[Shop-talk] Shipping antique wooden propellers

[Jim Stone]

He was!  The Smithsonian has one of his props.  He was a cabinet maker at one point and specialized in ivory inlaid cabinets for early Edison phonographs.  He later carved wooden molds for ships’ propellers in Liverpool, prior to becoming enamored of the early airplane industry.  I never met him, but have felt an affinity for him my whole life, as neither my father nor my grandfather had much interest in shop stuff.  I always had a tool in my hand growing up and assume that had to have come from him.  I am really disappointed not to have been able to buy one of the ones from his collection (many of them are signed and dated) but really happy that they are back in the family.

> On Apr 9, 2022, at 7:31 PM, Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> 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.  :)
>>> 
>> 
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