Propeller maker
Spin doctor for experimental aircraft
Your typical training airplane flies behind an aluminum or carbon fiber propeller.
Photography by David Tulis
Smaller, lighter-weight airplanes such as antique, experimental, and light sport aircraft can use lighter-weight propellers made of wood. A wooden propeller can be not only a functional part of the airplane but also a work of art.
Alaina Lewis and her brother, Grant Smith, craft a variety of wooden propellers at their family-owned business, Culver Props, in Rolla, Missouri. Their grandfather and parents bought the business in 2001 and Lewis and Smith first helped in the shop, then graduated to making propellers themselves. Using patterns collected over decades, Lewis designs propellers according to customers’ measurements, chooses the wood—usually hard white maple or mahogany—glues the layers of wood, cuts out a rough draft, puts it in a lathe to do the precision cutting, and sets the pitch. Then she sands, balances, and repeats those steps until the blades are perfectly balanced horizontally and vertically. After a protective coating and a 10-day curing period, the final touch for the propeller is a Culver Props sticker. FT
Alaina Lewis
Propeller maker
Qualifications: Lewis is a student pilot. Her father is a pilot, and her grandfather was a pilot. When she first began making propellers, she had to make and discard hundreds of unairworthy versions before her family would let her try an airworthy one.
Benefits: Helping an aircraft owner complete a project with a special design.
Compensation: Lewis and her brother make approximately 175 propellers a year. Prices start at $575 and can exceed $2,650, depending on the size of the propeller, the type of wood used, and any custom staining, leading edge tape, or tip paint. Culver Props also sells rejected propellers that can be used as wall decorations.
Related Articles
