Brushhog/Rotary Mower Blade Sharpness?

[dennishoddy]

What these guys said. Brush hogs are for knocking down brush and tall, heavy grasses; for a lawn, you want a finish mower (and you definitely do not want to use one of those to do a brush hog's job). Beating it into submission is pretty much what they do.

About the only brush hog I've ever used that had a decent cut is a 7' drag-behind Bush Hog, but my dad kept it sharp and only used it on grass hay.

I have a PTO powered belt driven 7’ drag type Bush Hog finish mower for my 35 hp Mahindra that will cut a Bermuda lawn like the best mower on the market. Converted the manual height crank to hydraulic so it can be lifted as necessary. It’s really old but parts are still available. Need to replace a mandrel that seized.

 

[dennishoddy]

I don’t know if they are available for a brush hog, but I’ve converted to the fusion blades on the zero turn. They impregnated tungsten carbide into the blades to make them harder and stay sharper longer
In our sandy ground a set of blades would last about 3/4 of a mowing season before the lift part of the blade in the back would erode completely away and not throw grass.
I can get 2 seasons from the fusion blades.
Don’t know if those are available for brushhogs

 

[p238shooter]

I agree with most of the above but will add because I just did my first mow of the year with my 3 blade 60' finish mower. What you are mowing now is not your normal mow. You are most likely mowing very stalky but very wet brush that has a very different consistancy because of moisture content than the brush you will be mowing the rest of the year as it drys out and becomes brittle to chop off. My first mows of the year always look like crap unless I go very very slow or double mow it. I suggest giving time for the temp to come up to dry out some of the moisture before you condem your mower.

 

[Millerman]

Sharp stobbs can puncture a tire ( even a year latter ) better to have them busted up.

 

[Redmule454]

Busting the brush/weeds/briars into splintered tops helps kill it.

 

[GLGAR]

I bought this Rhino years ago, used it on several tractors mowing everything including rocks. Never sharpened the blades.

 

[Parks 788]

Thanks for the replies. Rather than try to quote everyone's posts I'll try to respond to most of the general questions and things you mentioned.

I don't have the mower riding on the skids. Set up about 1" off the ground on the leading edge of the sides of the mower. This gives the trailing edge of the mower about 2.5"-3" off the ground. At this position the blades when cutting at about 3.5"-4" off the ground. Not mowing any manicured law areas but fields and terrain that probably hasn't been brush hogged in at least a couple, five years or so. Lots of dried grasses thigh to waist high and other woody plant material (no idea what it is) up to 1" thick at the base. My speed is fairly slow and mowing in Low Range on the HST trasmission setting. Kubota and a yellow marked area on the RPM gauge that shows "PTO" and is at the 2000 rpm range. I'm mowing in that yellow 2000 rpm range. I feel like I'm mowing almost too slow of a speed. Because, while I've walked much of the ground I'm clearing, I'm going slow with my loader bucket barely off the ground so I feel any rocks or larger stumps i may have missed so i don't mow over them with the blades. Allows me to get off the tractor and put them in the bucket so I don't destroy the mower. Next season I can mow faster as I'll have cleared the land of all the rocks and crap that will damage the mower.

Tomorrow evening I'll post pics of what cuttings look like and maybe you all can advise me further. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Parks 788]

I'm just amazed at how clean and tidy your barn is. I can't stop marveling at it.

Ha! The pics don't show the crap everywhere. We just moved to the property about two months ago and I have a ton of tools, boxes, and jsut garage crap that guys have. However, I don't have any shelving, storage or work benches or counter tops up yet so it's all scatter about. I need to do something soon as I'm running out of floor space.