[Shop-talk] Shipping antique wooden propellers

[Bob Spidell]

ps. Wooden props are works of art; your grandpa must have been a real 
craftsman.


On 4/9/2022 4:20 PM, Bob Spidell wrote:
> I can't advise on a shipper, but you are wise to be cautious. Years 
> ago, I was in a partnership for a Cherokee 180, which needed to have 
> its prop replaced (ground down one too many times). After a lot of 
> (internet) shopping, we found a serviceable prop, and had it shipped 
> to us; it arrived damaged (we sent it back). After much more shopping 
> around, we found another; the mechanics had it hung on the engine 
> before they discovered it had a golfball-sized gouge on the trailing 
> edge, as if it had been speared by a forklift prong. Back to the 
> interwebs. We found yet another serviceable prop and had it shipped, 
> this time with $1M insurance on it--it arrived undamaged. I don't 
> recall all the shippers, but the final shipment was by FedEx (we might 
> have tried UPS as well). Props are an awkward size and shape for 
> shipping, but a massive policy on them seems to warrant extra care 
> from the shippers.
>
> On 4/9/2022 4:07 PM, Jim Stone wrote:
>> My great grandfather was one of the country’s first manufacturer’s of 
>> wooden airplane propellers and his personal collection of 7 props was 
>> sold to a collector in Savannah, GA when he died.  I, and other 
>> members of my family, have worked for many years to have them 
>> returned to the family and we finally succeeded last week.  We had a 
>> family lottery to find them new homes and 3 of them now need to go to 
>> the west coast, 3 to the Chicago area and the last to Kentucky.  (It 
>> isn’t relevant to the question that follows, but it is nice to add 
>> that 6 of the 7 are going to younger members of the family that are 
>> buying their first prop.  Those of my generation have been searching 
>> them out and snapping them up for years, and most of us already own 
>> one or two*.)
>>
>> Now comes the hard part: getting them to their new owners.  The props 
>> are 80 to 110 years old and most of them are around 8’ long; one is 
>> 10’.  The good thing about wooden props is that they don’t weigh 
>> much, but they will need to be handled carefully.  We are planning on 
>> shipping them in two bundles of three props (the one to KY will be 
>> handled separately) and need to find a shipper who can pack them up 
>> in GA and get them to the west coast and Chicago.  This is a long 
>> shot, but does anyone here have any contacts or direct knowledge of a 
>> shipper that might be appropriate for the job?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jim
>>
>> *Shop content: My props hang on the inside wall adjacent to my shop.  :)
>>
>