Shiny Props

Can anyone tell me the good, the bad or the ugly on Shiny Propellers. I am just in the throws of choosing a prop and would apprieciate any info on them..Cheers Aussie

Polishing your prop blades make them look pretty, but without the paint it promotoes corrosion and pitting on the blades, thus it's generally not recommended. If you want something different send your prop to have it custom painted to match your plane instead

Good day mate

Aussie said:

Can anyone tell me the good, the bad or the ugly on Shiny Propellers. I am just in the throws of choosing a prop and would apprieciate any info on them..Cheers Aussie

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Aussie not sure what you mean by shiny prop. The topic of props is pretty well discussed in other threads. You did not say what kind of budget, flying, engine you have. I see you are retired and building a RV6a, cool?

You can check the archives; search key words for different brands of props.

If you're asking about what props in general, for constant speed, the Hartzell BA prop with the newer 7497 blade, is the best value and performance IMHO.

If going fixed the Sensenich is the best value and gives the best performance of the fixed props. With the RV6a you can use a 74" dia.

Shiny? Just to cover the bases, if you really meant shiny, as in a metal prop polished, there are restrictions. I recall it has to do with lack of corrosion protection. This of course applies to props on certified planes in the USA. An experimental can polish metal props if they want. However with out any protection you have less protection overall for erosion and damage from rain or sand. If you don't want Hartzell Grey you can always paint and or clear coat your prop with other colors.

You mean shiny like this? Had a polished prop on my 170B. It looked sharp when freshly polished, but it was a constant hassle to keep shiny. If I had kept the plane much longer I would have had it painted.

So, no-one has touched on these two aspects of "shiny" props

a) they are terrible in the sunlight especially if you polish the back side, Catch the Sun just right and get blinded by the reflection and you have it on the entire disk as the prop is turning, this is why most props are painted black on the back side.

b) it's been proven time and time again that the smoother the props finish, the slower it is. I can't remember who did it, but someone took the same prop and ran a polished version vs a painted version at Reno and the painted version was 1-2kts faster. Perhaps thats in the variability allowance, but then there is point a) above

My .02 on the topic.

Polish made the plane 2 kts slower

aadamson said:

So, no-one has touched on these two aspects of "shiny" props

a) they are terrible in the sunlight especially if you polish the back side, Catch the Sun just right and get blinded by the reflection and you have it on the entire disk as the prop is turning, this is why most props are painted black on the back side.

b) it's been proven time and time again that the smoother the props finish, the slower it is. I can't remember who did it, but someone took the same prop and ran a polished version vs a painted version at Reno and the painted version was 1-2kts faster. Perhaps that's in the variability allowance, but then there is point a) above

My .02 on the topic.

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Yea sure you can still pant the back flat black and a good idea as you point out.

Never heard that a smooth prop or painted prop is slower; this is actually opposite of what I have read and learned. I don't think shiny is faster either. However smooth is especially critical on the props leading edge. Not sure you can't have a smooth with a painted surface. Any way a reference would be cool, love to hear about who did this test.

I talked to Dave Anders, undisputed Cafe foundation Tri-aviation top champ about prop prep. Smooth was the word and clean (w/ no bugs or nicks). With a ++250mph RV-4, he must know something?

Polished props are beautiful but always seem to be a hassle to maintain, out of seeing props for the last 30 years the polished ones always come back corroded even though the owner sayed he would keep them polished. I go with others on this post and get it painted with a custom design or even just one color other than the standard black or grey and it will customize your aircraft to your liking.


James Dean
American Propeller Service

Benifits

One of the imporant benefits is for convinient use as a mirror to check to see if you have something in your teeth after that remote fly in lunch. Especially important if they have served turnip greens.

hangared or not hangared?

I had a beautifully polished prop on my classic C-172 and it was flat out impossible to keep looking good if the the aircraft was tied down outside on the ramp.

Once in a hangar however it was much easier to keep looking good. It's a royal pain in the patoot to get it looking good, but once it's there, a little periodic polish would keep it looking sweet with it's mirror finish (hangared).

One of the by-products to owning a polished anything though are the perpetual "dirty fingernails" syndrome.