Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

How often do you guys sharpen your flail knives? Does sharpening make that much of a difference?

Never.

I've beaten up my old Ford 917 with Ys over rocks, dirt & brush. Some of the knives are noticably rounded & worn on the ends. I have yet to sharpen them & it still cuts fine. Sharpening may give a better cut quality on turf, but I mow fields, not lawns. I put new knives on it when I got it & only replaced a few when mangled by rocks or the well head incident.

I havent touched up the hammers on my newish Peruzzo either. Its hit some rocks as well, but I'm more careful with a $7k flail as opposed to the 917 I paid $100 for. I know the hammers have a rounded edge now & arent sharp, but it handles brush & grass as well as ever.

 

[troverman]

Never.

I've beaten up my old Ford 917 with Ys over rocks, dirt & brush. Some of the knives are noticably rounded & worn on the ends. I have yet to sharpen them & it still cuts fine. Sharpening may give a better cut quality on turf, but I mow fields, not lawns. I put new knives on it when I got it & only replaced a few when mangled by rocks or the well head incident.

I havent touched up the hammers on my newish Peruzzo either. Its hit some rocks as well, but I'm more careful with a $7k flail as opposed to the 917 I paid $100 for. I know the hammers have a rounded edge now & arent sharp, but it handles brush & grass as well as ever.

That's kind of what I thought. I have never sharpened mine either, on my Vrismo or Titan. Both have always cut fairly well. Just wondering if it was worth the effort. I am cutting fields as well, twice a year. Who the heck mows their lawn with a flail mower?

 

[Lnk]

That's kind of what I thought. I have never sharpened mine either, on my Vrismo or Titan. Both have always cut fairly well. Just wondering if it was worth the effort. I am cutting fields as well, twice a year. Who the heck mows their lawn with a flail mower?

I mow my lawn with a 9' flail mower on the back of my 70 hp tractor. Takes me 5 minutes. Then I do the trim with a self propelled push mower and gas trimmer. I don't live on a golf course, as long as it's green, it's good. Wife is happy with it. I also cut my fields with it. So I have a lower standard then most for my lawn, and a higher standard than most for my fields.

I also don't sharpen my y blades. They don't fly up to level either :laughing:

Lnk

 

[sodamo]

That's kind of what I thought. I have never sharpened mine either, on my Vrismo or Titan. Both have always cut fairly well. Just wondering if it was worth the effort. I am cutting fields as well, twice a year. Who the heck mows their lawn with a flail mower?

That would be me.
Our lawn is a former pasture from earlier sugar cane field. It gets cut either with my flail or wife’s 54” Craftsman mower. Sometimes we even mow together.been cutting it about 14 years so looking decent, especially from down the road.

I don’t sharpen either.

 

[troverman]

My experience is that a flail mower cuts better than a brush hog but neither are as good as a finish mower, whether run on the back of a tractor or something like a zero turn or riding lawn mower. But hey, if it works and is quick...more power to you guys.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Leonz Thank you for the reply. I noticed you did not mention woodmax or bestco in your response. They fit the budget, do Mascio Peruzzo or Delmorino come in around 3K-ish?

I bought the Kubota because the prices I was quote for a forestry machine to go in were close to two years worth of payments on the L3560!

If you go to Google and search for "tractorbynet betsco flail" there are some useful posts on this website. There are also a fair number of references on other websites.

 

[ukrkoz]

That's kind of what I thought. I have never sharpened mine either, on my Vrismo or Titan. Both have always cut fairly well. Just wondering if it was worth the effort. I am cutting fields as well, twice a year. Who the heck mows their lawn with a flail mower?

I do. And what took me 4.5 hr every weekend before, takes me now 2.5 hr every other Saturday. But I do not have those Godzillas you tow behind, with PTO. I have modest 59'' powered tow behind one.
There's difference between cutting and ripping grass. Sharp is sharp. Even mower sounds less strained.

 

[ukrkoz]

My experience is that a flail mower cuts better than a brush hog but neither are as good as a finish mower, whether run on the back of a tractor or something like a zero turn or riding lawn mower. But hey, if it works and is quick...more power to you guys.

I sold my ZTR. I believe, outside of bumpy area, where noting cuts even, flail cuts better. Literally like a table flat surface. Drops down clippings, that's true, but I do not care. I'm in farmland, it all looks good.

 

[leonz]

So now I have some questions:

With these sales people being "just plain wrong"
1. Could you provide a photo or video of your sharpening set-up?
I have a 30+ year old WEN wet well drum grinder; I do not have a smart phone to take pictures


2. How many flail owners use your method for sharpening cutters.

3. What make and model flail mower do you use?

I use my fathers second Mathews company Lawn Genie( I also owned his first 36 inch cut lawn genie after he traded it in on the 48 inch unit which I now own.
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4. What cutter and how many does your flail have?


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My Lawn Genie has the heavy duty tapered side slicers with the oval mounting holes. Sadly they do not sell them anymore as they are the perfect side slicer knife.

The spring tensioned mounting system has a wide loop that allows the side slicer knive pairs to become airfoils and clip the lawn and brush evenly like a rotary finish mower.
My flail mower rotor has a tool less mounting system and I have 64 mounting stations that also accept a thatching blade. I have to buy 64 thatching blades to replace the old ones as they look like butter knives on both edges now since I replaced them in 1992.

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5. How many acres do you maintain with your flail?

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We mowed up to seven acres with the 36 and 48 inch lawn genies and picked up leaves every fall and anytime we mowed when the grass got away from us when it rained.

I replaced the old wheels and bearing sets with new ones from palmetto tire and wheel.
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I realize these are a lot of questions, but I am searching for answers[/QU


We only want to help you not get in your way so feel free to ask questions.

 

[John0829]

I am not real picky about the lawn, as long as it is green and reasonably even after it is cut I am happy. I want to use the flail to cut the biggest part which is about 6 acres if I can just get it to stop leaving the uncut tire strip, not looking for a golf course cut.