Wooden Aircraft Propeller Factory Tour

[John McClanahan]

Van, you could be right. What impressed me was how much she knows in about a dozen years. Her grandfather bought the business and moved it there from PA. A lot of learning on the job with no one with past experance to ask for help when problems arise. Some of those props can be quite a handful for a small(er) woman. And don't forget, lives are on the line with this woodworking!

[Tom M King]

The guy making the video was doing it for the target audience of the EAA (experimental aircraft association). If you look at the Culver price list, there are props available for engines that don't go in commercial aircraft, like VW's. There are some for Lycoming, and Continental, but a lot of those go in homebuilts too. There are some million dollar homebuilt aircraft, but most are far from that, and built in peoples' garages. Each different aircraft design requires its own prop design, even if using the same engine as a different aircraft design.

I don't know the what or why here, but it might well be a different market than the mass producers cover.

[Van Huskey]

The guy making the video was doing it for the target audience of the EAA (experimental aircraft association).

That's what I figured, as I said I don't know much if anything about general aviation or EAA. It was interesting to see the VW engines used but it makes sense due to light weight and being air cooled. The picture of the drive reduction page looks interesting, I had never seen a prop driven by a belt drive before.

[Tom M King]

The annual EAA fly-ins are Amazing. One big one in Oshkosh Wisconsin, and one in Florida-Sun&Fun, as well as a number of smaller ones. Some planes use V8's too.