Wooden Propellers

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:
snip

From a non-owner's viewpoint, I think wooden props are a thing of
aeronautical beauty and are sadly missed. A laminated, fixed pitch
prop is almost an object of sculpture.


Not meaning to wax lyrical, but a nicely crafted wooden prop is infinitely
more interesting to look at than an alloy job or a compressor stage.


I used to own a Piper Vagabond with a wooden prop. It sat outside, so I had
to revarnish the prop often. I recall very vividly admiring the beauty of
the wood when I did this job.

Danny






--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Danny Deger" wrote in message
...
From a non-owner's viewpoint, I think wooden props are a thing of
aeronautical beauty and are sadly missed. A laminated, fixed pitch
prop is almost an object of sculpture.


Not meaning to wax lyrical, but a nicely crafted wooden prop is
infinitely more interesting to look at than an alloy job or a compressor
stage.


I used to own a Piper Vagabond with a wooden prop. It sat outside, so I
had to revarnish the prop often. I recall very vividly admiring the
beauty of the wood when I did this job.

Danny

The Skyfox Gazelle I fly has a wooden prop. It has just been re-furbished.
It truly is an awesome piece of work. One downside however is that the a/c
cannot/should not be flown in even light rain, as the raindrops pit the
prop.
Oz Lander

"Crash Lander" wrote

The Skyfox Gazelle I fly has a wooden prop. It has just been re-furbished.
It truly is an awesome piece of work. One downside however is that the a/c
cannot/should not be flown in even light rain, as the raindrops pit the
prop.

I take that it does not have any metal or resin leading edge inserts to
protect it?
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Crash Lander" wrote

The Skyfox Gazelle I fly has a wooden prop. It has just been
re-furbished. It truly is an awesome piece of work. One downside however
is that the a/c cannot/should not be flown in even light rain, as the
raindrops pit the prop.

I take that it does not have any metal or resin leading edge inserts to
protect it?
--
Jim in NC

It does have resin leading edge inserts, but they take a beating just from
dry weather flying. I was always paying close attention to them during my
pre-flight inspection, because I was noticing the damage slowly getting
worse from week to week.
It may be a case of once the damage starts, it's all down hill for the
inserts. I'm not sure. Perhaps the new ones will be more durable.
The a/c has no screen wipers anyway. Also, being basically a kit plane, I
can't imagine it's all that water tight! ;-)
Oz Lander

Besides beauty there is another benefit to a wood propellor.
No sudden stoppages. The prop just turns into splinters.
Don't ask

"Danny Deger" wrote in message
...

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:
snip

From a non-owner's viewpoint, I think wooden props are a thing of
aeronautical beauty and are sadly missed. A laminated, fixed pitch
prop is almost an object of sculpture.


Not meaning to wax lyrical, but a nicely crafted wooden prop is
infinitely more interesting to look at than an alloy job or a compressor
stage.


I used to own a Piper Vagabond with a wooden prop. It sat outside, so I
had to revarnish the prop often. I recall very vividly admiring the
beauty of the wood when I did this job.

Danny






--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

On Mar 2, 6:02 pm, "Crash Lander" wrote:
"Morgans" wrote in message

...



"Crash Lander" wrote

The Skyfox Gazelle I fly has a wooden prop. It has just been
re-furbished. It truly is an awesome piece of work. One downside however
is that the a/c cannot/should not be flown in even light rain, as the
raindrops pit the prop.

I take that it does not have any metal or resin leading edge inserts to
protect it?
--
Jim in NC

It does have resin leading edge inserts, but they take a beating just from
dry weather flying. I was always paying close attention to them during my
pre-flight inspection, because I was noticing the damage slowly getting
worse from week to week.
It may be a case of once the damage starts, it's all down hill for the
inserts. I'm not sure. Perhaps the new ones will be more durable.
The a/c has no screen wipers anyway. Also, being basically a kit plane, I
can't imagine it's all that water tight! ;-)
Oz Lander

We used to have brass/copper strips on the leading edge of the
propellers.
Easily replaced

john hawkins wrote:
Besides beauty there is another benefit to a wood propellor.
No sudden stoppages. The prop just turns into splinters.
Don't ask



If such a situation were ever to occur cough where a wooden prop was
aaah converted to components, via lets say, nosing over too far and
encountering dirt, would you still require an engine rebuild ?


Purely hypothetical - of course.




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
...
john hawkins wrote:
Besides beauty there is another benefit to a wood propellor.
No sudden stoppages. The prop just turns into splinters.
Don't ask



If such a situation were ever to occur cough where a wooden prop was
aaah converted to components, via lets say, nosing over too far and
encountering dirt, would you still require an engine rebuild ?


Purely hypothetical - of course.

I believe that Lycoming and Continental both recommend teardown inspections
for all of their opposed cylinder engines.

The only engines that _may_ be exempt are some of the large radials, under
certain guidelines of how rapidly the prop was slowed.
--
Jim in NC

not if the engine continues to run ( it might have been fence)
But certain nicknames become firmly attached ;-)

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Dave Kearton" wrote in message
...
john hawkins wrote:
Besides beauty there is another benefit to a wood propellor.
No sudden stoppages. The prop just turns into splinters.
Don't ask



If such a situation were ever to occur cough where a wooden prop was
aaah converted to components, via lets say, nosing over too far and
encountering dirt, would you still require an engine rebuild ?


Purely hypothetical - of course.

I believe that Lycoming and Continental both recommend teardown
inspections for all of their opposed cylinder engines.

The only engines that _may_ be exempt are some of the large radials, under
certain guidelines of how rapidly the prop was slowed.
--
Jim in NC

In article
,
"Dave Kearton" wrote:

john hawkins wrote:
Besides beauty there is another benefit to a wood propellor.
No sudden stoppages. The prop just turns into splinters.
Don't ask



If such a situation were ever to occur cough where a wooden prop was
aaah converted to components, via lets say, nosing over too far and
encountering dirt, would you still require an engine rebuild ?


Purely hypothetical - of course.

Wooden props are interesting for their physics as well. Wooden props do
not obey the law of conservation of mass. By empirical experiment, I've
demonstrated that a 72 inch wooden prop, spinning at approximately 2800
rpm, will, upon striking asphalt, generate at least twice it's mass, and
at least a dozen times it's original volume in splinters. I have filed
an invention disclosure for a process to manufacture toothpicks based on
this phenomenon.