Flail Mower Flail or Rotary Cutter

[Fundy]

I知 torn between a rotary cutter and a flail mower to clear and maintain 9 acres. The area is currently overgrown with some light brush in small patches. Once I make the initial cut over time a small section will be maintained with a ride on mower and the remainder will be 途ough cut as required.
I realize the flail mower will give me a finer cut but having trouble with the additional cost and maintenance of the flail mower, anyone that has been in the same situation and can make any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Yes I know this topic has been beat to death but would like some help from anyone that has already gone through this recently :drink:

 

[Hay Dude]

Is safety (thrown cuttings) an issue? Rotary will throw a little more. Chains will minimize that.
Maintenance probably won’t be an issue with the flail for YOU, since you’re not using it every day or in a commercial operation like I am. I don’t think the maintenance is all that bad on a flail unless you try to overload it or cut rocks with it.
Rotary mower is rougher & tougher and more forgiving if youre in rocks, mounds of dirt or stumps.

 

[Alien]

In 4 years I have sharpened my flail blades twice. I am a bit fussy. I have hit plenty of grounded stumps and sticks etc and find the flail hammers pretty tough. They excel on grass and do a beautiful finish job. With what is in your photo, probably a slasher would be more suited although I have cut stuff similar. (lantana bushes and saplings)
A full set of hammers for mine is around $200 but I am nowhere near replacing them after 4 years. Y Blades on a flail may be more suited to that scrub.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I use both: a bushog for my farm needs, and a flail mower for mowing the sides of the road.

Well: I will just come out and say it: the flail mower is better than ***.

Okay, maybe a bit overstated, but you get my point; the flail mower is the better option.

I am rebuilding my bushog now, but just because it makes sense to spend a few hundred dollars and do so. When I need to fully replace it, I will get a flail mower.

As a side note: I think the hammer knives are better, but I run Y knives on mine. I can sharpen them about 4 times before they are so bad they can no longer be sharpened, BUT keep in mind, I am operating in the harshest mowing conditions possible.

 

[Peter 315]

I use both: a bushog for my farm needs, and a flail mower for mowing the sides of the road.

Well: I will just come out and say it: the flail mower is better than ***.

Okay, maybe a bit overstated, but you get my point; the flail mower is the better option.

I am rebuilding my bushog now, but just because it makes sense to spend a few hundred dollars and do so. When I need to fully replace it, I will get a flail mower.

As a side note: I think the hammer knives are better, but I run Y knives on mine. I can sharpen them about 4 times before they are so bad they can no longer be sharpened, BUT keep in mind, I am operating in the harshest mowing conditions possible.

Ya in the northeast the rocks grow faster then the grass.....LOL

 

[Alien]

Certainly the flail mulches the cuttings a lot better and does'nt leave windrows in its' wake like a rotary. I have friends with rotary cutters and they are jealous of my flail.

 

[BRMyers]

Around our area, you would be hard press to find a flail mower. Everyone in these parts uses rotary mowers of various sizes.

 

[Fundy]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

 

[the old grind]

Another vote for flail with hammers. Blackberries 1" or so diameter look better when mowed to 1" tall.

Last Fall I 'mowed' a 1 ac food plot that looked like the owner's first pass with a rotary should be baled before I began.

After my second pass I wondered where the clippings went. I check belt tension and hit three grease fittings before each use.

The hammers cut grass by our mailboxes & ditch as cleanly as my ZTR, but I have much more range of cutting height with the flail.

Just don't back up with the mower 'down' and 'spinning'. DAMHIK.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I vote for flail mower too. Check out this one. Warlord - Heavy Duty Flail Mower | Trimax Mowing Systems USA

 

[flusher]

Flails are nice if you want to cut really short, like the orchard growers do in my neighborhood for sanitary reasons to protect their trees.

Otherwise, for field work, rotary cutters (brush hogs) are used.

If you want to make your field look like a golf course fairway, then sharpen the brush hog blades the way you would for a riding lawn mower.

I own both a flail and a rotary. I'm not a fan of belt-driven flail mowers. I prefer a brush hog that doesn't have belts.

 

[houser52]

I have 3 rotary cutters and 1 flail mower. I like the cut of the flail for mowing grass that's not too tall and it does a pretty good job at that.

Overall I prefer rotary cutters for everything from tall grass, weeds, bushes, briars and everything else. It may not look like a golf course when finished but I'm looking to to mow down out of control vegetation .

 

[the old grind]

"Processies" = more than one process. "Christmasies" = more than one Christmas. :laughing:

(Latin is so 'last Millenium' and 'data' now has two ' tees' .. thanks, online degrees for the cough-bound)

Maybe OT, but 6' 'Bush Hog' (brand) rotary for sale cheap. "Make offer", "priced to sell", "Cat I 3PH QA thrown in as bonus." (ask about three bottom Ford plow w/14" coulters)

Aside from my now-sobering honesty (pint o'Captain gone):

I suggest that a flail mower can cover a rotary slasher's a__ better than a rotary can cut w/o need to bale clippings from waist-high 'field-findings'. (Blackberries, olive, honeysuckle, etc)

Don't let my opinion clash with your first/best/only hunch and reason for asking. (OP please enjoy my levity/folly vs suspect my admonition.)

 

[Alien]

As Old Grind says Don't back up with a flail and I lift mine a few inches when I turn.