of Stihl hedgers, no?

I too have been motivated to explore my top speed by a swarm of encouraging bees, freshly disturbed.

 

[wstr75]

The Zanon 28" brush mower arrived this week and we put it to work mowing kudzu vines, briars and saplings on a hillside. It was on a BCS 853 with Lombardini diesel. The diesel seldom complained. The Zanon did a good job and large chunky items seemed to be expelled with relatively low energy for a rotary type mower. The owner's manual and the actual design do not jive as the owner's manual shows a traditional rectangular bar on the drive hub with two swinging blades. The actual mower has a disk with three swinging blades. The blades are mounted above the disk and each blade can rotate around on its securing bolt 360 degrees. This may explain what appears to be a lower expulsion energy of large chunky objects.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8767118@N05/6920179570/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8767118@N05/6920179928/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8767118@N05/6920180248/in/photostream

Bill in NC

 

[joebobbill]

Thanks for the photos of the Zanon 28" brush mower.

If I understand this, the flail has 3 blades which freely rotate on a bolt. The disk is spun by the motor, but the blades have no fixed position on the disk, nor connection to the motor. Is this correct?

 

[wstr75]

I think what you are saying is correct. The disk spins. Each blade is spaced 120 degrees apart and each blade is held by one bolt. The centrifugal force of the spinning disk orients each blade outward. The disk is the direct connection to the PTO. The blades are along for the ride and bounce back inside the disk diameter when hitting an object.
Bill in NC

 

[kimbi51]

Video of Blade Runner doing a brush on a steep hillside.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwxwTarYck]TRINCIA SARMENTI BCS 630WS BLADERUNNER 75CM - YouTube[/ame]

Hi, I have a new BCS Ferrari 340, with a 75 Bladerunner, and have found it very good in long, dry grass. We put two short youtube videos on recently which are quite different to the Trincia Sarmenta one you have highlighted. Search for "BCS Ferrari Bladerunner" on youtube. It mulches up sticks, bark and leaves hidden in the grass very well, and I work it in second gear in the dry grass and third gear in long, green weedy grass.Very happy so far with the unit, and the rotary hoe is excellent.