4 blade wood vintage ?

[kkkfox]

A customer of mine brought this prop to my shop. Is it a original or ?. See pics and description on my Web at mkttotheworld.com Thanks Keith

[Dave]

I'm not sure what you mean by "original". It doesn't look like a typical aircraft propeller. It might be a test club, used for running engines on the ground, or might have some totally different application.

[kkkfox]

By original i meant for an aircraft motor. The middle hole has never been finished with varnish. Did they ever just use tin for the tips. Keith

[Dave]

It's hard to say without any idenification numbers, but I don't recall ever seeing a 4 blade prop on conventional civilian aircraft. Having metal sheathing where it is was common, but the method of application looks a little suspect to me. Usually the sheathing was screwed into place then the screw head soldered flush with the metal and sanded.

There's no way of knowing, but my guess is that this isn't an aircraft propeller.

[MWP_Lamar]

In addition, I don't recall ever seeing tin or zinc used for sheathing. Those metals aren't very durable for the aircraft application.

Lamar