Knives vs Hammers on a Flail Mower

[Tinhack]

Mr. Tin hack, can I kindly ask what kind of flail you own?

Also, what's it cut width?

I'm not sure what you mean by kind. I have two. One uses folded knives the other uses duck foot hammers. The folded knife mower is an old Caldwell Barracuda at 65" cut. The new one is a Nova Tractor BCRM155 61" cut and uses the duck foot hammers.

Folded Knife:

Duck Foot Hammer:

 

[gmgm]

Mine are hammers, and seem to do everything well enough, from lawn to small shrubs along tracks. Unless I was mowing the grass for Wimbledon I'd just use hammers and move on.

 

[avachava]

I like the hammers. I am rural, not suburban. I don't have lawn.

Knives should be better if you want a more lawn-like finish.

My hammers are big and heavy. I can run over branches up to 3" like a forestry mulcher. But it still cuts grasses well, too.

Totally agree. Plus we used to have to collect deadfall from our pecan trees and haul to a burn pile. Now we just toss them all over the fence in a pile and grind them into mulch with the flail hammers!

Does a much better job on roadside or pasture weeds than a rotary, although not exactly like a finish mower.

One factor to consider: If you have a flail that offsets, it cuts better because you’re not running over the grass first with the tractor tires. That could explain why some people don’t get as good results with hammers.

Also, the up-tilt ability of my flail allows untangling wire and twine from the occasional counter on a friends pasture.

 

[BackRoad]

Thanks for the detail Mr. Tin hack! The BCRM mower on their website looks very interesting.

 

[Lucky_Ducky]

Thanks for the detail Mr. Tin hack! The BCRM mower on their website looks very interesting.

I bought a BCRM 175 earlier in the summer. I have abused that mower and it has taken it like a champ.

Highly recommend!

 

[bdhsfz6]

I have the Maschio Giraffa offset ditch & bank flail:

https://www.maschiogaspardo.com/en/web/international/giraffa-l

Like the BCRM, the cutter head articulates, making it easy to clear debris and sharpen the hammers.

 

[AaronD81]

I had knives like on the right in the picture below and they cut OK, but there was always a stripe where the tractor tire pushed down the grass that the flail didn't cut. Switched to the style on the left and cut is much better. I think the new blades create suction or airflow like a finish mower blade that lifts the grass from under the tire. My pastures are clean so I'm not concerned about rocks and stumps though.