Laminated Prop and Engine

Beautiful! Precision engineering in wood as well as being very much a work of art. Wow!

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.

There’s nothing better than GREAT imagination….beautiful!

-- Odie, Confucius say, "He who laughs at one's self is BUTT of joke".

Hats’ off to you. I hand-carved/shaped/snaded a propeller for a childs toy recently and it was really tough to shape it well enough that it had a rough balance, though it would not hold up to real engine RPM’s. Here’s a question you may be able to answer: It seems to me that all the wooden props on WWI aircraft were just varnished wood, not painted. I may be wrong about that supposition, but most old photos show this. Any technical reason for varnishing rather than painting?

BTW, that is very cool work!

-- North Texas

Hi all ... Thanks for the comments …..

Tom,

I have seen the props either varnished or painted although the painted ones are not common. I think the varnish was used because it held up better and was easier to maintain and it was the common finish used in the furniture industry.

In the early years most of the props were built by business like furniture and piano manufacturing companies. In the realm of paint versus varnish not much has changed. I think I’d take issue with anyone who painted one of my props.

Here is a link to a site with a ton of of info about the old wooden props.

http://www.woodenpropeller.com/index.html

I work as a volunteer working on the older wood and fabric airfrafmes, engines and props. It’s a lot of fun just hanging out around all of those old engines and airplanes.

http://aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/

Regards,

I agree. I used to skydive quite a bit in my younger, wilder days, and we shared a hanger with a wing of the CAF (Confederate Air Force). Even spent some volunteer time with them, polishing parts, doping fabric, etc, and just general help. They returned the favor by letting drop out the bomb bay of a B-17! Great bunch of guys trying to maintain aircraft that are getting rarer with each passing year.

-- North Texas

Beautiful.

-- Jiri

Simply magnificent

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

Wow. Looks good enough to fly!.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Round engines create symphonic sound. Nothing else like it!

-- Maplewood, MN

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

As usual, your work is outstanding. And the information on old props great too.

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

Great piece of art. Brings back memories of twisting wrenches on 600 P & W’s.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

This is really an impressive looking pice. Lots of detail. I have a friend that races model aircraft…pylong racing…he carves his own props for engines that spin 20,000RPM. Carving that prop is no simple effort. Nice!!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

If the valve gear was on the backside of the cylinder it would be a perfect rendition of a Kinner 5 cylinder radial, but then it would be a shame to hide the work you did behind the cylinders. Very nice. That would make a nice addition to my study. I appreciate old flying machines as much as I do woodworking. Nothing beats the mechanical symphony of a radial engine.

Cheers
Mike

wow, talk about patients…. Really nice, I built my sone a small p-51D model a few years back but I would not even post it after seeing that….....

-- John, Steamboat Springs Co. http://7kcraftsman.blogspot.com/

Propcarver,
Nice work! Those tolerance look so tight, maybe you could get it to start…

Tom

-- Anybody can become a woodworker, but only a Craftsman can hide his mistakes.

Don’t know how I missed this one! That is fantastic!

My grandfather used to make props during WWI when he was 15. Pratt & Whitney I think.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I like it. Thanks for sharing it.

-- --Chuck

Just great I’m humbled by the artistry.Thanks for sharing.

—- RCT

-- "Ya but what does he know anyhow?"

It looks like it would be hard to turn the engine when the propeller is mounted in the lathe.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

That is sierously cool. I once had an opertunity to walk through a cropduster manufacturing plant they made everything from scratch—except the radial engine. Got to see one uncrated, brand new, one of the most beautiful machines ever made.

-- another tip from cooperedpatterns

Super!

-- - Real men read directions