EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
With your stated goals, I think you'll be very impressed and happy with the Rotary Cutter. If you have never run one before, which I think has something to do with this post, be sure to keep the top link as loose as possible. I didn't know this at first with mine, and hat it tight. This caused all sorts of problems for me at first with scalping and uneven cutting. When I realized that I was doing it wrong from some posts on here, and loosened my top link, the cutter did a much, much better job of following the contour of the land. The trick is to get it loose enough to bend and flex independent of the tractor, but tight enough that you can still pick it up when you need to.
As to sharpening the blades after you use the mower to get everything down, this might or might not work. The metal on the blades wears away fairly quickly when you do allot of cutting. Before I bought my finish mower, I was cutting my place once a month with my cutter. I never sharpened the blades and never thought I needed to. By the end of the year, they were just about wore away. I like to replace them in the spring when mowing season starts again.
I'd leave them alone for the first few cuttings at least. If you want to see if you can get a better cut, then sharpen them and see if it's made any difference.
Since buying my finish mower, I only use my cutter once or twice a year for those times that the grass has gotten away from me and I wasn't able to mow it in awhile. I do question those who say one is better then another, if they have both? If I could only buy one, I'd want the finish mower for just maintaining grass. That first cutting might be a battle, but after that, it's night and day. If the land was rough and I was still working on getting it cleaned up, then the rotary cutter is an excellent choice. Two separate tools for two different purposes.
Eddie
USMC 83-88
As to sharpening the blades after you use the mower to get everything down, this might or might not work. The metal on the blades wears away fairly quickly when you do allot of cutting. Before I bought my finish mower, I was cutting my place once a month with my cutter. I never sharpened the blades and never thought I needed to. By the end of the year, they were just about wore away. I like to replace them in the spring when mowing season starts again.
I'd leave them alone for the first few cuttings at least. If you want to see if you can get a better cut, then sharpen them and see if it's made any difference.
Since buying my finish mower, I only use my cutter once or twice a year for those times that the grass has gotten away from me and I wasn't able to mow it in awhile. I do question those who say one is better then another, if they have both? If I could only buy one, I'd want the finish mower for just maintaining grass. That first cutting might be a battle, but after that, it's night and day. If the land was rough and I was still working on getting it cleaned up, then the rotary cutter is an excellent choice. Two separate tools for two different purposes.
Eddie
USMC 83-88
