shaeff
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2015
- Messages
- 1,048
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Tractor
- MF Utility 35 Gasser, JLG LJ500
What's your opinion of the cut quality?
Considering that I've never replaced any of the knives aside from what was damaged or missing when I got it, nor have I ever sharpened any of them- I'd say the cut quality is pretty dang good. In dry conditions at the lowest cutting height it'll take my overgrown field (seen in pics above) and make it look like I mow it weekly in just one pass. The cut quality is orders of magnitude better than a brush hog/rotary style cutter. If I hold the back guard up in wet brush it'll blow the clippings out in a smoother fashion than if it's super wet.
The key is to make sure the flail is set up right, don't let it nose dive into the ground. It takes a few minutes of careful adjustment on the threaded top link to get it to sit just right, but once set, it's great.
If I run over a small tree, something woody about 2-3" diameter at the base, it'll just shred all the small branches and leaves off of it and leave the main trunk mostly untouched. A hammer flail would likely mulch that up. But as I said, I paid $300 for this thing, it came with a coffee can of extra knives (which I had to replace six or seven of...) and top off the gear oil. I've been running it for about six years.
The plus side of the duckfoot/scoop knives is that they leave a flat cut like a lawnmower blade does. It looks more "finished" even though there are only 36 knife stations. If my zero turn dies I can use the flail to knock my yard down while I wait on parts, it still looks really good after I'm done.