I forgot to mention his expereince with a rotary cutter and how he got rid of it a few minutes after he bought it and replaced it with a flail mower.
The rotary cutter he bought hit a bolt and it sailed for several hundred feet and blew through the exterior wall of a home and impaled itself in an interior wall.
For someone who does this kind of work for a living, a flail mower certainly makes sense on several levels. First, the extra cost can be depreciated over several years. Second, his risk of liability is certainly going to be lower, especially if he must often work near buildings or in areas that it is difficult to control pedestrians and other traffic. Also, if he's in that business, it is probably easier to find the time for maintenance of those blades (sharpening, replacing, etc.). For me, as a "casual" user, I have to make time for maintenance in between the rest of life's duties. Of course, I always make the time, so I suppose I would if I had a flail.
And truthfully, the math just doesn't impress me about the risk of hurling some projectile into an unfortunate target. It certainly
can happen, but what are the odds? People die every day in automobile accidents, but we still drive every day. And even all those who can afford it don't always purchase the biggest/heaviest/safest vehicles.
Here in KY, road crews mow the medians and ROWs next to every interstate, parkway, highway, and county road several times each year. And I have never seen one use a flail mower. Always pulling rotary cutters. With each road being mowed at least twice each year, that would suggest tens of thousands of miles mowed year after year with dozens and dozens of rotary cutters without incident. Or with few enough incidents that there's no public outcry.
Now, I never use the rotary cutter when pedestrians are around. And its very rare that I even use it close enough to buildings that there'd be any real risk of hitting one. Again, I am not trying to talk anyone into or out of any purchase, but do take the time to think through each option. Hopefully, you'll make the right choice for you.
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