Your thoughts Brush Mower Options

[TomSeller]

As for projectiles, I also have chain guards as mentioned above. Nothing, I mean nothing comes out the front of my Rotary Cutter.
Excuse my shoddy work cause I made my own guard. But here's what we are talking about.
http://s1222.photobucket.com/user/o...08 Brush Cutter/DSC06239_zpsfb17aef3.jpg.html

Shoddy? Looks pretty dang good to me. Nice.

 

[ovrszd]

Shoddy? Looks pretty dang good to me. Nice.

Thank you. I used old pieces of chain I had laying around and they don't match very well. But it certainly works!!!

 

[Soundguy]

sb mowers are primarily for hay. 1.5" stuff. heck.. .5: stuff will eat a SB


flail have a higher average cost to maintain than a rotary mower.. need a lil more hp per foot too.

i'd get a rotary mower and stant it up against a fence with a laoder or gin pole if I couldn't afford the lil 5' patch of lamd on my huge 40 ac stretch.

I am a new owner of about 40 acres of mostly wooded, somewhat hilly property in south-central Indiana. I have a few acres of lawn that I mow with a ZTR finish mower. I want to clear trails through the mostly untended woods, which are a mix of hardwoods and some cedar. The undergrowth is mostly saplings, some kind of thorny vine and lots of poison ivy!

I already have a 25hp New Holland tractor with a cat. 1 3 pt hitch and a loader. I also have an ATV and Gator. All of these would be candidates for motive power for a brush mower of some kind.

I am mostly considering a flail mower or a sickle bar mower because I don't like the large storage space needed for a rotary-type brush mower and I don't like the prospect for hi-velocity projectiles.

Is a sickle bar an appropriate choice for rough-cutting sub-1.5 inch saplings and other brush? Is a sickle bar a high maintenance item? How does one sharpen a sickle bar?

Any thoughts on a flail mower for this job? I like the idea of being able to use a flail mower to mulch leaves in the fall, too. All tow-behind (not 3 pt hitch)flail mowers that I have found are sold only in Europe. Anyone know of a US source?

I also have pond edges and slopes that need maintenance, so the ability to offset a mowing implement to keep the motive power on flatter, dry ground would be very helpful.

Thanks for your advice!

Jon