Flail Mower Need advice on right cutting attachment

[RjCorazza]

I have a hammer flail mower, I have cut thick bamboo 14ft high, mulched it down to ground level and mowed grass to look like a lawn.

My hammer flail works about the same. I have yet to mow something that didn't get clean cut and finely mulched.
Other than price, it's hard to beat a flail mower for the finished cut and mulching.

 

[paulsharvey]

I have never been impressed or satisfied with my flail mower. As someone showed, anything longer than maybe the top of the fail, gets stripped of leaves, but the stocks remain, even stuff thats like 1/4" in diameter. Wire like grasses, the stems often take 3 or 4 passes, from different directions to really cut.

An important note, mine has "duck feet" teeth; which i had always heard/assumed was half way between side cutter teeth and hammer teeth. I have recently seen some videos that suggest duck feet are a finish cut, low grass only, and the design isnt about heavy duty (vs side cutters), but about air flow, and uplift to give a truly finished cut?

So, maybe thats my issue; but I have never gotten/seen the results other brag about with flails.

 

[leonz]

Scoop knives also referred to as duck foot blades and
hammer knife flail knives have difficulty recutting
material a second time as they do not have enough
cutting edge length to generate a great deal of suction
also referred to as the pressure gradient to lift the
clippings or brush a second time versus the use of
side slicers which will continue to create the pressure
gradient/suction to lift the clippings brush to slice them
a second or third time to create a fine clipping that will
dissolve into the sod ground.

 

[paulsharvey]

Another dig at flails; they are designed to cut going forward, not backward. So, you pretty much have to drive over it. A rotaty cutter, does both. So, generally, the first few cuts, much of it, you lift, back and lower to knock it all down. After a few cuts, its pretty well knocked down, and the next mow, you can do all in forward

 

[leonz]

The double edge of the side slicer knife will allow you to
mow in reverse if you are mowing heavy brush and grass
allowing you to back over standing brush and brush clumps
and then drive forward to mow them a second time.

 

[TerryR]

The flail that produced the results you see in my photo above has hammer knives.

 

[paulsharvey]

Some/many people say a flail cuts brush like a brush hog, and grass like a finish mower. In my experience, it cuts brush like a finish mower, and cuts grass like a dull bushhog/rough cut.

Others do love them, and I never know if its a vegetation type thing, an equipment thing, or user error.

 

[Gregster613]

Scoop knives also referred to as duck foot blades and
hammer knife flail knives have difficulty recutting
material a second time as they do not have enough
cutting edge length to generate a great deal of suction
also referred to as the pressure gradient to lift the
clippings or brush a second time versus the use of
side slicers which will continue to create the pressure
gradient/suction to lift the clippings brush to slice them
a second or third time to create a fine clipping that will
dissolve into the sod ground.

So...leonz: Flail cutters are "NOT" the ultimate cutting beast that you "Always" claim them to be?!! I have followed all of your posts and do believe the flail is a "Great" cutting machine - but - like "all" cutters there are always faults! Interesting that now is the first time I've ever seen/read you reluctantly admit to it. Welcome to reality.

 

[zzvyb6]

Get a 7' NH 472 haybine. Bale the scrub and burn it. From them on, cut, rake & bale to sell for very little cost to you once you have the equipment. Tax dodge !

 

[leonz]

So...leonz: Flail cutters are "NOT" the ultimate cutting beast that you "Always" claim them to be?!! I have followed all of your posts and do believe the flail is a "Great" cutting machine - but - like "all" cutters there are always faults! Interesting that now is the first time I've ever seen/read you reluctantly admit to it. Welcome to reality.

The post you are referring to describes scoop/duck foot/hammer knives and their limitations simply because the scoop knife/hammer knife total cutting edge length is much less than the side slicer knife in a 2 row, 3 row, or 4 row flail mower rotor carrying side slicer knives.

I have always thought they are a better safer mower for lawn, brush or crop shredding/mowing and always will because of the verticut method of mowing developed by Mr. Mott. If the younger Mott son had not died in that small plane crash I believe most mowers today would be flail mowers.
What I find disappointing is that Ferris mowers in one example sells their zero turns in Europe with a flail mower mounted on it and these mowers are not sold here in the United States.